COMMITTED & NOT ATTACHED
THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING WRONG
3-Minute Read
If you can’t pivot, you’re not committed. You’re attached.
Founders don’t get stuck because they lack drive. They get stuck because they fall in love with their first idea. And when the market doesn’t respond, the instincts kick in: push harder.
Often, this is really a battle to be right rather than build what matters.
For decades, psychologists and top performers have pointed to one “mark of intelligence”: the willingness to update your beliefs. Not because you’re indecisive. Because you’re learning in real time.
Honda once entered the U.S. market with a plan. Then a surprise signal showed up. They had a choice: defend their failing approach or pivot toward demand. They pivoted, choosing effectiveness over being right.
This issue is about that skill: being committed to the mission while staying unattached to the method.
If you want more ease in decision-making, more precision in execution, and more momentum in the mission, you don’t need a perfect Plan A. You need the ability to pivot cleanly without ego.
Let’s dive in.
mission over method
“Fail fast. Learn quickly. Try something new.” –Brian Tracy
Committed & Not Attached
Most mission-driven founders don’t fear failure. They fear what failure might mean about them.
So when Idea #1 doesn’t land, you start doing the thing founders do best: More. More hours. More outreach. More pressure. If that doesn’t work, your brain offers two other classics: self-doubt or quitting.
That’s not strategy. It’s identity-protection. And it sabotages your mission in plain sight: bad hires, bland offers, leaky retention.
When your identity is welded to being right, being wrong feels like a threat. So you defend. You justify. You overwork the plan. But when you don’t tie your identity to being right, being wrong becomes information. Useful. Sometimes expensive, and still useful.
Stubbornness says: “It has to work because I already decided.”
Commitment says: “It will work because I’ll keep experimenting until it does.”
That’s the pivot point. You’re not married to the method. You’re committed to the mission and willing to adjust to get it right.
Honda came into the U.S. expecting one kind of market. But their bigger bikes struggled. Meanwhile, their employees were zipping through the streets of L.A. on the little Honda 50, running errands, hitting trails, with people flagging them down: “Where do I get that?”
Retail buyers started calling. Demand showed up from a direction Honda didn’t plan for. They could have dismissed it as a distraction. Instead, Honda treated the signal like precious intel and adjusted their whole strategy.
They stayed committed to the WHAT (mission) and unattached to the HOW (method). That’s what “failing fast” looks like in real life. Not reckless. Responsive.
This isn’t theory. The companies you respect succeed by building the thing the world will actually use:
Airbnb shifted from renting air mattresses to conference-goers to a marketplace for homes and rooms when the founders realized the real demand was “a trusted way to stay with locals” for everyday travel. They expanded beyond one-off conferences and built the platform around that broader pull.
Slack shifted from building a video game (Glitch) to building team communication software when their internal chat tool proved more valuable than the game itself. The “side tool” became the real product.
Netflix shifted from DVD-by-mail to streaming when broadband adoption made instant viewing possible and customer behavior began changing. They followed where attention was going, not where their old model was comfortable.
Not yet part of The Plenteous Life community? Subscribe to The Grip! Every week you’ll receive additional video, audio, and pdf tools directly in your email inbox to help you transform at both work and home.
Distinguishing Mission & Method
The idea that inspired your mission—your first offer, position, or go-to-market—is often the seed for something much greater. It may need to die so the full mission inside it can mature and bear fruit. That process can be discouraging when you don’t distinguish between the mission—what you’re accomplishing—and the method—your strategies and tactics for accomplishing it.
These questions will help you do that—both at work and home:
Are we committed to being right or to building what works?
What is this costing us in time, cash, retention, or momentum?
What if we’re solving the wrong problem?
What is the smallest experiment we can run this week to get cleaner data?
Where are we forcing a method instead of designing a better one?
“Fail fast. Learn quickly. Try something new.”
When you hit a wall, life isn’t telling you “No.” It’s telling you, “Not this way.” It’s redirection. The market’s feedback is a compass.
So this week, pick one place you’ve been forcing Plan A to work. Run a smaller test. Ask what the signal is really saying. Then move. Cleanly. Without drama. Without shame. You’re not failing; you’re refining.
This is what separates masters from strugglers: the willingness to be wrong and the discipline to adjust.
Stay committed. Stay mobile. Let the mission choose the method.
Keep creating.
key takeaways
Being wrong is data, not identity. Detach your worth from the outcome; you’ll gain clarity and speed.
Commit to the mission, not the method. Redesign the approach without abandoning the purpose.
Your edge isn’t Plan A. It’s how fast you turn “wrong” into traction.
WORK 1:1 WITH BECKY
As a self-mastery coach, I help mission-driven founders accelerate desired results without sacrificing what matters. If that sounds like good news, REACH OUT to experience how 1:1 coaching can empower you to be the masterful leader your mission requires.
May you prosper in every way!
Becky & TPL Team
52 Maxims of Conscious Choosing To Create the Deeply Satisfying Life You Desire.