against some odds

When you can’t make the turn, riding a motorcycle, sometimes you have to accelerate. Slowing down will decrease forward momentum, as well as the angle with which you can turn. Not releasing the throttle or even speeding up to make the turn feels very counter-intuitive. It requires a unique mindset. A mindset that doesn’t come around often.

Taking a turn while approaching a proverbial wall, every fiber in your body is screaming, slow down. That’s what it feels like (most of the time) to run a startup.

The tenacity to not release the throttle, even accelerate, is what separates entrepreneurs suitable for a new, innovative business model from those suitable for an attested and proven business model.

If you think it’s too hot, it probably is

It’s Saturday morning, and you decide to grind some East-African coffee beans. You’re fancy like that. You brew a cup of joe. Eager to taste the black gold, you put your lips to the steaming cup. You hesitate, pause and think for a second about the temperature of the coffee. It’s probably too hot.

How will you know for sure, though? You take a sip. Guess what. It’s too hot.

Completely neglecting the fact you were able to witness steam emerging from your cup seconds ago.

You don’t always need sensory input to believe (in something).