Tribal Pizza

Nearly Impossible

The difference between "impossible" and "nearly impossible" is usually will.  Your will to do the unpleasant.  Your will to give up something you enjoy.  Your will to believe in your capabilities even more than you are asking others to, and then deliver so far beyond what was promised that you remove all doubts about your future promises.

"Nearly impossible" is the cover-charge to greatness.  You can't talk the bouncer into making an exception. You have to pay if you want past the velvet rope.  You also can't peek inside and decide if you really want to go in or not.  You have to decide up front and, if you're wrong, there's no refund.

Are you doing something that's "nearly impossible", or merely "difficult"?

Learning to Fly

The plan was to jump off the cliff and learn to fly on the way down.  Flying seemed important prior to jumping, but it has taken on an unimaginable importance now.  While in the air, learning to fly is more important than anything else.  It doesn't matter if you learn to hunt, learn to mate, or learn to build a really swank nest.  There's no credit for hitting the ground with these skills, as important as they may be later in life.

Sometimes it's hard to focus. 

This isn't one of those times.

Is there something you need to focus on?  Can you walk to the edge, jump off, and make it so you have no other viable choice but success?

Activity != Progress

Now that I'm working in a small startup instead of a 15,000 company it's become clear that there are different efficiency requirements.  In the large org, I used to go to meeting after meeting where folks would talk about what they are doing and give lots of excuses as to why they aren't done.  Most of these people weren't slackers, they were actually doing lots of work, but nothing of much value was getting accomplished. 
As an example, I remember hearing from the "Automation Team" that they were "very close" to getting an automated testing suite set up for our product.

I heard this for a year and a half.

We shipped two versions and they still weren't done.

They said that changes in the UI were causing them problems.  You know, the changes that we made in the versions that went out the door to paying customers.

I never heard them put a stop date on it.  I even set up some automated testing using a different, less expensive tool (and told them about it).  Instead of focusing on what we were trying to do (get a good product out to market), they had chosen their Everest and decided that they were going to die trying.

On the startup side of the coin, we're either swimming or we're sinking.  If our actions don't get us funding, get us leads, get us partners, or get us product, then we're simply flailing on the way down and there's no credit for that.

Is what you're working on right now the most valuable thing that you can do?  Can it be done faster in a different way?  Have you been working on something so long that it may not even be relevant anymore

Adding On or Crossing Off?

I'm a big fan of lists.  For most of my working life, I've been handed lists of tasks or goals and have turned those into lists of steps which I perform.  I'd cross off, check off, rearrange, reorder, and, eventually, complete my list.  Then it was time for the next list.

I derived great satisfaction from crossing things off my lists.

Things have changed in my startup life.  I now derive great satisfaction from adding on to the list.  I no longer try to be "done".   Being done at this point means that I haven't created enough ways to be valuable to the company.  Being done means that I haven't thought far enough ahead.  Being done means that I've failed.

So what's on your list for today?  By the end of the day will it be half as long or twice as long?