My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley by Ben Casnocha. If I remember correctly, started following Ben's blog couple of years ago via a link from Marginal Revolution. Although, I don't agree with all of Ben's life style choices but his optimism, hard work ethics, intellectual diversity and curiosity has always been very inspiring. This is a must read book in an era where the technological unemployment is slowly engulfing us and most are looking for someone else to blame while comfortably dwelling in Lake Wobegon. Yes, Ben was lucky enough to be born in a understanding, well to-do and malleable family but that doesn't take the credit way from him. He is what he is today because of his hard work, perseverance and his willingness to find and listen to mentors.
Importance of RQ:
If I can get up today, I can get up any day. During the perfect storm, you must have a high resilience quotient. Prepare for it.
Learning from failure:
When you are controlling your own destiny, as most entrepre- neurs are, it is easy to place all the blame on yourself. Don’t. Circumstances matter and not all circumstances are within your control. For failure due to circumstances out of your control, try to learn from it and then embrace the mantra, “Shit happens.” Instead, figure out what you can control and constantly reinvent it. If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway, because you won’t know when it’s broke to begin with—so preempt failure caused by complacency.
The best way to overcome the fear of failure: fail. Fail at little things. Get good at it. Laugh at yourself. Fail with 100 percent effort—don’t engage in the kind of self-protection that 75 percent effort affords (“Well, if I had given it my all I would have succeeded”). Then when the stakes get higher, you’ll have practice. There will still be fear. Fear of embarrassment, maybe. But with practice you’ll learn to see failure as just feedback for improvement. For me, more often than not, failure means success got stuck in traffic.
Intellectual diversity:
Expose yourself to as much randomness as possible. Attend con- ferences no one else is attending. Read books no one else is reading. Talk to people no one else is talking to. Who would have thought that giving a speech at a funeral at age twelve would introduce me to a man who would intro- duce me to my first business contact who would introduce me to several other important people in my life? That’s luck. That’s randomness.
Fueling the Brain & Body:
Three small things are necessary for a successful and sustainable entrepreneurial lifestyle:
Sleep. Overwhelming scientific research shows we need at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night for peak performance. Fully rested, my one hour will be more effective than your three sleep-deprived hours.
Nutrition. There’s nothing worse than running to a meet- ing feeling hungry, or worse yet, trying to catch a flight with no time for dinner. Schedule time for meals. Travel with a healthy supply of energy bars. Also, eating break- fast has been proven time after time to be essential for top performance all day long. Don’t skip it!
Exercise. I work out one hour a day, six days a week. I immediately feel the downer when I go a few days with no treadmill or weights. Many moderately successful, mildly interesting entrepreneurs work long hours and swear they have no time to get to a gym. But the very best people in the business world, I have found, always find time to get their one hour in. If they can find time for it, so can you.
Find meaning:
Find meaning in your work and your passions, rather than seeking it in golf or other hobbies. There just isn’t much room for frivolity when you’re committed to a twenty- eight-hour schedule in a twenty-four-hour day. But that doesn’t mean you can’t recharge your batteries. Your work and personal life should be rewarding enough that you don’t need to sneak off to the golf course or a bar to derive enjoyment.
If you want to start a business, think about judging its worthiness and ultimate success by metrics other than simple financial gain. The experience you gain developing critical life skills should certainly be high on the list.
What to ask:
The timeless start-up aphorism goes, “Never ask for money. Ask for advice instead, and you are more likely to get money. Never ask for free advice. Ask for money instead, and you’ll get free advice.” Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to ask for something different.
On Optimism:
Have you ever met a pessimistic entrepreneur? I haven’t. Great entrepreneurs are what I call “cold water optimists.” They’re upbeat about the future, they believe they can create a better tomorrow, they believe that people are basically good, they believe hope inspires. But they are also practical—hence the “cold water” on their face that forces them to confront reality. They convert their optimism into tangible actions. Newspaper headlines scream pessimism. Politicians and pundits can make a living off negativity. Cocktail parties are full of doomsayers, with optimists (especially young ones) written off as uneducated in the rough and unfair real world. It’s important for entrepreneurs to avoid these stains. Optimism opens the creative process for seeing the invisi- ble. Optimism is the entrepreneur’s flute—sweet and some-times the lone voice, but it’s what makes us different.
