1 00:00:00,300 --> 00:00:02,460 Welcome back to the episode of the Startup Therapy Podcast. 2 00:00:02,460 --> 00:00:04,830 This is Ryan Rutan, joined as always by my 3 00:00:04,830 --> 00:00:07,710 friend, the founder, and CEO of startups.com. 4 00:00:07,710 --> 00:00:12,750 Will Schroeder, will they say that pets grow to 5 00:00:12,750 --> 00:00:13,950 resemble their owners? 6 00:00:14,745 --> 00:00:19,005 And I think it's, it's also true that that startups 7 00:00:19,185 --> 00:00:22,035 often resemble their founders, or founders often 8 00:00:22,035 --> 00:00:22,994 resemble their startups. 9 00:00:22,994 --> 00:00:24,915 And, and I'm speaking about something very specific 10 00:00:24,915 --> 00:00:27,884 here, which is that startups are just a giant collection 11 00:00:27,884 --> 00:00:28,750 of problems, right? 12 00:00:28,750 --> 00:00:28,990 Mm-hmm. 13 00:00:29,070 --> 00:00:31,244 Problems that we have to, or want to, or think 14 00:00:31,244 --> 00:00:32,685 we should go solve. 15 00:00:33,015 --> 00:00:34,905 But I think something you and I can talk about today 16 00:00:34,905 --> 00:00:37,545 is that, uh, founders are full of problems too, right? 17 00:00:37,545 --> 00:00:40,185 We've all got tons and tons and tons of issues, 18 00:00:40,185 --> 00:00:41,715 challenges, you name it. 19 00:00:42,075 --> 00:00:44,115 So why don't we dig into. 20 00:00:44,835 --> 00:00:48,614 The reality of those things, how important they actually 21 00:00:48,614 --> 00:00:52,605 are and, and whether they're problems or solutions in the 22 00:00:52,605 --> 00:00:54,015 making and, and sort of where, 23 00:00:54,045 --> 00:00:55,245 where do we stand on all this stuff. 24 00:00:55,485 --> 00:00:59,415 I think most founders, uh, by definition have a ton of 25 00:00:59,415 --> 00:01:01,125 problems, and I don't just mean with their startups, 26 00:01:01,125 --> 00:01:02,565 I mean their own problems. 27 00:01:02,980 --> 00:01:07,390 I think my concern having a laundry list of them is 28 00:01:07,390 --> 00:01:11,440 that we've created a society where we're so intent on 29 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,420 saying, you have a problem. 30 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:15,190 Here's the pill that fixes it. 31 00:01:15,190 --> 00:01:15,370 Right. 32 00:01:15,370 --> 00:01:17,500 I, I say this, you know, having come from the 33 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:18,910 pharmaceutical industry, right. 34 00:01:18,910 --> 00:01:22,030 You know, so for a decade of my life, I ran in at agency and 35 00:01:22,030 --> 00:01:24,730 our largest clients we're all pharmaceutical, uh, companies. 36 00:01:24,910 --> 00:01:28,345 The script was first convince the patient that they're broken. 37 00:01:29,369 --> 00:01:29,610 Uh huh. 38 00:01:29,850 --> 00:01:31,530 Then of course come back with a solution. 39 00:01:31,695 --> 00:01:33,690 In, in the nineties, you know, we were launching a 40 00:01:33,690 --> 00:01:36,270 product called Prozac, and it was funny yesterday, I was 41 00:01:36,270 --> 00:01:39,179 on the phone with one of our clients yesterday and I was 42 00:01:39,179 --> 00:01:41,280 referencing the fact that, you know, this was, you know, 43 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:42,360 kind of problem solution. 44 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,119 And we are at the dawn of consumer marketing back then 45 00:01:45,449 --> 00:01:47,070 around Prozac, and they were. 46 00:01:47,550 --> 00:01:48,300 What's Prozac? 47 00:01:48,660 --> 00:01:52,080 And I was like, seriously, you're the first person to ever 48 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:52,710 ask me that. 49 00:01:52,710 --> 00:01:52,890 Right. 50 00:01:52,890 --> 00:01:55,470 They spent hundreds of millions of dollars so that no one 51 00:01:55,470 --> 00:01:56,880 would ever ask that question. 52 00:01:57,030 --> 00:01:57,480 Yeah. 53 00:01:57,480 --> 00:01:57,720 Yeah. 54 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,510 I I was like, it's the largest, like at the time there's the 55 00:02:00,510 --> 00:02:04,080 largest consumer prescriptive product in, in history. 56 00:02:04,410 --> 00:02:04,560 Yeah. 57 00:02:04,620 --> 00:02:07,590 And the fact that, that you don't know tells me two things. 58 00:02:07,590 --> 00:02:09,810 One, that's not a problem you have, thankfully. 59 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,470 And two, you clearly weren't around in the nineties, right? 60 00:02:13,470 --> 00:02:13,710 Yeah. 61 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:15,105 You were, you were not alive then. 62 00:02:15,795 --> 00:02:17,025 But, but let me build on that. 63 00:02:17,475 --> 00:02:20,535 The idea for the pharmaceutical companies, and I know everybody 64 00:02:20,535 --> 00:02:22,845 wants to paint them as these like big, awful people, but 65 00:02:22,845 --> 00:02:24,135 like their script was simple. 66 00:02:24,465 --> 00:02:26,415 Convince people that this is a problem. 67 00:02:26,415 --> 00:02:28,935 And by the way, it usually was like for most of their 68 00:02:28,935 --> 00:02:31,575 products, those are actual problems that they're solving 69 00:02:31,575 --> 00:02:32,745 at, at a prescriptive level. 70 00:02:32,925 --> 00:02:34,725 But then sell them the prescription, you know, 71 00:02:34,725 --> 00:02:35,805 sell, sell them the drug. 72 00:02:36,405 --> 00:02:39,795 And where we see that now is on social media. 73 00:02:40,364 --> 00:02:44,084 Social media has an endless stream of people telling you 74 00:02:44,655 --> 00:02:47,144 that you have a problem and they are the prescription 75 00:02:47,144 --> 00:02:47,774 just to solve Yep. 76 00:02:48,255 --> 00:02:50,204 Problems you otherwise never would've surfaced. 77 00:02:50,204 --> 00:02:52,665 I think, I think that's what's so interesting about it, is 78 00:02:52,665 --> 00:02:55,725 that because of these little echo chambers that we get stuck 79 00:02:55,725 --> 00:02:58,274 in and because of the, their ability to reach us over and 80 00:02:58,274 --> 00:03:01,274 over and over again, they take something that, okay, sure, 81 00:03:01,274 --> 00:03:04,454 it's, it's a problem at some level, but it probably wasn't 82 00:03:04,454 --> 00:03:07,420 in your, in, in the near the top of your hierarchy of needs. 83 00:03:08,190 --> 00:03:10,709 Yet, if you hear about it enough, all of a sudden it 84 00:03:10,709 --> 00:03:11,519 does feel like a problem. 85 00:03:11,519 --> 00:03:14,549 So not only are they telling you have the problem, they're sort 86 00:03:14,549 --> 00:03:16,049 of creating the problem, right? 87 00:03:16,260 --> 00:03:16,350 Yes. 88 00:03:16,350 --> 00:03:18,239 Because what they're creating is the intensity 89 00:03:18,239 --> 00:03:19,589 around the problem, right? 90 00:03:19,589 --> 00:03:19,679 Right. 91 00:03:19,679 --> 00:03:22,260 They're creating the desire, the need, or the feeling 92 00:03:22,260 --> 00:03:24,750 that I should fix this, and then they sell the solution. 93 00:03:24,750 --> 00:03:25,049 Right? 94 00:03:25,980 --> 00:03:27,585 That's batshit to me, right? 95 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,565 He's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make the 96 00:03:29,565 --> 00:03:32,025 problem and then I'm gonna sell you the solution, right? 97 00:03:32,025 --> 00:03:32,384 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 98 00:03:32,415 --> 00:03:34,935 I used to tease my dad when he was still a practicing 99 00:03:34,935 --> 00:03:37,215 podiatrist, like, drum up business, like, dad, just 100 00:03:37,215 --> 00:03:39,255 buy me a couple a box of thumbtacks and I'm just gonna 101 00:03:39,255 --> 00:03:40,995 go scatter 'em all over the streets, near your office. 102 00:03:40,995 --> 00:03:43,125 This we'll drum up business like, like, like crazy, right? 103 00:03:43,125 --> 00:03:45,165 Like create the problem and then solve a solution 104 00:03:45,165 --> 00:03:45,885 or sell the solution. 105 00:03:46,125 --> 00:03:48,735 Let me give you my list of problems because this list 106 00:03:48,735 --> 00:03:52,515 is long, but like kind of off the top of my head, I am as 107 00:03:52,515 --> 00:03:54,345 a founder, wildly obsessive. 108 00:03:54,930 --> 00:03:56,970 Like about anything that I'm doing, even when I 109 00:03:56,970 --> 00:04:00,150 hate what I'm doing, I am wildly obsessive about it. 110 00:04:00,150 --> 00:04:03,270 And you were in town from Spain last week and you 111 00:04:03,270 --> 00:04:05,850 know, you, you, you got to watch my obsession being like 112 00:04:05,850 --> 00:04:07,020 carpentry and everything else. 113 00:04:07,050 --> 00:04:08,085 Uh, you know, in the, in the flesh. 114 00:04:08,894 --> 00:04:10,575 I didn't do anything to dial it down. 115 00:04:10,755 --> 00:04:11,295 You did not. 116 00:04:11,295 --> 00:04:11,535 No. 117 00:04:11,535 --> 00:04:12,825 The tank could dial it up. 118 00:04:12,945 --> 00:04:13,454 Exactly. 119 00:04:13,454 --> 00:04:13,605 More 120 00:04:13,605 --> 00:04:14,114 sawdust. 121 00:04:14,114 --> 00:04:14,715 That's what we need. 122 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:15,410 More sawdust. 123 00:04:16,399 --> 00:04:17,250 More sawdust. 124 00:04:17,954 --> 00:04:21,495 I used to look at my obsessiveness as a negative. 125 00:04:21,765 --> 00:04:22,005 Right? 126 00:04:22,005 --> 00:04:24,555 And so I would look for all these self-help kind of things. 