Category: entrepreneurship

brain massage

Suppose a brain cramp is a real thing. Furthermore, suppose that quitting or taking a break isn’t an option when the cramp manifests itself, much like a marathon runner who cramps up in the final meters.

Undoubtedly, the results of that forced endurance will be felt afterward. Likely, the marathon runner will find it (more) difficult to walk. The brain cramp may result in a reduced ability to think straight.

What’s the way out? For muscles, a massage seems fitting. Perhaps applying alternating hot and cold pressure alleviates the pain? If so, what’s the alternative for a brain? How does one massage it?

What helps muscles is moving them in the exact opposite direction. To recover from a figurative brain cramp, does one need to stimulate it in the opposite way of what caused the cramp? Refrain from stimuli altogether?

Given the complexity of the brain, a single, correct answer is unobtainable. Doing nothing can be strenuous.

term gradation

Words have meaning, obviously. But how much meaning do they entail exactly? When someone says; I prefer direct communication. How direct? A little less indirect than very indirect? Adjectives aren’t all that helpful.

Describing personality traits and soft-skills, requires more than just words. It requires an added linguistic layer. An auxiliary semantical layer that provides a scale for words that are supposed to be clear. However, without a sense of gradation, the same word in the same language can mean something different altogether, depending on the interpretation.

vision on demand

What’s the ideal balance between a roadmap based on vision and demand? Founders will have a clear and outspoken vision on how they wish to see their products evolve. However, once the product is offered to the market, the market will influence the roadmap. Inevitably, the market will have a say in future initiatives and timing.

Listening exclusively to the market makes for a roadmap that lacks vision. Ignoring customers and input provided by the market can’t possibly be interesting.

Hybrid is the way to go.

lion’s ecosystem den

Developing a product or proposition in a market without experience in that particular market requires approaching similar companies. Even though your solution may be considered as a threat to them, or inversely, you may consider theirs as threats to yours, building a connection with those companies is crucial.

Getting familiar with all the ins and outs of a market or industry takes much time. Building a network to leverage all by yourself is quite the challenge.

Being part of an ecosystem facilitates building an ecosystem.

over half

At the same altitude as the starting point, a destination with a mountain in between requires a climb and a descent. A significant milestone, apart from the final destination, will be the highest point of the mountain. You’re halfway there.

After that point, nothing is the same. There is less ground to cover than what has been covered. Logically, that’s how the concept of 50% works.

Being able to express 50% progress implies understanding the whole trajectory. Without, there is no telling if the goal is approaching and if the effort to get there will require more, equal, or less energy than up until the point where you are now.

Quantifiable goals, expressable in a combination of numbers and time, are crucial for a business and its people to motivate themselves and others around them.

meaningless is more

Less isn’t always more. Meaningless work or activities don’t contribute to anything. Deliberately pursuing meaningless activities, albeit temporarily, does fulfill a purpose. They might help to relax. Structural and prolonged meaningless activities, on the other hand, don’t really fulfill a purpose.

If it were possible for meaningfulness to be expressed on a scale, having a job with the maximum amount of meaningfulness might be unattainable.

What is, however attainable is, trying to maximize meaningfulness and increasing it day by day.

brain train

Every day a different muscle group. That’s what it takes to train muscles. Train them to become larger and more powerful.

Training the same muscles within 24 hours has a detrimental effect. The muscles need a day to restore. Training within the timeframe the muscles require to rest has an adverse impact. It makes the muscles smaller or less powerful.

What is true of muscles is perhaps also true of the brain? Provided that excessive use leads to cramps, how does one train the brain?

What’s the ideal balance between doing something every day to become better at it and resting sufficiently, again, to become better at it?

genius interpretation

No genie! That’s not what I meant. Aladdin must have thought to himself. Numerous times.

You can explain something as clearly as possible. However, if the genie interprets it the way it pleases, you still end up with something different altogether.

Don’t focus solely on explaining something clearly. Confirm your customer understood correctly.

wait for it

Sometimes, the entrepreneur has to wait for certain things to fall into place. For instance, the engineering department releasing a new version of their product or a shipment of raw product due to arrive, to process it.

Those are challenging times. Entrepreneurs are typically impatient. Having to wait goes against their beliefs. Yet, sometimes, there is no way around it.

With an incessant inflow of work, why would waiting ever pose a problem? Can’t the entrepreneur just attend to all the other tasks?

They probably could. That doesn’t actually solve the problem. It camouflages the waiting time. It doesn’t make it disappear.

Sometimes waiting has to take place. Stressing about it doesn’t reduce waiting time. Accept the waiting time as gracious as possible.

tasty brand

Two cookies, baked in the same factory, with the same recipe. Yet, one is generally considered tastier than the other.

One is distributed by a premium brand in equally premium shops, the other one is distributed in discount supermarkets.

If your brain can trick you into thinking one tastes better than the other, think of all the other effects perceived brand value has.

Your brand is an asset and needs constant nurturing.