Tag: trust

Moments

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When we feel pain, when we face a new crisis, when we are down and hopeless, everything becomes short term.

How will I wake up tomorrow? What will I do with this pain? How will I ever raise my head again? What is next for me?

Most of our thoughts deal with what is happening here and now. Either trying to push it away – how can I feel better? – or expanding it beyond its own boundaries – it will always be like this.

A different approach might be putting the moment in perspective. Looking at it and keeping it finite.

What am I feeling now? How likely is it that I will still feel the same next week, next month, next year? How many things will happen that will change how I feel? Was I feeling the same last week, last month, last year? Have I ever felt this way before? What did happen then?

Moments come and go, and it’s up to us for how long we want to hold onto them.

Allocation

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How much of your serenity, tranquillity, ease, peace of mind, joy comes from work, family, friends, me-time, or something else?

It’s a difficult question that probably leads to even more challenging answers. But by understanding that, we could probably better allocate time, resources, concerns, stress, stakes.

One example. If family time is what gives you strength, why worrying so much about losing that particular job, to the point you are making family time less pleasant?

Flexibility

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You need to train your capacity of letting go of ideas, projects, opinions.

Because when you get too attached to those, you risk getting your perspective on the world narrowed. And that’s when you stop learning and developing.

There’s no need to start with big things, but if you can open yourself to a different opinion, delegate a project to somebody you trust, abandon an idea that’s not taking you anywhere, and if you can do it over and over again, that is a great training for your future flexibility.

Detox

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A great resolution for the new year, in case you are late and wonder how to jump on the bandwagon, is to give up on your phone.

Not completely, not immediately.

Start with one hour. Leave it off, in another room. Or even better, check your weekly usage report and start with those apps that you feel are wasting the most of your time. Get rid of them, hide them, lock them.

If you manage to do it consistently for a few days in a row, it will stick, I promise.

The reward is now.

Supporting

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you are going to interview for a startup, between 30 and 100 employees, spend your focus probing one thing: what is the role of the founders?

That’s a critical phase for a founder to change their role: from guiding force to supporting resource. All the energy, the motivation, the knowledge, the urge that has led the founders to start the company needs to be passed over for it to scale, and the only way to do that is if the founders are capable to take a supporting role and let go of things, responsibilities, decisions.

It’s not really a matter of roles or of titles, but a matter of attitude. Look at three things.

  1. The tenure of the people who have joined the startup in the second phase, from 15 to 40 employees. If they leave soon, particularly if they have previous experience and success, that’s a sign the founders are still very much in control.
  2. The way the company spends money to train and promote (promising) employees. If there’s little to no money invested in personal development, salary adjustments, perks and benefits, that’s a sign the founders are still very much in control.
  3. The dynamic of the leadership team, the people who manage people. If there’s separation, factions, silos instead of unity, togetherness, mutual projects, that’s a sign the founders are still very much in control.

It’s important, because when founders act as a support to a growing company, it can be a beautiful opportunity. When they aim at retaining control, instead, well that’s not for everybody.