127 00:04:24,555 --> 00:04:24,705 Yep. 128 00:04:24,914 --> 00:04:26,715 I get too stuck on these things, right. 129 00:04:26,715 --> 00:04:27,255 To fix it. 130 00:04:27,765 --> 00:04:30,135 I find that I am hell bent on control. 131 00:04:30,645 --> 00:04:32,685 Now, again, I don't wanna get like too deep with this, but 132 00:04:32,685 --> 00:04:35,415 that was like a facet of my childhood and not being able 133 00:04:35,415 --> 00:04:36,555 to have control, et cetera. 134 00:04:36,675 --> 00:04:36,855 Yeah. 135 00:04:36,855 --> 00:04:39,555 So I'm hell bent on it and I'm like, Hey, you know where 136 00:04:39,555 --> 00:04:43,665 I should go if I, if I have a control issue into startups. 137 00:04:43,665 --> 00:04:47,115 The one place where there is no control ever and it only 138 00:04:47,115 --> 00:04:48,585 gets exponentially worse. 139 00:04:48,915 --> 00:04:50,595 So like something that would poke that therapy. 140 00:04:50,865 --> 00:04:51,025 Well, to be 141 00:04:51,025 --> 00:04:51,035 fair. 142 00:04:51,275 --> 00:04:52,685 You do have control. 143 00:04:52,685 --> 00:04:55,295 You get to decide what to do, when to do, how to do it. 144 00:04:55,415 --> 00:04:55,505 Mm-hmm. 145 00:04:55,745 --> 00:04:57,395 We don't have any control over the outcomes. 146 00:04:57,455 --> 00:04:57,665 Right. 147 00:04:57,665 --> 00:04:59,045 So it does put you in a dangerous spot. 148 00:04:59,045 --> 00:05:01,715 But I can see the allure, I can see the, the draw because 149 00:05:01,715 --> 00:05:04,355 it's finally like, nobody's gonna tell me what to do. 150 00:05:04,535 --> 00:05:06,125 I can run this thing into the ground however 151 00:05:06,125 --> 00:05:06,755 I want. 152 00:05:07,295 --> 00:05:08,135 I have another problem. 153 00:05:08,345 --> 00:05:10,085 Again, this is a long list, but I'm just going 154 00:05:10,085 --> 00:05:10,865 through random ones. 155 00:05:10,925 --> 00:05:10,985 Yeah. 156 00:05:11,045 --> 00:05:15,034 Because I, I wanna set the stage for this that I ignore success. 157 00:05:15,340 --> 00:05:18,610 No matter where I'm successful, no, no matter where it is, 158 00:05:19,030 --> 00:05:21,490 I just, as soon as someone says, Hey, great job. 159 00:05:21,490 --> 00:05:23,525 I'm like, cool, that means I should stop thinking about it. 160 00:05:23,525 --> 00:05:23,545 What next? 161 00:05:23,860 --> 00:05:24,160 Right. 162 00:05:24,340 --> 00:05:25,330 And go find a problem. 163 00:05:25,420 --> 00:05:25,810 Right? 164 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,990 But my failure is on an infinite loop, right? 165 00:05:29,020 --> 00:05:31,120 It, it's, I, I don't know what it is. 166 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:32,950 Analysis paralysis, baby. 167 00:05:33,310 --> 00:05:34,570 Just, just running those things over. 168 00:05:34,570 --> 00:05:35,410 What could I have done differently? 169 00:05:35,410 --> 00:05:36,190 What could I have differently? 170 00:05:36,190 --> 00:05:37,060 What could I have done differently? 171 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:38,290 Endless loops. 172 00:05:38,290 --> 00:05:40,270 I mean, this is the soundtrack to most of my nights. 173 00:05:40,450 --> 00:05:42,715 W where do you see the same like, uh, with you? 174 00:05:43,530 --> 00:05:45,750 Oh, I mean, so check, check and check. 175 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:47,400 Control was the big one for me. 176 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:49,860 That was something that I, I did work on. 177 00:05:50,125 --> 00:05:51,540 So, so here's what's interesting. 178 00:05:51,930 --> 00:05:54,180 As we go through these lists of problems, I, I find that there 179 00:05:54,180 --> 00:05:57,250 are, are some of these things are actual problems, right? 180 00:05:57,250 --> 00:05:59,670 But I think it depends on where, right? 181 00:05:59,670 --> 00:06:03,120 So needing a high degree of control in my startup not 182 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:04,950 necessarily a bad thing, right? 183 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:05,250 Right. 184 00:06:05,250 --> 00:06:07,680 I mean, yes, you can take it too far, just like anything. 185 00:06:08,250 --> 00:06:11,460 But having to a need for a high degree of control in personal 186 00:06:11,460 --> 00:06:12,300 relationships through my life. 187 00:06:13,140 --> 00:06:14,850 Not necessarily a good thing. 188 00:06:15,150 --> 00:06:15,390 Right? 189 00:06:15,390 --> 00:06:17,820 So what I started trying to say was, instead of 190 00:06:17,820 --> 00:06:20,670 trying to fix these things, yeah, I need to figure out 191 00:06:20,670 --> 00:06:21,750 like where they belong. 192 00:06:21,750 --> 00:06:23,520 Because what turned out was like, especially in the 193 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:26,220 context of the startup, a lot of the things I was trying to 194 00:06:26,220 --> 00:06:27,905 fix because they were bugs. 195 00:06:28,515 --> 00:06:31,635 It turned out to just be features with really shitty pr. 196 00:06:31,844 --> 00:06:32,235 Right? 197 00:06:32,805 --> 00:06:35,715 It was like, I just needed to kind of rethink like 198 00:06:35,715 --> 00:06:37,995 when and where these things, these things should survive. 199 00:06:38,265 --> 00:06:39,974 I think for me, outta the ones that you've listed, 200 00:06:39,974 --> 00:06:41,985 the, the, the ones that, and, and I think there's one 201 00:06:41,985 --> 00:06:44,925 you haven't hit on yet that you'll get to because we, we 202 00:06:44,925 --> 00:06:46,935 both have a challenge around this, which is attention span. 203 00:06:46,995 --> 00:06:49,034 Um, and, and just being able to stay focused. 204 00:06:49,034 --> 00:06:51,075 So it's interesting while we can be completely 205 00:06:51,075 --> 00:06:52,245 obsessive about things. 206 00:06:52,525 --> 00:06:55,495 We can obsess about four or 500 different aspects of 207 00:06:55,495 --> 00:06:56,665 that thing at any given time. 208 00:06:56,665 --> 00:06:59,155 And I think that, again, sometimes that's great, 209 00:06:59,155 --> 00:06:59,995 sometimes it's not. 210 00:07:00,295 --> 00:07:03,535 But I think the one that has bothered me most and that I 211 00:07:03,535 --> 00:07:06,955 thought I needed to fix the most was over analysis, right? 212 00:07:06,985 --> 00:07:08,035 You know this about me. 213 00:07:08,335 --> 00:07:11,635 I will think and think, and think and think, and sometimes 214 00:07:12,265 --> 00:07:14,695 it can cause me to delay action. 215 00:07:15,415 --> 00:07:17,755 However, when I go back in time and I look at 216 00:07:17,755 --> 00:07:18,805 some of those things. 217 00:07:19,380 --> 00:07:21,659 Most of 'em have worked out pretty well and, and most 218 00:07:21,659 --> 00:07:24,060 of them were a result of having analyzed things to 219 00:07:24,060 --> 00:07:26,640 a point where had I just jumped in with the first or 220 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,489 the second, or even the third thought, it probably wouldn't 221 00:07:29,489 --> 00:07:30,270 have turned out as well. 222 00:07:30,330 --> 00:07:31,979 Now there's a balance there. 223 00:07:32,219 --> 00:07:33,929 'cause if I never get off the lab bench, if I just 224 00:07:33,929 --> 00:07:36,510 keep thinking and never take action, nothing happens. 225 00:07:36,809 --> 00:07:38,729 Um, but I think that was one of those where I fought 226 00:07:38,729 --> 00:07:40,979 hard to try to like, just stop overthinking it. 227 00:07:40,979 --> 00:07:42,000 Stop overthinking it. 228 00:07:42,539 --> 00:07:44,130 And then I realized at some point I was like, well. 229 00:07:44,474 --> 00:07:46,544 I actually don't know where the overthinking line is. 230 00:07:46,544 --> 00:07:48,164 So carry on, son. 231 00:07:48,375 --> 00:07:48,825 Keep thinking. 232 00:07:49,125 --> 00:07:50,685 Who convinced you it was a problem? 233 00:07:50,685 --> 00:07:52,185 See, see, this is where I'm interested. 234 00:07:52,245 --> 00:07:54,885 Like I'm interested that, that there are these, you know, uh, 235 00:07:54,885 --> 00:07:56,145 we're called false prophets. 236 00:07:56,385 --> 00:07:58,094 These people that are like, Ryan, here's 237 00:07:58,094 --> 00:07:58,965 what's broken with you. 238 00:07:58,965 --> 00:08:00,075 You've gotta fix this. 239 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,270 And, and this again, I think for a lot of founders is 240 00:08:02,270 --> 00:08:05,690 like, oh no, I have this thing that I have to fix. 241 00:08:06,170 --> 00:08:07,760 And they end up fixing something that's actually 242 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:08,600 their superpower. 243 00:08:08,660 --> 00:08:09,650 Did you see that? 244 00:08:09,860 --> 00:08:10,790 Yes, a hundred percent. 245 00:08:10,790 --> 00:08:13,070 And I think it was, it was, again, people mostly trying 246 00:08:13,070 --> 00:08:13,910 to be helpful, I think. 247 00:08:14,180 --> 00:08:15,950 But it was cheap dime store advice. 248 00:08:15,950 --> 00:08:18,140 It was like, maybe you're overthinking this. 249 00:08:18,645 --> 00:08:22,305 And of course maybe I was, but there wasn't ever any 250 00:08:22,305 --> 00:08:24,615 follow on when I was like, okay, so help me understand, 251 00:08:24,615 --> 00:08:26,595 like where, how would you approach this differently? 