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If you haven't read it yet, Founders At Work is, IMO, the most informative book I've ever read as far as what the early days of a startup are like. The most fa

If you haven't read it yet, Founders At Work is, IMO, the most informative book I've ever read as far as what the early days of a startup are like. The most fascinating part to me is realizing that few, if any, of the founders realized they were really on to something. I'm sure they all had plenty of self doubt and wondered if they were crazy at times. They believed in what they were doing, of course, but there's a period of time before a company becomes a breakout success that isn't sexy enough for most people to pay attention to. We tend to skip past the whole "working and building" part to the "look at how successful they are." That, in my opinion, can be dangerous. I'm very grateful that Jessica is going through all of the work documenting these stories for us. Thanks, Jessica.

mellavora 12y ago
At least once per week, I have an hour or two where my idea seems hopelessly stupid. You just have to power through it. Like doing heavy squats. You don't have to like doing them, you just have to do them. A fun game is to think of as many excuses as you can to not do the next set. The next set is one rep for each excuse on your list. Unless you don't have any excuses, in which case you do the set (there's no excuse not to, right?) Observe/acknowledge the emotion and get back to work.
- mlrtime 12y ago
  Good analogy, when I'm walking up to a heavy bar I still get nervous and think "Do I really have to do this?". But when I'm not squatting I miss it. The endorphins probably explain this a bit.
  - mellavora 12y ago
    @mlrtime: That's not nervousness, that is your body preparing to do something difficult, i.e. physiological arousal. Of course it has a cognitive component. let your thoughts do whatever they want. You are not your thoughts. Recognize that this is how you prepare to do the squat. Then do it. You of course know that heavy lifting builds strong bones. Ever realize that building bone strength increases mental strength? Bones are an important part of the endocrine system, they produce lots of interesting chemicals.

mellavora 12y ago

At least once per week, I have an hour or two where my idea seems hopelessly stupid. You just have to power through it. Like doing heavy squats. You don't have to like doing them, you just have to do them. A fun game is to think of as many excuses as you can to not do the next set. The next set is one rep for each excuse on your list. Unless you don't have any excuses, in which case you do the set (there's no excuse not to, right?) Observe/acknowledge the emotion and get back to work.

mlrtime 12y ago
Good analogy, when I'm walking up to a heavy bar I still get nervous and think "Do I really have to do this?". But when I'm not squatting I miss it. The endorphins probably explain this a bit.
- mellavora 12y ago
  @mlrtime: That's not nervousness, that is your body preparing to do something difficult, i.e. physiological arousal. Of course it has a cognitive component. let your thoughts do whatever they want. You are not your thoughts. Recognize that this is how you prepare to do the squat. Then do it. You of course know that heavy lifting builds strong bones. Ever realize that building bone strength increases mental strength? Bones are an important part of the endocrine system, they produce lots of interesting chemicals.