My embarrassment

"Okay, Chris, you're turn."

Guuulp.

I wasn't expecting this. I'm not ready for this. I can't do this. I don't even know what this means.

Have you ever been thrown into something way over your head? Like you’re about to be exposed? That was me... thinking...

"Craaap." As sweat ran down my head.

"Chris, read this as fast as you can. I'm going to time you."

“Τὸ πρόβατον βλέπει ἄρτον Τύπτει τὸ πρόβατον τὸν ἄρτον Κρύπτει τὸν ἄρτον τὸ πρόβατον Τὸ πρόβατον τὸν ἄρτον ἐσθίει Ἡ ἀδελφὴ βλέπει σχοινίον Τύπτει ἡ ἀδελφὴ τὸ σχοινίον Κρύπτει τὸ σχοινίον ἡ ἀδελφή Ἡ ἀδελφὴ τὸ σχοινίον λύει Ὁ δοῦλος βλέπει σκηνήν Τύπτει ὁ δοῦλος τὴν σκηνήν Κρύπτει τὴν σκηνὴν ὁ δοῦλος Ὁ δοῦλος τὴν σκηνὴν ἔχει”

They say the faster you can develop fluency, the quicker you can learn and comprehend the language—Whatevs, man.

Here's the context: I'm a couple of weeks into learning ancient Greek. This is the first class! And Dr. Joseph threw me into the deep end. Sink or swim.

I sank.

I felt like the biggest dummy, even though I knew I shouldn't, especially since it seemed like the other students were already Greek scholars rolling through it like champs.

This language has so many nuances that it's a BIG challenge to grasp. I'm already not that very good at English. Now, I'm learning something super far out of my scope. Ἀνδρέας (Andrew, my classmate) is already so far ahead of me. I should be as good as he is. He's like a freakin speed reader, and I'm over here bubbling and mumbling like a dumb dumb.

➡️ Why would I learn a dead language? Answer in the ps.

Go back and read those previous paragraphs. What lessons are there for us?

We can pull many out of this story, but I'll pluck out two today.

Lesson 1: Learners Never Lose

A learner's mindset leaves ego at the door and knows and is excited to expand one's knowledge and application of that knowledge. My mindset was that "I should know this" was silly. My mindset that "I should be as good as Andrew," if not better, was also silly.

Yet we do that all-the-time in business (and life). True? The silly part of me comparing myself to Andrew is that he was already months into Greek.

(Btw ego comes from the Greek word εγο means "I." Makes sense. :)

Even though I built a business valued at $70,000,000, I'm taking an amateur/learner's mindset. Why? Things have changed. The playing field is more even than it's been. We now have access to more knowledge than ever before.

Failure isn’t the end; it’s the beginning. Failure is data. Lets. Learn. Baby.

Lesson 2: Understand the Fluency Gap (Nuances)

What is the nuance? It's a subtle difference or change. Or it's a combination of things that create a difference or change. This is why strategies and tactics can only take you so far.

Greek has so many nuances. One minor change shifts the meaning completely.

The nuance of the word determines the meaning of the word.

λυω λυιες λυετε λυουσιν λυομεν

These all have the same root word (loose), and each nuance changes the meaning. I wouldn't have understood if I hadn't been aware of this.

We miss the nuances in our businesses all the time. You think you understand why something is working (or not), but if you don’t see the structure of your business—the actual rules governing success—you’re just guessing.

Better understand the nuances:

Mastery in business doesn't come down to effort. It comes down to understanding the nuances. What makes it work (or not)?

Having information about your business is just level one.

Nuance is meaning.

A client I was consulting was struggling to grow revenue. They thought the answer was lowering lead costs to get more leads.

The surface-level diagnosis? Reduce lead cost. Simple, yea?

Maybe not...

When we dug into the nuance, we found the real issue: lead conversion. The cost per lead was "fine." Who doesn’t want lower-cost leads? But the real opportunity was optimizing how they handled the quality leads they already had. That's nuance.

What's the problem behind the problem? It wasn’t about getting more leads but maximizing what was already working.

Do you think there are any nuances you're currently missing in your business? What area might you be spinning your wheels?

Let me know.

C

P.S. I’m learning ancient Greek because I want to read the New Testament in its original language along with the Greek Old Testament and other historical documents, books, and letters that support the basis of what I believe. 😅