Most of us have experienced the paralysis of waiting for a perfect plan that never quite arrives. Jenny Wood, founder of Google’s Own Your Career program, says that the instinct to wait is one of the biggest obstacles standing between us and our goals. Real progress, she argues, requires the courage to act—even when you’re not fully ready.
So, what does it actually look like to be a go-getter? It’s less about being reckless and more about developing smart habits around risk, mistakes, and decision-making. Keep reading to get Wood’s advice on how to be a go-getter in your life and career.
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How to Be a Go-Getter
In her book Wild Courage, Jenny Wood argues that many people fail to achieve their goals because they’re afraid of taking risks and being called impulsive or reckless—instead, they let overthinking delay action. But she says that being successful requires you to be a go-getter, which means having the courage to act fast and being willing to take risks.
Wood was a researcher at Harvard Business School and is the founder of Google’s Own Your Career program. She contends that, if you wait for the perfect moment or to have 100% certainty in your plan before starting something, you’ll never start. Further, risks are necessary for you to progress, and people are generally more regretful over the risks they didn’t take than the unsuccessful ones that they did. In her book, Wood shares her expert advice on how to be a go-getter at work and in life in general.
(Shortform note: Wood’s sentiment to take risks and embrace failure is a popular one—so much so that “fail fast, fail often” has become the unofficial motto of the technology industry in its ongoing quest to experiment and innovate. However, some experts believe this motto can be dangerous as it causes some people to rush into half-baked plans. The key to succeeding from failures is taking time to learn from your mistakes, not just rushing in to correct your missteps with another half-baked idea. Make sure each action is targeted toward a specific goal, and minimize risks whenever possible.)
Tip #1: Drop Perfectionism
Wood says that, to be a go-getter, you must release your desire for perfection. She explains that many people wait to take action until they feel their plan or skills are perfect. In reality, perfection doesn’t exist. So, instead of waiting, identify first steps, get started, and iron out the rest as you go.
Prolific creator Julia Cameron reiterates the importance of overcoming perfectionism in The Artist’s Way, explaining that it’s one of the biggest barriers to creative success. Like Wood, Cameron says that getting started and working through mistakes as they come is the only way to accomplish something. To help you in this process, Cameron recommends aiming for “good enough” rather than perfect and being okay with producing “bad” work. Before you produce something great, you’ll have to produce a lot of mediocre work.
This one is definitely the most difficult for me. A few years ago, a colleague noted that nothing I produced had typos in it. I took pride in that at the time, but now I wonder what important things I could have accomplished if I hadn’t taken so much time making smallish things “perfect.”
Tip #2: Embrace Mistakes
According to Wood, go-getters know they’ll naturally make mistakes. They embrace mistakes and learn from them rather than being scared off by them. So, when you make a mistake, recognize that it’s normal, fix it, apologize where apologies are necessary, look for any positives the situation might offer, and lean on trusted colleagues to help you out.
This is one I’m getting better at! Working at Shortform, I’m exposed to many authors who laud the virtues of learning from mistakes. What I appreciate from Wood is the emphasis on a couple of aspects that others often omit:
- Apologize when necessary.
- Lean on others to help you out.
It’s one thing to own up to yourself when you make mistakes; it’s another thing to do this publicly. We might believe that people will think less of us if they know we messed up, but our acknowledgement of our missteps can actually garner others’ respect, not to mention trust.
The other point Wood makes—we should depend on colleagues for help—is often more appreciated than we realize. It also fosters teamwork and lets others shine!
Tip #3: Think First
Go-getters take risks, but Wood warns against taking unnecessary risks. She recommends you spend the appropriate time making decisions. Pause to ensure you’ve given yourself time to properly consider your options, and don’t let pride drive you to quick and unnecessarily reckless action.
While it’s important to take time to consider your decisions before acting, Ryan Holiday warns in Courage Is Calling that taking too much time can be detrimental—you risk the decision being taken out of your hands. For example, if you wait too long to decide to invest in a stock, the prices might increase so much that you’ll have missed your window of opportunity.
| Go-Getters and Go-Givers There’s a school of thought that says being driven and ambitious is valuable—but only when paired with a focus on providing value to others first. True effectiveness comes from generosity, not self-interest. The real contrast isn’t between go-getters and go-givers; it’s between those who contribute to others and those who only take. In their book The Go-Giver, Bob Burg and John D. Mann argue that true success comes from prioritizing giving over getting. Through a parable about a mentor guiding an ambitious but frustrated man named Joe, the authors present their “Five Laws of Stratospheric Success,” making the case that adding value to others’ lives (not as a tactic, but as a genuine philosophy) leads to both fulfillment and business success. |
Go-Getters Have Wild Courage
Being a go-getter is just one aspect of the wild courage that Wood describes in her book. To learn more, I recommend you check out the book, as well as Shortform’s guide to it.
