Category Archives: motivation

Making yourself uncomfortable

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I’ve written about this before, and I’ll probably write about it again since it’s something I’m still getting used to myself – You really do have to try and put yourself into uncomfortable situations on a daily basis.  “Successful people do what everyone else is unwilling to do.”  For introverted tech entrepreneurs, it’s really getting out there and getting your product in front of people and networking with as many people as possible.  I’ve been working on this aspect for 5 years, and am finally starting to overcome my fear for it.

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Are you willing to strikeout?

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Simon Sinek brings up a great point on his Re:Focus blog “Are you willing to strikeout?” He talks about Babe Ruth, who set the home run record, while at the same time setting the league strike-out record.

Most people want to hit home runs, the problem is they are afraid to fail in order to get there. As Babe Ruth proved, you can’t have one without the other. It’s perfectly fine to be a good, solid player who doesn’t go down swinging that often…but it also means you won’t hit that many home runs. Those players are needed on a team – they are the consistent and reliable players.

That’s pretty much how I view some of the projects that I work on.  The tasks of each of my sites may seem overwhelming, but I feel like I wouldn’t want it any other way.  I’d much rather hit the home run and strike out, than being a singles hitter.   Like the old saying goes, ‘Go big or go home!’.

One thing I probably would disagree with Simon on is the notion of the ‘fail’.  I don’t think Babe Ruth was trying to be the strike out king.  He just realized that he may strike out along the way of smacking a home run.  The same thing applies for entrepreneurs, don’t just give up and think ‘I’ll just fail at this and move on’.  I would say re-assess and re-define and get back in the box and start swinging for the fences again.

Buy the ticket, take the ride

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So while I was sick last week (which is why I didn’t get my free idea friday out!  Sorry!).  I watched the Hunter S. Thompson documentary, ‘Buy the ticket, take the ride’.  Toward the end of the movie, they say ‘Buy the ticket, take the ride.   As you get older, the ticket gets more expensive and the ride shorter’.  That statement really rung true in my mind.

I see why the Seed Companies look for younger entrepreneurs.  They’re able to take a lot more risk coming out of school.  There’s nothing that they won’t benefit from.  However, as you get older, the more difficult it is to really “buy that ticket”.  Once you get kids, a mortgage, it gets even harder.  One thing that we all take for granted as well is time.  The ride truly does get shorter and shorter, because time is the only asset that we’ll never get back.  Money we can make again, once a minute is gone, it’s gone forever.

So for anyone out there reading this, if you’re coming out of school or sick of your job, buy the ticket, take the ride!

Why? Why? Why?

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Simon Sinek covers a great comparison between the CEO of Sprint and the CEO of Nike in his blog post, Why Does Your Company Exist?

I decided to explore this question… Why does UDFI exist?  It started as a way just to be independent, but it’s morphed into something more through the years, eventually leading me to what I define as my ultimate goal for UDFI, to create products that makes the lives of its users better.  In turn, creating a company that can make the lives of its employees better, through making it’s users lives better.

It’s definitely a lofty goal, and rather ambiguous… how you ask?  In the past year i’ve re-focused my goals to make sure that all my products align to this goal.  I’ve re-focused my blog to help other entrepreneurs out there who are trying to figure out this startup game – to let them know that they’re not alone in the struggle for independence.  I’ve created Simplizt in hopes of helping other people who are unorganized to get organized, and to help those who are organized be even more efficient (giving themselves more free time to better their lives).

Keep tuning in to see if this actually happens! :)