Never give in. Never? What's your dream?

Repetition => Pattern Recognition

A friend, who is studying to be a dermato-pathologist related the following story to me.  Paraphrasing:

"As a skin/cell doctor, you basically look at cells under a microscope all day.  And they all look the same (it is frustrating day in and day out).  Then, six/seven months in, something happens.  You begin to see the differences with confidence.  You can tell apart a sick cell from a healthy one, one cancerous type from another ..."

So it goes.  It reminded me of learning English as a second language when I was 10.  At first, everything sounded like the gibberish in a Charlie Brown cartoon.  Wawawa - wawa.  Then, one day (or phase of days), it falls into place.  "And there was light. And it was good."

I wonder what happens if the resident gets discouraged and gives up at month five.  Or what if it takes longer than six months to begin to have the patterns fall into place?  What if it takes longer than a year to learn a foreign language, and you still find yourself among foreigners?

Most patterns in life don't stand out quite so easily

(On a side note, there is a fascinating history with a 1977 Architecture book called A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander. Some of the patterns we needn't learn from scratch - they have been documented!)

Dream vs. Reality

Of course, one could always give up on a dream - startup dream or dream to sing or whatever.  For a new entrepreneur, there are challenges galore.  Why bother?  Why not re-apply for a comfortable six figure job with a big name company?  Don't you want that nice apartment?  Don't you want that new car? C'mon, it's not giving up - you're just taking the smarter way to success.  So it goes.

Success, however you measure it, is about persistence.  And it is about learning to be resourceful (and resourcefulness can help you sell your first "lemonade").  You start somewhere, and being resourceful, you persist and make it (make what?) better every day.  Then, one day, there was light. And it was good.

As with learning a new language, it seems that sticking around and persisting really leads to result.  And just to be clear, persisting doesn't mean inflexibility.  Truth is, you will be changing your ideas and approaches all the time.  Rather, persistence is about making progress.  And the question may become more about how to optimize progress, rather than whether there will be one. So, when you become discouraged or become tempted to take the easy way out, consider stepping forward rather than stepping back.

"Never give in. Never! Never! Never!"

I admit, I don't speak entirely out of experience. Much of it is out of faith. After all, I am still learning and growing - including how to code. And I am exploring a new venture (calling it Talent Tap for now), after failing with a previous one.

I am comforted by the words of those who had faith before me.  At the risk of being overly dramatic, I find it fun to record Churchill's words from his 1941 speech at the Harrow School:

Churchill exhorting a nation to hang in there.

Doing vs. Thinking

And hitting that tipping point, where patterns come together, where momentum builds is not just about thinking and planning. Instead, it's more about iterating by doing. Sometimes it takes a bit of an attitude shift. And with that, I'm going to try 12 days of building.

Why do people ask: "how do you create your own luck?"?

Big Name Entrepreneurs

I was listening to Michael Wood, Aaron Levie, and Naval Ravikant tonight. They were on a Wall Street Journal panel talking on the topic: "How I Built It."  Michael is an avuncular, older entrepreneur who was a law firm partner by the time he started building LeapFrog. Aaron, by contrast is a youthful sage. At 28, he's now heading a 850 person organization called Box.  It was apparent that regardless of age, all three were very well-informed about the world, very self-aware, and very excited about what they do.  Another way to say that self-awareness and leadership is age independent.

The real deal - whiz kid

How to Create Your Own Luck

Even in the heart of startup land, people ask (what seems to me) naive questions like "How do you create your own luck?" This is a question you often hear around the startup circles.  I suspect that people have this question for various reasons, and these come to mind:

• Misunderstanding - People misunderstand the modest statement behind success: "I was lucky"
• Efficiency - People often find the easy way out desirable (versus relentless hard work)
• Pattern mind - The patterns behind success stories are difficult to fathom (if there are patterns at all)
• Role model - People genuinely want/need an inspirational story from a role model of overcoming the odds
• Safety net - Luck serves as a mental safety net. If luck is the driver behind success, then failure is not my fault.
• Immaturity - People just don't know better questions yet.

Some Answers

Anyway, the answer to the question generally tends to be an arithmetic one.  In Aaron's case, the story is told how he got Mark Cuban (the Shark) to invest.  The luck was created because the team hustled like nobody's business, talking to hundreds of investors.  This is a common pattern to those who successfully create traction to move forward.