252 00:08:26,775 --> 00:08:28,725 Well, you know, you really have all the context for that. 253 00:08:28,725 --> 00:08:30,765 I can't really, you know, like, okay, cool, so you 254 00:08:30,765 --> 00:08:33,135 just said a thing, you know, now guess what you've done. 255 00:08:33,465 --> 00:08:36,375 Instead of making me think about it less, now I'm overthinking 256 00:08:36,375 --> 00:08:37,275 whether I'm overthinking. 257 00:08:37,725 --> 00:08:39,135 But that came from a lot of places. 258 00:08:39,135 --> 00:08:40,065 So it came from. 259 00:08:40,409 --> 00:08:42,240 People around me, people who are maybe involved in 260 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:43,409 the same decisions, right? 261 00:08:43,409 --> 00:08:45,210 So let's say I'm sitting in a meeting with a startup 262 00:08:45,210 --> 00:08:47,850 team and we're like trying to figure out what to do, and I'm 263 00:08:47,850 --> 00:08:50,580 going through iteration, after iteration, after iteration. 264 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,010 And sometimes that question would come up, maybe we're 265 00:08:53,010 --> 00:08:54,720 overthinking this, maybe we are. 266 00:08:54,930 --> 00:08:55,260 I don't know. 267 00:08:55,590 --> 00:08:56,189 That's my job. 268 00:08:56,189 --> 00:08:58,530 My job is to keep thinking other places. 269 00:08:58,530 --> 00:09:00,480 Where would be when I would come to somebody with like a 270 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,880 personal pain and say like, you know, I'm really stuck on this 271 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,610 thing and I just can't, and I just blah and I don't feel good. 272 00:09:05,910 --> 00:09:07,920 And they're saying, maybe you're overthinking it. 273 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,020 And again, maybe. 274 00:09:10,785 --> 00:09:13,305 But I think that there were always other root causes that 275 00:09:13,305 --> 00:09:16,005 led to the overthinking that maybe were actually the problem 276 00:09:16,365 --> 00:09:17,295 my entire life. 277 00:09:17,475 --> 00:09:20,445 I've been told by the outside world that everything that 278 00:09:20,445 --> 00:09:22,185 makes me me is a problem. 279 00:09:23,475 --> 00:09:24,885 Think about that for a second. 280 00:09:24,885 --> 00:09:25,335 Yeah, right. 281 00:09:25,395 --> 00:09:30,255 Uhhuh, like, I've never, ever, ever been told in my life that 282 00:09:30,555 --> 00:09:33,015 what makes me, me, me is good. 283 00:09:33,405 --> 00:09:33,645 Okay. 284 00:09:33,645 --> 00:09:34,965 Now let me build on that. 285 00:09:35,595 --> 00:09:36,355 When people look at. 286 00:09:36,915 --> 00:09:38,445 Our outcomes, right? 287 00:09:38,445 --> 00:09:38,505 Yeah. 288 00:09:38,505 --> 00:09:41,625 As founders, if they've, if, if the outcomes are great, we 289 00:09:41,625 --> 00:09:45,405 are applauded for that, but no one ever says Yeah, but along 290 00:09:45,405 --> 00:09:46,755 the way you are all fucked up. 291 00:09:47,265 --> 00:09:49,935 Right, like which incidentally led to that outcome. 292 00:09:50,475 --> 00:09:52,485 So let's try to fix that. 293 00:09:52,485 --> 00:09:54,885 And I'm like, wait, hold on a sec. If you tried to fix 294 00:09:54,885 --> 00:09:57,135 all of the things that were broken in me, I would've 295 00:09:57,135 --> 00:09:58,185 never gotten that outcome. 296 00:09:58,455 --> 00:10:00,705 Now I wanna be clear when I say this, right? 297 00:10:01,065 --> 00:10:03,135 There are things that are broken within you. 298 00:10:03,605 --> 00:10:05,765 Actually can be a, a, a force of good. 299 00:10:06,185 --> 00:10:08,194 And then there's things that are broken within you that 300 00:10:08,194 --> 00:10:11,765 actually probably need to be, need some actual therapy. 301 00:10:11,765 --> 00:10:12,095 Right? 302 00:10:12,305 --> 00:10:15,064 You should fix, in other words, if you have a raging 303 00:10:15,064 --> 00:10:19,324 temper and you want to belittle or hurt people, right, you 304 00:10:19,324 --> 00:10:20,584 should fix that, right? 305 00:10:20,584 --> 00:10:20,944 Yes. 306 00:10:21,030 --> 00:10:22,324 That's, that's worse. 307 00:10:22,329 --> 00:10:22,370 Fixing. 308 00:10:22,970 --> 00:10:23,660 Correct. 309 00:10:23,660 --> 00:10:23,870 Right. 310 00:10:23,900 --> 00:10:26,900 There are like legitimately bad behaviors that actually 311 00:10:26,900 --> 00:10:30,050 don't have cool outcomes that you should probably fix. 312 00:10:30,050 --> 00:10:30,140 Right. 313 00:10:30,350 --> 00:10:31,460 And, and I'll give you an example. 314 00:10:31,670 --> 00:10:35,420 If you have a raging temper and you become a professional 315 00:10:35,420 --> 00:10:38,300 boxer and somebody could say, well, look, you took that raging 316 00:10:38,300 --> 00:10:39,165 temper and, and put it to a. 317 00:10:39,705 --> 00:10:40,485 Place of good. 318 00:10:40,665 --> 00:10:40,995 Sure. 319 00:10:40,995 --> 00:10:44,895 When you're in the ring with the other 99.9% of your day, 320 00:10:44,895 --> 00:10:47,145 you have a raging temper and that's a big freaking 321 00:10:47,325 --> 00:10:48,195 problem you should address. 322 00:10:48,195 --> 00:10:48,465 Right. 323 00:10:48,735 --> 00:10:49,425 So probably even more 324 00:10:49,425 --> 00:10:49,965 so of a problem 325 00:10:49,965 --> 00:10:51,225 because you're a trained puncher. 326 00:10:51,375 --> 00:10:51,945 Yeah, exactly. 327 00:10:52,575 --> 00:10:53,355 Exactly. 328 00:10:53,355 --> 00:10:53,565 Right. 329 00:10:53,565 --> 00:10:55,905 So I wanna make sure when we're saying this, we're not 330 00:10:55,905 --> 00:10:58,935 saying that every negative trait is actually a positive 331 00:10:58,935 --> 00:11:00,105 and you shouldn't address it. 332 00:11:00,105 --> 00:11:02,565 There are plenty of negative traits. 333 00:11:02,565 --> 00:11:02,575 Yeah. 334 00:11:02,855 --> 00:11:05,255 That you absolutely should address. 335 00:11:05,315 --> 00:11:05,615 Yeah. 336 00:11:05,615 --> 00:11:05,625 Yeah. 337 00:11:05,705 --> 00:11:08,045 What we're really talking about is there are a lot of 338 00:11:08,045 --> 00:11:11,255 traits that aren't necessarily negative, but we're being 339 00:11:11,255 --> 00:11:12,245 told they're negative. 340 00:11:12,725 --> 00:11:12,815 Yes. 341 00:11:12,815 --> 00:11:14,225 I, I'll give you an example 'cause because you, you 342 00:11:14,225 --> 00:11:15,155 said we'd touch on this. 343 00:11:15,545 --> 00:11:17,855 I have massive A DH, adhd. 344 00:11:18,485 --> 00:11:18,665 Yep. 345 00:11:18,845 --> 00:11:21,545 However, I grew up in the eighties when A 346 00:11:21,545 --> 00:11:22,985 DHD wasn't a thing yet. 347 00:11:23,555 --> 00:11:25,295 You were just someone that couldn't pay attention. 348 00:11:25,325 --> 00:11:25,745 That was it. 349 00:11:25,745 --> 00:11:26,225 Right, right. 350 00:11:26,345 --> 00:11:30,965 So my entire focus, my entire childhood and academic 351 00:11:30,965 --> 00:11:35,885 career was punctuated by being reprimanded for my 352 00:11:35,885 --> 00:11:38,345 A DHD again, for not being able to pay attention. 353 00:11:38,345 --> 00:11:40,775 You know, will sits in class and he is never paying attention, 354 00:11:40,775 --> 00:11:42,785 will gets assigned tests and, and he ever does it. 355 00:11:42,785 --> 00:11:43,925 Will's gets assigned a book. 356 00:11:44,465 --> 00:11:45,395 He never reads it. 357 00:11:45,725 --> 00:11:47,945 And you know, you and I were talking about this, like, I 358 00:11:47,945 --> 00:11:49,835 actually cannot read a book. 359 00:11:50,075 --> 00:11:51,935 It's not that I don't want to, right? 360 00:11:51,935 --> 00:11:55,085 The irony is I can write one, but I cannot read one. 361 00:11:55,445 --> 00:11:58,385 When I read a single paragraph, it doesn't matter what it is. 362 00:11:58,925 --> 00:12:01,205 By the end of the first paragraph, my 363 00:12:01,205 --> 00:12:02,105 mind is already gone. 364 00:12:02,865 --> 00:12:05,954 My mind is already in 10 other places in most cases. 365 00:12:05,954 --> 00:12:08,385 By the time I get through the bottom of a page, I 366 00:12:08,385 --> 00:12:11,984 cannot remember that I was reading a book or what was 367 00:12:11,984 --> 00:12:12,915 on the top of that page. 368 00:12:13,635 --> 00:12:15,135 Think about that for a second. 369 00:12:15,464 --> 00:12:15,555 Yeah. 370 00:12:15,555 --> 00:12:20,535 As a student, as an academic, that is exactly what you scored 371 00:12:20,535 --> 00:12:23,444 on, on your ability to, you know, synthesize and, and 372 00:12:23,444 --> 00:12:24,885 regurgitate that information. 373 00:12:25,305 --> 00:12:27,314 And I actually kind of can't do it. 374 00:12:27,375 --> 00:12:28,425 I'm very bad at it. 375 00:12:29,025 --> 00:12:29,204 Yeah. 376 00:12:29,234 --> 00:12:31,319 However, no one ever stopped to say. 377 00:12:32,460 --> 00:12:33,330 Where is your head at? 378 00:12:33,570 --> 00:12:35,730 What, what are you actually thinking about? 379 00:12:36,060 --> 00:12:37,050 Did you stop paying 380 00:12:37,050 --> 00:12:38,730 attention because you already know all of this and 381 00:12:38,730 --> 00:12:40,290 you're egregiously bored, 382 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,190 or you're taking what you just read and processing 383 00:12:44,190 --> 00:12:45,120 10 other threads, 384 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:46,950 synthesizing it into something else? 385 00:12:46,950 --> 00:12:47,040 Right. 386 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:48,240 That was always my challenge. 