A man looks at the mirror and checks himself for a moment. He looks at what he has done in life so far, at the set of skills he has and at the way he looks; and reminds himself that this is what he is, this is as much as he can be regardless of who he wishes he was, and then goes to work.

A woman walks to work and looks around on her way to her office. She sees all these shops, companies, business centers, service providers, and wonders how they could start that, how all of them made it so successfully, how smart these people are to be able to set their businesses, enterprises and corporations.

The man and the woman sit at the end of the day and look through newspapers, Internet pages, TV and other media. They see all those successful business leaders, media stars, political icons, celebrities and else; and feel that they both share their common destiny of being spectators in a world where others, the smart ones, perform the show. They guessed their fate has been sealed and there is no alternative, no way out. They dream of another life, but they feel it’s too late.

For them and all others who feel like them , I have developed a new Theory that I want to briefly share with you: “The Every Second “Schmuck” Theory.

1) Definition of “Schmuck”: Although the word Schmuck is oftentimes considered a pejorative word, I’d rather look at its cute/funny side . I guess that’s connected to the fact that the word is originally an Yiddish language word, the language that my Polish Jewish grandfather spoked, as most Central European Jews did decades ago.  The word was adopted as part of American English slang and basically describes an idiot, a fool, somebody who is not smart. In its heavy form it can sound like a heavy curse (check Wikipedia for  more..) but in street conversations or in good Mel Brooks movies, it is a soft way of calling an idiot an idiot.

2) The “Subjective-pessimistic-look-at-our-odds-to succeed” Phenomenon: As described in the short story above, most people tend to believe that their odds to win, to succeed, are less than 50 % and in many cases under 10 %. It’s like sitting around a poker table and knowing before hand that the cards we will get are going to let us lose everything we have. In fact, it’s only thinking about that, as usually people would not even sit around the table and take the chance. They will rather keep what they have and don’t take any risks. The pessimistic look at statistics, reinforces the feeling among those who are afraid to lose that they are right in not making any move, because the odds are against them.

3) The real statistics: According to reliable statistical data, the percentage of self-employed, small entrepreneurs and business owners/shareholders reach on average almost 50 % of the active civil population in a majority of countries in the world. As an example, according to an OECD study on self-employment from 2008, in Turkey 43.5 % of the active population were self-employed and 36.3 % in Greece. That does not take into account business owners who set companies and hire employees. If  including those, the numbers rise over 50 %.

4) The Experiment: I asked the man and the woman that I mentioned above to repeat the actions I described at the beginning. This time, as part of the experiment, I asked them to be more conscious observers of the “winners” they were seeing around them and asked them to rate each one of them in a scale of 1 to 10, when 1 was a “total unequivocally schmuck” and 10 was “smart in every sense both intellectually and emotionally”. Then I asked them to rate themselves and position themselves on the scale  in comparison to all the others. Surprisingly for them, they found themselves among the 30 % of those who were higher in the scale. This experiment helped them understand that in spite of their previous low self-perception, they DID HAVE the skills and set of tools the others had and are needed for success.

5) The Analysis: When bringing together the statistical data and the results of the experiment, it  turned out clearly that there must be another explanation to the fact that many people can not see themselves moving into the “big light” of entrepreneurship. Obviously it is not based on the lack of essentials skills and qualities, but in lacking the BELIEF and UNDERSTANDING that they can be among the successful ones. The combination of all quantitative and qualitative empirical data provides the basis for a new paradigm that can help the skeptics turn into optimistic achievers.

6) THE EVERY SECOND SCHMUCK THEORY: Many people tend to think that the chances that they can build their own projects, start ups, businesses, personal leadership goals, are very low. They base their attitude on a worldview that divides humankind into born-to-be “winners” and “losers”.

But when they look around and analyze who are the “winners”, they realize that in fact, every second schmuck is opening a business, becoming a political leader or writing a successful blog on WordPress.

Based on the statistic data, observations and empirical information collected, I claim that if every second schmuck is able to make it high into the ladder, every other second person should be able to do so if determined, motivated and committed enough.

So, next time you look around, remember: Every second Schmuck is out there writing a success story, then now is your turn to write yours too. And that doesn’t mean you are also a Schmuck :)

Jorge Diener

Copyright 2010 Jorge Diener