Relax. Startup Success Has Nothing To Do With Hard Work
Instead of grinding every day, here are seven areas to focus on
I recently had a long conversation with a founder friend who had worked herself to the edge of burnout. A yearlong period of slow growth and stagnation had left her frustrated, exhausted, and ready to give up.
As a startup founder, executive, and adviser over two decades, I can totally relate. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been racing toward the brick wall of mental and physical collapse — brought on by the mantra of winning by working harder than everyone else.
Along the way, though, I learned that there’s a huge difference between creating a culture of hard work and creating a culture of results. So before you start making ill-advised pivots borne out of mental desperation, ask yourself which of those two outcomes you’re chasing.
Because one is a path up, the other is a spinning wheel.
Hard work has its limitations
I’m not here to downplay the importance of hard work in the startup world; quite the opposite. Hard work is the minimum requirement for a startup to keep its doors open. New businesses often fail when their leadership just assumes that things will just work out in their favor.