387 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,030 It was like, because to me, and this is where like 388 00:12:51,030 --> 00:12:53,310 somebody had to teach me what education was actually 389 00:12:53,310 --> 00:12:55,410 supposed to be doing, which didn't align well with what 390 00:12:55,410 --> 00:12:59,130 I wanted, I was like, I think you're gonna teach me things. 391 00:12:59,700 --> 00:13:02,340 I'm gonna then figure out how to use in new and exciting 392 00:13:02,340 --> 00:13:03,390 ways that exactly it. 393 00:13:03,390 --> 00:13:05,815 So the minute I learned something new, and again, that 394 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:07,980 might've been in the first paragraph, I'm like, what 395 00:13:07,980 --> 00:13:09,090 can my brain turn this into? 396 00:13:09,090 --> 00:13:09,810 That'll be useful. 397 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:10,620 How is this a tool? 398 00:13:10,620 --> 00:13:11,370 How is this fun? 399 00:13:11,370 --> 00:13:12,240 How is this exciting? 400 00:13:12,900 --> 00:13:14,640 And then I missed the next three paragraphs, 401 00:13:14,925 --> 00:13:15,205 right? 402 00:13:15,945 --> 00:13:17,070 Or, or did I? 403 00:13:17,310 --> 00:13:20,130 Well, right, so, so no one stopped at the time to 404 00:13:20,130 --> 00:13:21,960 say, where is Will's head? 405 00:13:22,260 --> 00:13:22,440 Right? 406 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:23,850 Oh, he is not paying attention in class. 407 00:13:23,850 --> 00:13:27,870 So he's bat maybe like, why don't we ask him what 408 00:13:27,870 --> 00:13:29,040 is going on in his head? 409 00:13:29,444 --> 00:13:32,895 When I got out of academia and I was able to just operate 410 00:13:32,895 --> 00:13:36,045 on my own, everything changed because for the first time 411 00:13:36,045 --> 00:13:39,405 in my life, I was being rewarded for my head going 412 00:13:39,405 --> 00:13:40,545 in 10 different directions. 413 00:13:40,694 --> 00:13:40,875 Yes. 414 00:13:40,875 --> 00:13:43,245 'cause it turns out those were ideas, those were 415 00:13:43,245 --> 00:13:45,645 actions, those were things that needed to get done. 416 00:13:45,944 --> 00:13:46,185 Right. 417 00:13:46,185 --> 00:13:49,454 That most people were still stuck reading the material. 418 00:13:49,725 --> 00:13:49,905 Right. 419 00:13:49,905 --> 00:13:51,645 I was 10 steps beyond that. 420 00:13:51,645 --> 00:13:53,685 Thinking about like how many different ways we can apply it. 421 00:13:54,105 --> 00:13:54,194 Uhhuh. 422 00:13:54,944 --> 00:13:57,135 So for the longest time, again, I'm just using 423 00:13:57,135 --> 00:13:58,215 this as a reference point. 424 00:13:58,635 --> 00:14:00,555 I kept trying to fix myself. 425 00:14:00,645 --> 00:14:02,564 I kept trying to fix my attention span. 426 00:14:02,564 --> 00:14:05,505 I kept trying to to fix my thought process, and it 427 00:14:05,505 --> 00:14:08,745 turned out that the very thing I was trying to fix 428 00:14:08,985 --> 00:14:11,145 was my greatest asset, right? 429 00:14:11,805 --> 00:14:13,305 Which is bananas, right? 430 00:14:13,395 --> 00:14:14,415 It's right. 431 00:14:14,430 --> 00:14:17,805 It's like, and I think of how many people are out there 432 00:14:17,925 --> 00:14:19,965 that are selling the dream, selling the pill, right? 433 00:14:19,965 --> 00:14:22,665 Pretty much every social media influencer they're trying 434 00:14:22,665 --> 00:14:25,575 to sell while why you gotta be in the cold plunge pool. 435 00:14:25,575 --> 00:14:28,335 Otherwise, you can't get started in the morning maybe, right? 436 00:14:28,335 --> 00:14:30,135 I'm not saying the cold plunge pool is bad, right? 437 00:14:30,135 --> 00:14:31,905 No, I, I, I understand the health benefits, right? 438 00:14:32,175 --> 00:14:34,815 I love a cold plunge, however, I know that. 439 00:14:35,205 --> 00:14:39,405 I use, 99.9% of my mornings have started without them, 440 00:14:39,765 --> 00:14:41,895 and most of the world does exactly the same and 441 00:14:41,895 --> 00:14:42,945 seems to get on just fine. 442 00:14:43,365 --> 00:14:46,785 Every successful thing I've ever done specifically didn't 443 00:14:46,785 --> 00:14:47,895 start with a cold plunge. 444 00:14:47,900 --> 00:14:48,240 Right, exactly. 445 00:14:48,245 --> 00:14:50,115 And again, I'm, I'm picking on the cold plunge, not 446 00:14:50,115 --> 00:14:51,945 'cause it's a bad thing just because it's one of those 447 00:14:51,945 --> 00:14:53,895 things where it's like, I've gotta incorporate this. 448 00:14:53,925 --> 00:14:54,015 Yeah. 449 00:14:54,315 --> 00:14:56,205 I, I've gotta use Tim Ferriss's tips. 450 00:14:56,205 --> 00:14:58,335 I, I need the one hack, I need the biohack. 451 00:14:58,335 --> 00:15:02,475 And I'm like, you can, it's not necessarily bad. 452 00:15:03,074 --> 00:15:03,464 Right. 453 00:15:03,885 --> 00:15:07,365 But there's this massive stream of false 454 00:15:07,454 --> 00:15:09,285 profits right now, okay. 455 00:15:09,525 --> 00:15:11,444 That are telling you all of these things that you 456 00:15:11,444 --> 00:15:12,675 need to fix yourself. 457 00:15:13,125 --> 00:15:15,910 And I, I'm just raising my hand and I'm going, are you sure? 458 00:15:16,650 --> 00:15:17,730 Are you sure about that? 459 00:15:18,060 --> 00:15:21,360 Well, they are, they're sure because they're sure that's, 460 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:23,550 but they are, and they have to be, I mean, that self-help 461 00:15:23,550 --> 00:15:25,770 economy needs you to be broken. 462 00:15:26,130 --> 00:15:26,400 Okay. 463 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:28,320 So I, I just have to point this out. 464 00:15:28,650 --> 00:15:32,160 I know most of these people, like most of the people that 465 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,500 you're probably following on a podcast or you know, 466 00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:35,490 you're buying their products. 467 00:15:35,490 --> 00:15:37,590 I know most of these people, and I, and I've known 468 00:15:37,590 --> 00:15:40,410 them for a very long time, not gonna name any names. 469 00:15:40,410 --> 00:15:41,760 'cause that would be the worst thing ever. 470 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:41,970 Right. 471 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,280 The irony is most of them. 472 00:15:44,635 --> 00:15:46,555 Are the most fucked up people you'll ever meet. 473 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:47,335 Right, right. 474 00:15:47,725 --> 00:15:49,855 Like selling, like the self-help and stuff like that. 475 00:15:50,155 --> 00:15:53,665 I know how their personal lives have gone and they are not good. 476 00:15:53,725 --> 00:15:54,025 It's not 477 00:15:54,025 --> 00:15:55,075 something you'd wanna replicate. 478 00:15:55,255 --> 00:15:55,555 It is. 479 00:15:55,555 --> 00:15:56,065 Well, it's that old 480 00:15:56,065 --> 00:15:57,805 adage and I, I don't know how true it is 'cause I've 481 00:15:57,805 --> 00:16:00,355 only interfaced with a few psychologists or psychiatrists, 482 00:16:00,355 --> 00:16:01,585 but they say, you know, that the people that go 483 00:16:01,585 --> 00:16:03,235 into that field are the ones who need it the most. 484 00:16:03,625 --> 00:16:05,725 I respect anybody that just wants to help. 485 00:16:05,725 --> 00:16:07,675 And I, and I don't necessarily know that there's like 486 00:16:07,735 --> 00:16:11,365 bad intent, but I just think the irony cannot 487 00:16:11,365 --> 00:16:12,235 be overlooked, right? 488 00:16:12,415 --> 00:16:15,175 That the people that seem to be at the highest orders of 489 00:16:15,175 --> 00:16:17,485 magnitude of how they're, you know, they're trying to convince 490 00:16:17,485 --> 00:16:20,575 you that you're broken, tend to be the most broken people. 491 00:16:21,055 --> 00:16:21,175 Yeah. 492 00:16:21,175 --> 00:16:22,135 Which, which blows my mind. 493 00:16:22,615 --> 00:16:24,505 And I think over time, especially with, 494 00:16:24,505 --> 00:16:25,615 um, social media. 495 00:16:26,115 --> 00:16:28,755 And how I've seen everybody become, you know, the, the 496 00:16:28,755 --> 00:16:31,545 prophet or the doctor or, you know, the, the, the messenger. 497 00:16:32,145 --> 00:16:35,834 I've been like, damn, dude, I knew you from before and nobody 498 00:16:35,834 --> 00:16:36,795 should be listening to you. 499 00:16:37,349 --> 00:16:37,640 Yeah. 500 00:16:39,464 --> 00:16:40,485 No credibility. 501 00:16:40,665 --> 00:16:40,995 How did you hear? 502 00:16:40,995 --> 00:16:42,795 Well, we got an email to that effect last week. 503 00:16:42,795 --> 00:16:45,105 It was like somebody said something about something 504 00:16:45,105 --> 00:16:46,395 they saw on the site, and they're like, but I actually 505 00:16:46,395 --> 00:16:48,675 know that personally, and, and it's, yeah, it's not good. 506 00:16:48,675 --> 00:16:48,974 And we're like, 507 00:16:48,974 --> 00:16:50,714 well, okay, that's, let's flip this. 508 00:16:50,865 --> 00:16:52,785 Instead of saying, okay, yes, there's a lot of people out 509 00:16:52,785 --> 00:16:54,735 there that are trying to tell me that I, that, that I'm broken. 510 00:16:55,145 --> 00:16:59,735 Let's flip it and talk about why some of the things, Ryan, 511 00:16:59,735 --> 00:17:02,525 that, that you and I do, that everybody's been trying to fix, 512 00:17:02,525 --> 00:17:05,014 and again, as it relates to other founders like us, should 513 00:17:05,014 --> 00:17:07,805 not be tampered down, right? 514 00:17:07,865 --> 00:17:08,105 Yeah. 515 00:17:08,165 --> 00:17:09,275 They should be harnessed. 