Importance of RQ:
If I can get up today, I can get up any day. During the perfect storm, you must have a high resilience quotient. Prepare for it.
Learning from failure:
When you are controlling your own destiny, as most entrepre- neurs are, it is easy to place all the blame on yourself. Don’t. Circumstances matter and not all circumstances are within your control. For failure due to circumstances out of your control, try to learn from it and then embrace the mantra, “Shit happens.” Instead, figure out what you can control and constantly reinvent it. If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway, because you won’t know when it’s broke to begin with—so preempt failure caused by complacency.
The best way to overcome the fear of failure: fail. Fail at little things. Get good at it. Laugh at yourself. Fail with 100 percent effort—don’t engage in the kind of self-protection that 75 percent effort affords (“Well, if I had given it my all I would have succeeded”). Then when the stakes get higher, you’ll have practice. There will still be fear. Fear of embarrassment, maybe. But with practice you’ll learn to see failure as just feedback for improvement. For me, more often than not, failure means success got stuck in traffic.
Intellectual diversity:
Expose yourself to as much randomness as possible. Attend con- ferences no one else is attending. Read books no one else is reading. Talk to people no one else is talking to. Who would have thought that giving a speech at a funeral at age twelve would introduce me to a man who would intro- duce me to my first business contact who would introduce me to several other important people in my life? That’s luck. That’s randomness.
Fueling the Brain & Body:
Three small things are necessary for a successful and sustainable entrepreneurial lifestyle:
Sleep. Overwhelming scientific research shows we need at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night for peak performance. Fully rested, my one hour will be more effective than your three sleep-deprived hours.
Nutrition. There’s nothing worse than running to a meet- ing feeling hungry, or worse yet, trying to catch a flight with no time for dinner. Schedule time for meals. Travel with a healthy supply of energy bars. Also, eating break- fast has been proven time after time to be essential for top performance all day long. Don’t skip it!
Exercise. I work out one hour a day, six days a week. I immediately feel the downer when I go a few days with no treadmill or weights. Many moderately successful, mildly interesting entrepreneurs work long hours and swear they have no time to get to a gym. But the very best people in the business world, I have found, always find time to get their one hour in. If they can find time for it, so can you.
Find meaning:
Find meaning in your work and your passions, rather than seeking it in golf or other hobbies. There just isn’t much room for frivolity when you’re committed to a twenty- eight-hour schedule in a twenty-four-hour day. But that doesn’t mean you can’t recharge your batteries. Your work and personal life should be rewarding enough that you don’t need to sneak off to the golf course or a bar to derive enjoyment.
If you want to start a business, think about judging its worthiness and ultimate success by metrics other than simple financial gain. The experience you gain developing critical life skills should certainly be high on the list.
What to ask:
The timeless start-up aphorism goes, “Never ask for money. Ask for advice instead, and you are more likely to get money. Never ask for free advice. Ask for money instead, and you’ll get free advice.” Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to ask for something different.
On Optimism:
Have you ever met a pessimistic entrepreneur? I haven’t. Great entrepreneurs are what I call “cold water optimists.” They’re upbeat about the future, they believe they can create a better tomorrow, they believe that people are basically good, they believe hope inspires. But they are also practical—hence the “cold water” on their face that forces them to confront reality. They convert their optimism into tangible actions. Newspaper headlines scream pessimism. Politicians and pundits can make a living off negativity. Cocktail parties are full of doomsayers, with optimists (especially young ones) written off as uneducated in the rough and unfair real world. It’s important for entrepreneurs to avoid these stains. Optimism opens the creative process for seeing the invisi- ble. Optimism is the entrepreneur’s flute—sweet and some-times the lone voice, but it’s what makes us different.
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