Trust Your Gut, bro!

Hey guys, trust your gut.  Silicon Valley’s big on intuition

If it doesn’t feel right, or taste right, it’s probably not going to work out, ya know? 

Also, do your homework.

Don’t want to look like a fool working in an industry and you don’t know what you should, right? 

Finally, listen to wise friends/colleagues/the experts. 

Why repeat people’s mistakes in the past? Learn from those who tried and failed/succeeded/some degree therein…

I hate whenever I get this advice. Nearly every blog, book, magazine, podcast, speaker’s event for startups offers advice along these lines in one form or another. They’ve basically described every avenue for which anyone can possibly make a decision except through divine insight.

It’s sound advice. You really should trust your gut, do your homework, and crowdsource with smart/wise people whenever you’re doing a major venture. While we’re on it, you should also exercise more, eat less carbs, quit smoking! Be smart with money, don’t cheat on your spouse, read more, think more, do more and stop being so wasteful.

Golly, there’s a lot of GREAT ADVICE! I can do this all day. Now go forth and conquer!

The true issue is that this advice does not explain implementation or reasoning. Why listen to your intuition? Why is it important to do research? and why/how do you decide whose counsel to heed? THAT’S the stuff I want to hear more about. Anyone can look at you and say “hey, lose some weight!” …….but what’s the plan?

 

Why are you so lazy?

I waste a lot of time.

I play video games, read trashy sci-fi novels, spend precious hours on the internet looking at bike pants.

When I die (if I die….) will I look back on my life and think “what a waste…” ?

Probably not.

It’s important to have downtime. Here’s what Scott Adams (Creator of Dilbert) said

“Experts say our brains need boredom so we can process thoughts and be creative. I think they’re right. I’ve noticed that my best ideas always bubble up when the outside world fails in its primary job of frightening, wounding or entertaining me,” Adams wrote.

“My period of greatest creative output was during my corporate years,” he continued, “when every meeting felt like a play date with coma patients.”

WSJ 2011


 

 

 

 

In my line of work, I get to make a lot of wacky decisions. Things like “hey, what if we open a new office this year?”, “what’s our health care insurance going to cover?”, “who do we sacrifice to Nyarlathotep so that we pass from the gaze the dread being Azathoth for a few more millenia?!

DAMN!

You need spend some serious time for things to marinate on these matters. You can’t just multi-task your way into these decisions, and moreover, the will it takes for someone to STOP and THINK is a lost discipline….

When was the last time YOU stopped and thought? Literally, stopped everything and focused your mind on ONE topic. The last time I did that was in third grade, when I tried to pass math class and long division was killing my mind.

Having something mindless, pointless, and stupid going on acts as a form of meditation. You play a mind-numbing video game, you’re practically going through the motions. Working-out is probably the most boring thing I’ve ever done/do/will do. But those things free my mind and let me ruminate on the bigger issues. When you need to think of the big-picture, you gotta let the brain un-wind and de-stress.

So play some SC2 and meditate. It’s probably going to be as institutionalized as Buddhism koans are by this time next century.

 

To love the product, and not the process is B.S.

First of all, I love passionate people. Passion’s important; it’s key. Entrepreneurs need it.

But I don’t love products, services, or gizmos. And for whatever reason, some tech-preneurs somehow got it mixed up that in order to be successful (or their enterprise to be successful), they need to L.O.V.E. their product/service/gizmo.

B.S.

You need to L.O.V.E. the process of building, the people collaborating/supporting the process, and the exploration of learning new things.

Question: Did Steve Jobs love the iPhone?

I mean, if he was born 1,500 years ago, would he have lived a hollow life without building the iPhone?  Hell no, he would have lived a rich and fulfilling life as a medieval warlock, terrorizing the peasants and culminating with being burned at the stake.

Look at the eyes.....maaaaagic!

 

 

Look at their EYES! WARLOCKS!

 

Question: Does Tony Hsieh love shoes/apparel?

No, the man loves community. And he fulfills that love by building an excellent culture that wants to serve their customers the best way possible. He’d be doing the same things he’s doing at Zappos even if he ran a petting zoo or a casino (note, if Tony starts a petting zoo-casino you heard it here first)

By the way, Fred Wilson agrees with me so you know I’m “on the side of the Angels” on this one (pun executed and delivered…)

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/01/the-management-team-while-building-the-business.html

core value

I’m going to say that there’s a great number of core values out there, but if I had only one here’s what I got

“Humanity, and everything that has its *essence, is sacred.”

 

 

*zen, tao, spirituality, karma, luck, koans, etc