516 00:17:09,275 --> 00:17:11,315 They should be exacerbated, right? 517 00:17:11,915 --> 00:17:17,224 For example, my obsessiveness, my freakish obsessiveness right? 518 00:17:17,730 --> 00:17:20,069 Can absolutely be pointed in the the wrong direction. 519 00:17:20,730 --> 00:17:24,360 But it can also be pointed in a couple cool directions, right? 520 00:17:24,450 --> 00:17:24,510 Yeah. 521 00:17:24,510 --> 00:17:27,000 So if we rewind back, and again, you've been through 522 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:28,980 this journey with me, so, so you can appreciate this. 523 00:17:29,430 --> 00:17:31,095 You know, five years ago I decided I wanna build a house. 524 00:17:31,754 --> 00:17:34,155 Now how many houses I had I built up until then? 525 00:17:34,395 --> 00:17:34,845 Zero. 526 00:17:35,385 --> 00:17:35,895 Zero. 527 00:17:36,014 --> 00:17:36,195 Yeah. 528 00:17:36,195 --> 00:17:36,405 Right. 529 00:17:36,410 --> 00:17:38,235 I, I decided I wanted to be, become an architect. 530 00:17:38,415 --> 00:17:39,435 How many houses that architect? 531 00:17:39,465 --> 00:17:39,855 Zero. 532 00:17:39,855 --> 00:17:40,035 Right. 533 00:17:40,035 --> 00:17:42,285 You name it like every single thing that you could wanna do. 534 00:17:42,285 --> 00:17:42,585 Right. 535 00:17:43,004 --> 00:17:46,965 But I, I have a freakish, obsessive personality. 536 00:17:47,445 --> 00:17:47,535 Mm-hmm. 537 00:17:47,535 --> 00:17:49,365 When I decide that I wanna do something, I 538 00:17:49,365 --> 00:17:50,475 just go full bulldog. 539 00:17:50,805 --> 00:17:53,625 So I decided that I wanted to learn 3D modeling 540 00:17:53,805 --> 00:17:55,635 and design a house from, from start to finish. 541 00:17:55,635 --> 00:17:55,965 Right. 542 00:17:56,235 --> 00:17:57,525 So that's exactly what I did. 543 00:17:57,899 --> 00:17:58,230 Right. 544 00:17:58,710 --> 00:18:01,590 I decided that I, I wanted control over every aspect 545 00:18:01,590 --> 00:18:02,460 of building this thing. 546 00:18:02,460 --> 00:18:03,899 So I decided I was gonna learn how to become a 547 00:18:03,899 --> 00:18:07,679 general contractor and GC the entire thing, right? 548 00:18:07,685 --> 00:18:07,735 Yeah. 549 00:18:08,129 --> 00:18:09,330 I decided I wanna build cabinets. 550 00:18:09,330 --> 00:18:11,490 I decided, you know, all these things, right, and I 551 00:18:11,490 --> 00:18:15,300 just decided my obsessive personality that I was going 552 00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:18,270 to get, go all in on that, learn everything I possibly 553 00:18:18,270 --> 00:18:21,929 could, and become competent in all of these different trades 554 00:18:21,929 --> 00:18:23,250 and skills and, and whatever. 555 00:18:23,700 --> 00:18:25,534 That is a weird trait to have. 556 00:18:26,294 --> 00:18:27,950 But when pointed in the right direction. 557 00:18:28,649 --> 00:18:30,300 Yeah, it works pretty well. 558 00:18:30,689 --> 00:18:33,389 You know something that's really funny about everything 559 00:18:33,389 --> 00:18:36,870 we talk about here is that none of it is new. 560 00:18:37,110 --> 00:18:39,659 Everything you're dealing with right now has been done a 561 00:18:39,659 --> 00:18:43,530 thousand times before you, which means the answer already exists. 562 00:18:43,530 --> 00:18:44,590 You may just not know it. 563 00:18:44,645 --> 00:18:45,395 But that's okay. 564 00:18:45,754 --> 00:18:47,555 That's kind of what we're here to do. 565 00:18:47,555 --> 00:18:50,225 We talk about this stuff on the show, but we actually 566 00:18:50,225 --> 00:18:54,275 solve these problems all dayLong@groups.startups.com. 567 00:18:54,455 --> 00:18:57,754 So if any of this sounds familiar, stop guessing 568 00:18:57,754 --> 00:19:00,754 about what to do, let us just give you the answers to the 569 00:19:00,754 --> 00:19:02,135 test and be done with it. 570 00:19:02,675 --> 00:19:04,835 I came to that realization at some point where it's like. 571 00:19:05,595 --> 00:19:07,815 Before I started to fix things. 572 00:19:07,965 --> 00:19:08,295 Right. 573 00:19:08,295 --> 00:19:10,545 I would, I would really try to see like, okay, 574 00:19:10,545 --> 00:19:13,605 I get where these things manifest negatively. 575 00:19:13,875 --> 00:19:14,145 Yeah. 576 00:19:14,205 --> 00:19:14,415 Right. 577 00:19:14,415 --> 00:19:17,805 I can see where that obsessive or, or overanalyzing 578 00:19:17,805 --> 00:19:20,265 something that maybe doesn't matter that much. 579 00:19:20,265 --> 00:19:20,535 Right. 580 00:19:20,535 --> 00:19:20,545 Like. 581 00:19:20,845 --> 00:19:23,425 Going over a conversation that I had where I gave, uh, 582 00:19:23,455 --> 00:19:24,565 some perspective to a friend. 583 00:19:24,565 --> 00:19:25,795 It was like, oh, maybe I could have said this, or 584 00:19:25,795 --> 00:19:26,545 maybe I should have said this. 585 00:19:26,545 --> 00:19:27,955 Or, oh, what if I made him feel this way? 586 00:19:27,955 --> 00:19:28,135 Right. 587 00:19:28,165 --> 00:19:29,785 Just obsessing endlessly. 588 00:19:29,815 --> 00:19:30,025 Yeah. 589 00:19:30,205 --> 00:19:31,615 And re-analyzing and going over stuff. 590 00:19:31,855 --> 00:19:34,525 Maybe that isn't a good, a good use of that, but when I 591 00:19:34,525 --> 00:19:37,675 do the same thing, when I'm pouring over our, you know, 592 00:19:37,675 --> 00:19:40,135 return on ad spend results and I'm trying to figure. 593 00:19:40,135 --> 00:19:40,405 Right. 594 00:19:40,405 --> 00:19:44,020 So there are definitely places, so what I've started to do is, 595 00:19:44,025 --> 00:19:45,505 is try to decide like, okay. 596 00:19:45,929 --> 00:19:49,500 Given a, a particular trait that maybe could need a fix. 597 00:19:49,500 --> 00:19:49,710 Right. 598 00:19:49,710 --> 00:19:51,149 Social media is telling me it needs to be fixed. 599 00:19:51,149 --> 00:19:51,720 This is a problem. 600 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:52,679 The thing that you do is a problem. 601 00:19:53,250 --> 00:19:53,370 Right. 602 00:19:53,370 --> 00:19:57,360 I always want to make sure that I understand where else. 603 00:19:57,360 --> 00:19:58,590 'cause they, they'll give you the use case 604 00:19:58,590 --> 00:20:00,000 where it's bad Of course. 605 00:20:00,270 --> 00:20:00,629 Right. 606 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:02,370 They'll come up with whatever the, the, the 607 00:20:02,370 --> 00:20:03,300 place where this manifests. 608 00:20:03,300 --> 00:20:03,480 Right. 609 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:03,929 The temper. 610 00:20:03,929 --> 00:20:04,800 You're not in the boxing ring. 611 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:05,250 This is bad. 612 00:20:05,460 --> 00:20:05,669 Yeah. 613 00:20:05,700 --> 00:20:06,030 Right. 614 00:20:06,030 --> 00:20:06,810 Right in the boxing ring. 615 00:20:06,810 --> 00:20:07,139 Great. 616 00:20:07,620 --> 00:20:10,350 I'm always trying to figure out, does the fix. 617 00:20:10,754 --> 00:20:12,945 Erase an edge that I have. 618 00:20:13,004 --> 00:20:13,425 Right? 619 00:20:13,425 --> 00:20:13,995 Right, exactly. 620 00:20:13,995 --> 00:20:15,495 'cause that's not therapy. 621 00:20:15,615 --> 00:20:18,915 That's sanding the edge off my sword and I want to make 622 00:20:18,915 --> 00:20:20,145 sure that I'm not doing that. 623 00:20:20,145 --> 00:20:22,785 And so that's, I'm always looking at it from that lens 624 00:20:22,785 --> 00:20:24,254 to say like, okay, cool. 625 00:20:24,735 --> 00:20:25,485 I can fix this thing. 626 00:20:25,485 --> 00:20:27,645 That's obviously a problem here, but if I fix it here, 627 00:20:27,945 --> 00:20:30,225 what am I breaking downstream? 628 00:20:30,225 --> 00:20:32,865 What else am I not gonna be able to do because of this? 629 00:20:33,165 --> 00:20:34,785 And can I selectively fix, right? 630 00:20:34,785 --> 00:20:37,875 Can I pick and choose where this happens as opposed to kind of 631 00:20:38,055 --> 00:20:39,615 wholesale taking the advice. 632 00:20:40,004 --> 00:20:42,135 Let me ask you a question because I'm curious where, 633 00:20:42,135 --> 00:20:42,945 where you stand on this Now. 634 00:20:42,945 --> 00:20:46,845 I know neither of us are massive social media users. 635 00:20:46,845 --> 00:20:48,524 We're not always out there like everybody else's, but 636 00:20:48,524 --> 00:20:52,185 like, what advice would you give to somebody who's feeling 637 00:20:52,185 --> 00:20:57,585 pressured by all these self-help trends, but isn't sure what 638 00:20:57,585 --> 00:21:00,105 would work for them or, or if they should even be doing this? 639 00:21:00,105 --> 00:21:01,875 How, how are, how are you thinking about that? 640 00:21:01,965 --> 00:21:03,135 Here's what worked for me. 641 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,395 I, I started to say to myself, my superpower 642 00:21:07,395 --> 00:21:08,625 slash deficiencies. 643 00:21:09,405 --> 00:21:10,245 Need a home. 644 00:21:10,570 --> 00:21:10,990 Mm-hmm. 645 00:21:11,075 --> 00:21:12,524 Okay, so, so stick with that. 646 00:21:12,915 --> 00:21:16,965 It turns out that my lack of attention span is really 647 00:21:16,965 --> 00:21:19,725 bad in very specific cases. 648 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:20,129 Sure. 649 00:21:20,730 --> 00:21:23,399 In other words, I don't do workshops, classrooms, 650 00:21:23,490 --> 00:21:25,800 anything that requires my undivided attention. 651 00:21:25,980 --> 00:21:27,870 'cause I do not have undivided attention. 