"Easy", I thought, "I can do that".
What I realised in the process, is that the art of writing isnt like writing a business plan, a strategy, or even an instructional "startups for dummies" guide.
No, writing is about personalising -making the content relevant to your audience, in a relatable way. Sharing a part of yourself, so that the person reading the book, can take that information in & the apply it, in a meaningful & substantial way in their own lives.
The opportunity in doing that (there is opportunity in every challenge), for every author is in 'peeling back the layers' of your life experiences, in order to share the hard truths.
A little like building a startup career.
Building a singular startup is often an iterative process of product building - 'build, feedback, learn, improve, repeat'. But building a startup career is something different - it introduces an unknown and changing variable -people.
No matter where you start, or where you end up, suddenly there are people in the process - partners, funders, users, influencers, collaborators, supporters, even customers, who are all people, all of whom have there their own desires, objectives, needs and often, agendas. We form relationships, influences, share stories, and gradually let many of these people into the fabric of our lives, until one day, they form part of it.
Thats where then unpredictable element comes in. Suddenly, we cannot make decisions just on on the basis alone of what we learn; we also make decisions on the basis of how people will feel.
For instance, imagine you receive guidance from a wise mentor, which seems at odds with where your feedback loop tells you that you should head. Early, the decision is easier. As you grow and learn, you come to realise that 'perspective' is in itself a wonderful feedback mechanism. And in not taking the perspective of the mentor, there are implications to the future of feedback & guidance as a result. Because we are dealing with people.
I imagine that this is true not just in startups, but in any artisan craft -music, art, in fact in any profession.
At that point, the failure of any one venture ceases to have less relevance in the overall scheme of things. Failure & success are objective measures, but touching, impacting, changing people, creating real human feeling and emotions? I'm not sure that there's a set of measurable metrics for that - and thank goodness, in my opinion.
And that frees you to move to your most influential creative state, in becoming your ultimate creativite self.
Sudenly, no longer is 'failure' negative. Like the songwriter or performer who ceases to deliver the 'popular hit', and seeks to craft the message of her soul, and in doing so, acheives a status and level of creativity that often leads them to a whole new level of audience. I could list hundreds of names here, but a few will suffice -Lennon, Madonna, Clapton, Springsteen.
At a point in their careers, they all stopped creating for the hit, and started creating for the feeling.
And if you stay in the game long enough, so will you.