Michael agreed. There are really two things: 1) Persistence and 2) Expertise.  One, you have to persist, because if you exit, then the game is over.  If you stick around and keep playing, you at least have the chance to get lucky (it is tempting to give up - I reflected on Churchill's dictum never give in in this post about persisting).  Two, it helps to know everything about the field you're in, because it helps you capitalize on the opportunity when you see it.  I think this instance of seizing the opportunity is what strikes many as luck, but it really isn't.  It is the narrative of overnight success that took 10 years to make.

And I might add, if you really want to get lucky, it really helps if you are novel.  If you know a lot about disrupting education, but so does everyone else, then it's harder to get lucky.  This is why you don't see many new startups selling insurance policies. Or why it would be hard to succeed in fields like healthcare or education: virtually everyone agrees that these industries are broken.

All of that said, don't forget to celebrate the journey - often it's not about the goal. And, when you feel like you need to get lucky, remember that it might be time to step forward, and not back.

And the journey starts with finding personal happiness and your place in the world.  If you are looking for practical tips, I wrote a post about my book on happiness.  You can find the book on Amazon - How To Be Happy: 12 Powerful Steps.

What I Learned from George Washington About Startups and Life

Don't ask me why, but I had never read a Washington Biography.  Lincoln I had always found fascinating and devoured, but as for the first US President ... I don't know ... somehow he seemed a bit abstract and aloof and not interesting as a human being.  I was ill informed.  I found a free Kindle book on George Washington by William Roscoe Thayer on Amazon.  I was struck by parallels to the startup life, and to life in general, and wanted to share them.

from Amazon - not your average George

1. American Independence as a Hack - Persistence: Never Give Up

A lot of the epiphanies for me are a direct result of my ignorance of details the American Revolution.  For example, I knew that July 4, 1776 is celebrated as the Independence Day.  I had no idea how drawn out the actual conflict was, from Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 to British surrender at Yorktown in October 1781.  And even then the war wasn't formally ended.

What is most surprising for me was how much of a hack the whole operation was during those long years.  Thayer expresses thus: "it must appear that the American Revolution was almost the most hare-brained enterprise in history."  What he means is how often the British had the chance to crush American rebellion, how long-drawn out the process was, how ill-provisioned the American opposition was.

So, then why didn't the British win?  There are many reasons.  And other founding fathers played their roles and contributed to the success.  But the primary key is Washington.  Washington was the persistent voice through all ups and downs.  Washington "never wavered" and essentially acted as the constant light while others disagreed.  Washington became a human symbol of the foundation on which the whole thing hinged and "the people knew this."  It's amazing.

Lesson: If you are fighting for a cause you believe in, don't give up.  Stay constant and true.
Corollary: Find something you believe in with all your heart.  It may not pay off soon, but over time, people will recognize your work.  Nothing great is easy, so don't give up.

(See related post where I talk about temptation to give up in my own venture - never give in.)

2. Leadership Matters

So, Washington mattered.  And he mattered supremely.  Without that one man, there might not be America as we know it today.  One man.  Stop and think about it and it's kind of amazing.  But, funny thing is, I had this sensation a few weeks ago when I watched a documentary on Vince Lombardi.  Again, I'm kind of weird for not knowing much about this American icon.  Learning about Lombardi's impact on the team - with same players - was a revelation.  Just as reading about Washington's singular contribution to victory was a revelation.

Before: In 1958, the Greenbay Packers finished with a 1-10-1 record.  On Feb 1959, Lombardi took over.
After: Well, for football fans and Packers in particular, you know the rest is history.  One man.

I attended a school, the mission of which was "to improve society by developing principled leaders in the world of practical affairs."  Come election time, I am tempted to think (as the masses often do) 'my one vote doesn't matter ... at least not much.'  And that's probably true.  But, at certain critical moments, and in leadership role, one vote, one act, one person, can and do make a profound difference.

This is Jefferson, the scholar ... beautiful Charlottesville

Lesson: The individual leader matters.  The individual matters supremely.
Corollary: In a way, every individual matters for that role.  So, hire wisely.

Hire the Washington or Lombardi for that role, so that they turn the tide of events against a bigger foe.  Help that leader turn a losing season into a championship sweep.  Neither Washington nor Lombardi became what they are overnight.  Behind their contributions stands clues to character and achievements.  It's not always the one who spoke the loudest (Adams) or had the most gleaming celebrity (Franklin) in their past that becomes that dogged, persistent, and constant figure necessary to win a long struggle.