652 00:21:27,875 --> 00:21:28,135 Right. 653 00:21:28,139 --> 00:21:28,260 Right. 654 00:21:28,260 --> 00:21:31,260 So I absolutely keep myself outta those situations. 655 00:21:31,350 --> 00:21:34,170 However, how the hell was I gonna keep myself outta the 656 00:21:34,170 --> 00:21:37,080 situation for the first 22 years of my life in school? 657 00:21:37,379 --> 00:21:37,560 Right. 658 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:39,659 It is literally what I was being tasked with doing. 659 00:21:39,659 --> 00:21:39,930 Right. 660 00:21:40,290 --> 00:21:41,820 Which, but hang on, hang on a second. 661 00:21:41,820 --> 00:21:43,920 So just, just, and, and I want to, I don't wanna dig into how 662 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,710 broken the education system is, but I just want to highlight 663 00:21:46,710 --> 00:21:48,360 how differently people learn. 664 00:21:49,170 --> 00:21:49,380 Right. 665 00:21:49,380 --> 00:21:51,210 So to your point, you couldn't sit in a cloud, 666 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:52,500 you couldn't read a book, you couldn't do anything. 667 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,490 And yet you taught yourself how to build just a house, 668 00:21:56,490 --> 00:22:01,320 but a pretty big, pretty complicated, pretty de very 669 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:03,240 insanely detailed home. 670 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,070 You taught yourself all of that. 671 00:22:05,070 --> 00:22:06,630 You learned all of those things. 672 00:22:06,900 --> 00:22:08,850 So I think we have to be really careful when we think about 673 00:22:08,850 --> 00:22:11,250 some of this stuff that's like, does, will, will just doesn't 674 00:22:11,250 --> 00:22:11,740 have the ability to learn. 675 00:22:12,315 --> 00:22:14,415 Bullshit will didn't have the ability to learn 676 00:22:14,415 --> 00:22:15,375 in that, in that way. 677 00:22:15,380 --> 00:22:15,450 Right? 678 00:22:15,455 --> 00:22:15,675 Right. 679 00:22:15,675 --> 00:22:18,735 And so we have to be so careful about what we think of as 680 00:22:18,735 --> 00:22:22,035 like these things that may be short-term challenges or just 681 00:22:22,035 --> 00:22:24,255 even the modality that we're facing that's keeping us from 682 00:22:24,255 --> 00:22:26,925 doing something and saying, oh, I'm not capable of learning. 683 00:22:27,315 --> 00:22:28,275 But we know that's not true. 684 00:22:28,275 --> 00:22:29,835 You're insanely capable learning. 685 00:22:29,835 --> 00:22:31,725 One of the, the, probably the one of the fastest 686 00:22:31,725 --> 00:22:33,915 learners over the broadest number of topics that I've 687 00:22:33,915 --> 00:22:34,845 ever met in my entire life. 688 00:22:35,445 --> 00:22:35,625 Right. 689 00:22:35,625 --> 00:22:37,245 And yet, if I was your third grade teacher, I 690 00:22:37,245 --> 00:22:39,075 would've just put a check mark that said, you know. 691 00:22:39,660 --> 00:22:40,530 Not, not this one. 692 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:42,600 Yeah, no, that's exactly what happened. 693 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:44,580 You know, I graduated with a 1.2 GPA. 694 00:22:44,610 --> 00:22:46,830 Like the teachers basically said there's no hope for you 695 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,370 and can you graduate with a 1.2 GPA in the state of Connecticut? 696 00:22:50,370 --> 00:22:50,730 You can. 697 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:52,770 I couldn't confirm. 698 00:22:52,770 --> 00:22:53,310 Amazing. 699 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:54,900 I can confirm, but. 700 00:22:55,095 --> 00:22:57,165 You can graduate last, by the way, you know, you 701 00:22:57,165 --> 00:22:58,274 and I, you both have kids. 702 00:22:58,274 --> 00:23:00,495 We have great kids and, and we can see that. 703 00:23:00,495 --> 00:23:02,685 We can see where like maybe our kids are struggling with 704 00:23:02,685 --> 00:23:05,294 one thing, but we start to see them excel at something else. 705 00:23:05,385 --> 00:23:08,595 And I've always been a big fan this as a parent of saying, 706 00:23:08,865 --> 00:23:11,504 I'm not going to bring a better kid in the world by 707 00:23:11,504 --> 00:23:12,975 emphasizing what they do wrong. 708 00:23:13,304 --> 00:23:15,520 I'm gonna bring a better kid by accelerating what they do Well. 709 00:23:16,435 --> 00:23:17,485 Gold from a point of strength. 710 00:23:17,605 --> 00:23:18,025 Correct? 711 00:23:18,025 --> 00:23:20,515 Right in, in, in tripling down on the things that 712 00:23:20,515 --> 00:23:22,915 they are great at, not at the expense of everything 713 00:23:22,915 --> 00:23:24,415 else, but not the opposite. 714 00:23:24,655 --> 00:23:27,085 Let me triple down on the stuff you suck at, at 715 00:23:27,085 --> 00:23:28,885 the expense of the things that you might do well. 716 00:23:29,125 --> 00:23:32,275 So with that said, that definitely applies to founders. 717 00:23:32,545 --> 00:23:34,735 You know, I see founders come into this, into this 718 00:23:34,735 --> 00:23:37,405 business, and everybody comes into it terrified because 719 00:23:37,405 --> 00:23:40,195 there's so many things you're being tasked with that are 720 00:23:40,195 --> 00:23:41,365 not in your wheelhouse. 721 00:23:41,710 --> 00:23:43,930 And so we'll have a founder come to us, Ryan, and say, 722 00:23:43,930 --> 00:23:45,760 Hey, I'm not great at finance. 723 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,160 Okay, then don't do finance. 724 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:48,370 Right? 725 00:23:48,370 --> 00:23:49,870 Like literally don't literal find out any 726 00:23:49,870 --> 00:23:50,800 other way to do that. 727 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:50,860 Yeah. 728 00:23:51,310 --> 00:23:53,380 But instead of saying to yourself, you know, I'm really 729 00:23:53,380 --> 00:23:55,690 good at product development or really good at sales, but 730 00:23:55,690 --> 00:23:58,420 I suck at finance, so let me be worried about finance. 731 00:23:58,630 --> 00:24:00,040 It's the same thing, right? 732 00:24:00,220 --> 00:24:03,100 Find out how to supplement that so you can triple down 733 00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:04,090 on what you are good at. 734 00:24:04,630 --> 00:24:07,120 If we only focus on fixing weaknesses. 735 00:24:07,710 --> 00:24:10,590 We risk totally missing out on developing our actual 736 00:24:10,590 --> 00:24:13,200 strengths, our superpowers, and, and let's, let's be honest, 737 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,220 the world does not reward average across the board. 738 00:24:17,220 --> 00:24:17,490 Right. 739 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,340 You're a well-rounded and super average in every way. 740 00:24:20,340 --> 00:24:20,820 Individual. 741 00:24:20,820 --> 00:24:20,910 Right? 742 00:24:20,910 --> 00:24:21,150 Exactly. 743 00:24:21,150 --> 00:24:21,900 We'd love to have you aboard. 744 00:24:22,110 --> 00:24:22,290 Yeah. 745 00:24:22,290 --> 00:24:25,530 It doesn't, it rewards exceptionality in 746 00:24:25,530 --> 00:24:26,670 specific areas. 747 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:27,150 Absolutely. 748 00:24:27,150 --> 00:24:27,300 Right. 749 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,600 That's why it's important to, to think about those things and 750 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,630 to identify and double down on what actually make you unique, 751 00:24:34,290 --> 00:24:35,370 even if it's unconventional. 752 00:24:36,314 --> 00:24:37,754 Es maybe, especially if it's 753 00:24:37,754 --> 00:24:39,014 unconventional, right? 754 00:24:39,195 --> 00:24:41,475 And so, you know, from my standpoint, I look 755 00:24:41,475 --> 00:24:43,605 at it and I'm saying, okay, what am I great at? 756 00:24:43,635 --> 00:24:44,504 Or said differently? 757 00:24:44,745 --> 00:24:47,415 What do my superpowers require in order for 758 00:24:47,415 --> 00:24:48,495 them to be superpowers? 759 00:24:48,585 --> 00:24:51,524 Okay, so my lack of attention negates lots 760 00:24:51,524 --> 00:24:52,814 and lots of things, right? 761 00:24:53,264 --> 00:24:56,445 But if I embrace the fact that, but when it's pointed 762 00:24:56,445 --> 00:24:57,764 toward the right things. 763 00:24:58,155 --> 00:24:59,205 It's a whole other animal. 764 00:24:59,475 --> 00:25:01,845 It reminds me, 'cause I'm such a huge comic book fan. 765 00:25:02,175 --> 00:25:04,095 Uh, and for those that are watching the, um, the 766 00:25:04,095 --> 00:25:05,805 YouTube right now, if you look behind me, those are 767 00:25:05,805 --> 00:25:06,735 all comic books behind me. 768 00:25:08,115 --> 00:25:10,515 Uh, I always look at, you know, the, the, uh, the superpowers. 769 00:25:10,575 --> 00:25:12,855 You know, the whole thing with, with Marvel specifically 770 00:25:13,065 --> 00:25:15,345 is whenever they talked about characters, they, they 771 00:25:15,345 --> 00:25:18,285 always had a, a character who had a superpower, but it 772 00:25:18,285 --> 00:25:21,555 had some sort of challenge behind using that superpower. 773 00:25:21,585 --> 00:25:21,930 What were you pointing at? 774 00:25:22,574 --> 00:25:23,504 Captain America 775 00:25:23,685 --> 00:25:24,344 and Spider-Man. 776 00:25:24,344 --> 00:25:24,435 Oh yeah. 777 00:25:25,034 --> 00:25:26,625 They're out, they're out of focus, but they're right there. 778 00:25:26,834 --> 00:25:27,375 That's awesome. 779 00:25:27,764 --> 00:25:28,965 But that, that was always the case. 780 00:25:28,965 --> 00:25:29,205 Right? 781 00:25:29,205 --> 00:25:31,485 That uh, and, and what they did a great job of is saying 782 00:25:31,485 --> 00:25:34,334 is like, this person has this incredible capability. 783 00:25:34,334 --> 00:25:35,324 It's the Hulk, right? 784 00:25:35,504 --> 00:25:35,564 Yeah. 785 00:25:35,564 --> 00:25:38,354 Has this incredible strength, but the rage and anger 786 00:25:38,354 --> 00:25:39,675 that they deal with right. 787 00:25:39,675 --> 00:25:41,145 Is, is always kind of countering that. 788 00:25:42,055 --> 00:25:45,475 And when I think about our capabilities, our superpowers, 789 00:25:45,475 --> 00:25:48,685 so to speak, I think to myself, okay, maybe Ryan's 790 00:25:48,685 --> 00:25:51,265 over analyzing things, so why don't we work on the 791 00:25:51,265 --> 00:25:53,575 shit that, that we, that needs over analysis, right. 792 00:25:53,575 --> 00:25:55,255 Like you said, exactly like digging into, you know, uh, 793 00:25:55,255 --> 00:25:58,405 marketing analytics and things that, where that is a strength. 794 00:25:58,735 --> 00:26:03,025 And so if I were to zoom out, I think at some point, and I think 795 00:26:03,025 --> 00:26:05,875 this is important, I stopped trying to fix my problems. 796 00:26:05,875 --> 00:26:05,935 Yeah. 797 00:26:05,995 --> 00:26:07,945 I stopped trying to fix them. 798 00:26:07,945 --> 00:26:11,635 I try tried calling myself broken and I started to say. 799 00:26:12,300 --> 00:26:17,160 I've got all these problems, but the fix is where I point them. 800 00:26:17,940 --> 00:26:19,950 The the fix is, is, is, is where I triple down. 801 00:26:19,950 --> 00:26:22,050 And I think, again, I'm gonna go back to founders for a second. 802 00:26:22,350 --> 00:26:24,990 They're called on to do all of these things, many of 803 00:26:24,990 --> 00:26:29,310 which they're not qualified or interested in doing, and they 804 00:26:29,310 --> 00:26:31,770 put all of their focus on their deficiencies, especially when 805 00:26:31,770 --> 00:26:34,500 it comes, uh, time to becoming managers and things like that. 806 00:26:35,070 --> 00:26:36,270 They're like, here's what I suck at. 807 00:26:36,570 --> 00:26:37,080 Oh, okay. 808 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:38,010 Yeah, you probably do, dude. 809 00:26:38,970 --> 00:26:41,760 But why don't we put you on the stuff that you're great at? 810 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,520 If you're a great developer, if you're, if you are great 811 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,310 at writing code, why the hell are we making you a manager? 812 00:26:48,090 --> 00:26:48,300 Yeah. 813 00:26:48,570 --> 00:26:50,159 That's like one of the oldest ones in the book, right? 814 00:26:50,580 --> 00:26:50,820 Yeah. 815 00:26:50,820 --> 00:26:53,550 I, I think interesting too, because you do have to be a 816 00:26:53,550 --> 00:26:57,659 little careful here, going back to the build from the point 817 00:26:57,659 --> 00:27:00,330 of strength, because there are times where we just truly 818 00:27:00,330 --> 00:27:01,590 haven't discovered a strength. 819 00:27:01,965 --> 00:27:03,825 Maybe it even looked like a weakness in the beginning, 820 00:27:03,825 --> 00:27:05,685 so I want to be careful. 821 00:27:05,745 --> 00:27:07,695 But when we get into the context of a startup, one of 822 00:27:07,695 --> 00:27:10,515 the things I think is also very important to think through. 823 00:27:10,845 --> 00:27:13,245 Go back to your example, the founder who's like, 824 00:27:13,365 --> 00:27:14,505 I suck at finance. 825 00:27:14,775 --> 00:27:16,455 Okay, we can look at that two ways. 826 00:27:16,455 --> 00:27:18,495 You suck at finance, but you're really good at product, 827 00:27:18,495 --> 00:27:21,645 so just focus on product and that's probably the right move. 828 00:27:21,795 --> 00:27:23,505 Now you might, it might turn out that you're an 829 00:27:23,505 --> 00:27:25,510 absolute savant at finance. 830 00:27:26,324 --> 00:27:28,635 You just haven't been given enough of an exposure, right? 831 00:27:28,635 --> 00:27:30,614 Think about how many musicians get discovered late in life 832 00:27:30,614 --> 00:27:31,334 that didn't know that, right? 833 00:27:31,334 --> 00:27:31,995 All that kinda stuff. 834 00:27:32,594 --> 00:27:35,054 However, building from a point of strength is almost 835 00:27:35,054 --> 00:27:37,485 always gonna be a, a more reliable way to an outcome. 836 00:27:37,784 --> 00:27:39,435 The other thing I like to measure it against is, 837 00:27:39,885 --> 00:27:42,975 okay, even if it turns out you were a savant, you 838 00:27:42,975 --> 00:27:44,415 are just like top finance. 839 00:27:45,195 --> 00:27:47,024 Is that gonna help you do what you need to do now? 840 00:27:47,205 --> 00:27:47,385 Right. 841 00:27:47,385 --> 00:27:49,574 With being amazing at finance within an early stage 842 00:27:49,574 --> 00:27:51,435 startup, is that what's going to move the needle most? 843 00:27:51,435 --> 00:27:53,864 So I think oftentimes we get so caught up in like, 844 00:27:53,864 --> 00:27:55,185 what I can or can't do. 845 00:27:56,130 --> 00:27:58,200 We stop thinking about them in the context and, 846 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,090 and how valuable they are to the startup, right? 847 00:28:00,090 --> 00:28:02,850 If you're an early stage startup, I can tell you finance 848 00:28:02,850 --> 00:28:04,410 isn't gonna be that important 'cause there's not gonna 849 00:28:04,410 --> 00:28:05,430 be that much of it, right? 850 00:28:05,430 --> 00:28:07,140 There's gonna be no beans to count, right? 851 00:28:07,140 --> 00:28:08,340 There's gonna be very little to plan. 852 00:28:08,790 --> 00:28:11,310 When I think about my anxiety. 853 00:28:12,045 --> 00:28:12,285 Right, 854 00:28:12,285 --> 00:28:13,905 just my baked in anxiety. 855 00:28:14,025 --> 00:28:15,255 Everybody's got some version of it. 856 00:28:15,255 --> 00:28:18,795 But again, when I analyze my own, um, we have, we have 857 00:28:18,795 --> 00:28:19,995 pretty special versions of it. 858 00:28:19,995 --> 00:28:20,355 I would argue. 859 00:28:21,975 --> 00:28:24,375 Here's what I would say, I've got two versions 860 00:28:24,375 --> 00:28:25,275 of how that can go. 861 00:28:25,665 --> 00:28:28,155 I can say my anxiety is, is what? 862 00:28:28,860 --> 00:28:30,270 Ruins me, right? 863 00:28:30,270 --> 00:28:31,920 It's keeping me up at three in the morning. 864 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:33,870 It's, you know, preventing me from sleeping with health 865 00:28:33,870 --> 00:28:35,100 issues like you name it, right? 866 00:28:35,100 --> 00:28:37,470 My anxiety is doing all of these awful things to me. 867 00:28:37,530 --> 00:28:38,730 And all of that would be true. 868 00:28:38,790 --> 00:28:39,330 Just wanna be clear. 869 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:40,380 All of that would be true. 870 00:28:40,410 --> 00:28:42,240 I'm not, I'm not, uh, discounting any of that or 871 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,515 taking off table, but there's another version to say. 872 00:28:46,590 --> 00:28:46,949 Hmm. 873 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,159 Your anxiety also has some really interesting superpowers. 874 00:28:50,699 --> 00:28:53,850 It's got you thinking about stuff when nobody else is. 875 00:28:53,969 --> 00:28:54,060 Yes. 876 00:28:54,060 --> 00:28:56,310 When everybody else is, is calm and relaxed. 877 00:28:56,310 --> 00:28:57,810 Oh, this problem must be solved. 878 00:28:58,050 --> 00:29:00,719 It's got you saying, yeah, but what if it's not right? 879 00:29:00,725 --> 00:29:00,754 Mm-hmm. 880 00:29:00,834 --> 00:29:02,520 And, and then you turn over a stone wherever. 881 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,199 It's like, oh shit, we didn't even look at that. 882 00:29:04,500 --> 00:29:04,800 Right. 883 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,570 Like it's this early warning system. 884 00:29:06,980 --> 00:29:08,900 That's exactly how I look at it, man. 885 00:29:09,110 --> 00:29:11,000 For me it's, it's predictive analytics 886 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:11,960 with a heartbeat, right? 887 00:29:12,740 --> 00:29:12,750 Yeah. 888 00:29:12,750 --> 00:29:16,190 I'm, if I'm laying down at night and I start having one 889 00:29:16,190 --> 00:29:18,410 of those thoughts where it's like my heart rate starts to 890 00:29:18,410 --> 00:29:21,590 go up a little bit and I'm like, okay, this is probably 891 00:29:21,590 --> 00:29:23,450 something that's actually important right now, does 892 00:29:23,450 --> 00:29:25,820 it mean I need to stay awake all night and worry about it? 893 00:29:25,940 --> 00:29:28,670 No, and what I've found is that if I just acknowledge 894 00:29:28,670 --> 00:29:30,350 it and then I try, you know, the whole thing, like, yeah, 895 00:29:30,350 --> 00:29:31,280 write it down or whatever. 896 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:32,840 Yes, some of that stuff does actually work. 897 00:29:32,900 --> 00:29:35,270 Some of that does actually work because part of the anxiety is. 898 00:29:35,535 --> 00:29:36,705 What if I forget about this, right. 899 00:29:36,705 --> 00:29:38,535 Combine anxiety and a DH adhd. 900 00:29:39,105 --> 00:29:40,125 That's a neat recipe. 901 00:29:40,125 --> 00:29:41,985 You are like, I'm worried about this thing. 902 00:29:42,045 --> 00:29:42,135 Yeah. 903 00:29:42,135 --> 00:29:43,305 And if I don't keep worrying about it, I'll 904 00:29:43,305 --> 00:29:44,115 forget to worry about it. 905 00:29:44,115 --> 00:29:45,050 And then what the fuck will happen? 906 00:29:45,050 --> 00:29:45,210 My session? 907 00:29:45,210 --> 00:29:45,290 Yeah. 908 00:29:45,345 --> 00:29:45,615 Right. 909 00:29:45,615 --> 00:29:45,875 Yeah, yeah, yeah, 910 00:29:45,875 --> 00:29:46,010 yeah. 911 00:29:46,155 --> 00:29:49,125 Last night I was having one of those anxious thoughts, right. 912 00:29:49,395 --> 00:29:51,465 And I, and it was, I was like, say exactly 913 00:29:51,465 --> 00:29:52,275 like you played it out. 914 00:29:52,335 --> 00:29:52,665 Right. 915 00:29:52,695 --> 00:29:54,555 Whereas like, oh my God, I, I need to solve 916 00:29:54,555 --> 00:29:55,425 this problem right now. 917 00:29:55,515 --> 00:29:55,605 Yeah. 918 00:29:55,725 --> 00:29:57,975 And I remember having this conversation with myself 919 00:29:57,975 --> 00:29:59,115 right before I fell asleep. 920 00:29:59,115 --> 00:29:59,835 The key being. 921 00:30:00,210 --> 00:30:03,180 Right before I fell asleep and I said to myself, I've had 922 00:30:03,180 --> 00:30:04,860 this thought 10 million times. 923 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:06,720 Not this one, but one like it. 924 00:30:06,930 --> 00:30:08,670 Some random, anxious thought, right? 925 00:30:08,940 --> 00:30:12,300 I've been to this rodeo over and over and over again. 926 00:30:12,660 --> 00:30:15,660 The one commonality is in the history of history. 927 00:30:15,810 --> 00:30:18,750 The problem never got solved at this exact moment, right? 928 00:30:18,780 --> 00:30:19,415 Ever, ever, ever. 929 00:30:20,085 --> 00:30:21,465 So I can, you mean while you're laying in bed with 930 00:30:21,465 --> 00:30:23,085 your eyes closed, you haven't solved problems? 931 00:30:23,090 --> 00:30:26,535 I, I, I, I can choose to obsess over it, lose, quite, 932 00:30:26,535 --> 00:30:30,135 literally lose sleep over it, or I can file it for, 933 00:30:30,195 --> 00:30:32,955 again, the millionth time that there's absolutely nothing 934 00:30:32,955 --> 00:30:34,065 I can do about it right now. 935 00:30:34,065 --> 00:30:37,155 Meaningfully uhhuh, if I get sleep, I'll wake up in the 936 00:30:37,155 --> 00:30:40,605 morning and be ready to tackle it, and that's actually the 937 00:30:40,605 --> 00:30:42,014 only time I can tackle it. 938 00:30:42,570 --> 00:30:43,919 Like, again, just because I'm worried about it 939 00:30:43,919 --> 00:30:45,270 doesn't mean I'm prepared to do something about it. 940 00:30:45,690 --> 00:30:48,600 And as I started to build those tools, I was like, 941 00:30:48,629 --> 00:30:51,270 listen, hey, anxiety, thanks for the heads up. 942 00:30:51,629 --> 00:30:53,760 I'll go hand that over to obsessive person in the 943 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,820 morning, my other demon. 944 00:30:57,060 --> 00:30:57,360 Right. 945 00:30:57,419 --> 00:30:59,639 Uh, but, but right now, good. 946 00:30:59,639 --> 00:31:00,419 You did your job, 947 00:31:00,419 --> 00:31:00,690 right? 948 00:31:00,690 --> 00:31:00,700 Right. 949 00:31:00,899 --> 00:31:01,919 You did your job. 950 00:31:02,190 --> 00:31:02,909 Smoke alarm. 951 00:31:02,909 --> 00:31:03,300 Smoke alarm. 952 00:31:03,300 --> 00:31:05,850 Recognize, you know, I actually, I loved the, I loved the rodeo 953 00:31:05,850 --> 00:31:08,070 analogy and I immediately took it to bull riding. 954 00:31:08,070 --> 00:31:09,960 I was thinking, you know what, that's, that's exactly it. 955 00:31:10,350 --> 00:31:13,379 Anxiety is a bull worth riding for eight seconds. 956 00:31:13,379 --> 00:31:16,110 But once you've gone that far with it, yeah, jump off right? 957 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,290 Get off the anxiety bull and then, and then, you know, 958 00:31:19,290 --> 00:31:21,330 put it to ease with the obsessive guy in the morning. 959 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:22,020 It's exactly 960 00:31:22,020 --> 00:31:22,169 it. 961 00:31:22,409 --> 00:31:24,659 So, you know, and, and I think about it too, where like, you 962 00:31:24,659 --> 00:31:28,050 know, my mind's always racing and, and I, I always explain 963 00:31:28,050 --> 00:31:29,639 what that looks like is, yeah. 964 00:31:29,845 --> 00:31:32,095 If you could watch the television channel that is my 965 00:31:32,095 --> 00:31:34,764 head, it would be as if somebody just hit the channel button on 966 00:31:34,764 --> 00:31:37,825 the remote and just left it down and just every single thing. 967 00:31:37,825 --> 00:31:38,220 Ding, ding, d ding, ding. 968 00:31:38,220 --> 00:31:39,715 Just kept flipping over and over. 969 00:31:40,014 --> 00:31:40,465 Oh, by the way, 970 00:31:40,465 --> 00:31:42,145 you've also got picture and picture turned on. 971 00:31:42,205 --> 00:31:42,564 So there's, 972 00:31:43,254 --> 00:31:45,804 there's, there's no way around that one. 973 00:31:45,804 --> 00:31:48,955 And for the, my entire lifetime, again, I've tried all these 974 00:31:48,955 --> 00:31:49,720 things to try to like you. 975 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:52,410 Control it, if you will, and concentrate it. 976 00:31:52,620 --> 00:31:56,250 Meditation and everything else, like just does not work. 977 00:31:56,254 --> 00:31:58,139 And, and what I learned over, over some period of 978 00:31:58,139 --> 00:32:00,840 time is it's not what I was supposed to be doing. 979 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,530 The, the question should be, how do I take all those 980 00:32:04,530 --> 00:32:07,590 thoughts like that, that rapid fire and capture them? 981 00:32:07,955 --> 00:32:08,850 Write 'em down. 982 00:32:08,850 --> 00:32:09,450 Brainstorm. 983 00:32:09,450 --> 00:32:10,560 Now I use the hell outta chat. 984 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:11,985 GT the chat GT Yes. 985 00:32:11,990 --> 00:32:15,480 Is the unwitting accomplice to all of these ideas and chat. 986 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,740 GT is, I I I'm loading up context windows single handedly. 987 00:32:19,740 --> 00:32:19,800 Yeah. 988 00:32:20,310 --> 00:32:21,900 Simply just by brainstorming. 989 00:32:22,260 --> 00:32:23,070 But it turns out somewhere 990 00:32:23,070 --> 00:32:26,340 on their CDN is is a server that just has your name on it. 991 00:32:26,550 --> 00:32:30,000 Yeah, the, the Schroeder Stargate. 992 00:32:30,270 --> 00:32:33,240 So that said, I found healthy outlets. 993 00:32:33,945 --> 00:32:34,845 To point these things. 994 00:32:35,175 --> 00:32:37,305 And it turned out when I found these healthy outlets, 995 00:32:37,485 --> 00:32:38,745 things got real interesting. 996 00:32:38,745 --> 00:32:40,875 And a moment ago you mentioned finance. 997 00:32:41,115 --> 00:32:42,555 You said, Hey, maybe you're not good at finance. 998 00:32:42,945 --> 00:32:46,815 We'll go back to my 1.2 GPA what dragged my GPA down the 999 00:32:46,815 --> 00:32:48,885 most, which I guess if you've got a GPA that low, that 1000 00:32:48,945 --> 00:32:50,115 it's literally everything. 1001 00:32:50,535 --> 00:32:50,775 Yeah. 1002 00:32:50,955 --> 00:32:51,355 But was math. 1003 00:32:51,355 --> 00:32:52,335 There was a couple drags on that one. 1004 00:32:52,515 --> 00:32:53,325 It was math. 1005 00:32:53,415 --> 00:32:54,375 I I Interesting. 1006 00:32:54,375 --> 00:32:58,485 Never made it past freshman High school algebra ever. 1007 00:32:58,965 --> 00:33:00,465 I took it seven times. 1008 00:33:00,795 --> 00:33:01,365 I took it. 1009 00:33:01,595 --> 00:33:03,784 In all four grades in all three summer schools, 1010 00:33:04,085 --> 00:33:05,825 and I never passed it. 1011 00:33:05,945 --> 00:33:09,034 I then went to Math oh five oh in college and 1012 00:33:09,034 --> 00:33:10,115 flunked out of that as well. 1013 00:33:10,115 --> 00:33:14,975 So, needless to say, not super sweet at algebra, 1014 00:33:15,365 --> 00:33:18,245 which would surprise a lot of folks to know that I've 1015 00:33:18,245 --> 00:33:20,075 been a CFO for 25 years. 1016 00:33:20,165 --> 00:33:20,375 Right? 1017 00:33:20,915 --> 00:33:22,145 You try to say, wait, what? 1018 00:33:22,149 --> 00:33:22,290 Those 1019 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:24,095 CFOs don't use a ton of algebra terms. 1020 00:33:24,095 --> 00:33:24,274 Well, 1021 00:33:24,665 --> 00:33:25,055 right? 1022 00:33:25,055 --> 00:33:28,865 But the leap is as soon as you put dollar signs 1023 00:33:28,865 --> 00:33:29,915 in front of those numbers. 1024 00:33:30,284 --> 00:33:33,165 I was, you know, the Stephen Hawking of finance, right? 1025 00:33:33,165 --> 00:33:34,514 I mean, not that I'm like the greatest finance 1026 00:33:34,514 --> 00:33:37,544 person, but like I really understand finance. 1027 00:33:37,544 --> 00:33:40,905 I really, really, really understand finance and that has 1028 00:33:40,905 --> 00:33:42,524 opened so many doors for me. 1029 00:33:43,004 --> 00:33:43,245 Okay. 1030 00:33:43,950 --> 00:33:47,190 But that said, if you said, will, we are gonna put you 1031 00:33:47,190 --> 00:33:50,670 in a finance class, your job is to learn finance, and 1032 00:33:50,670 --> 00:33:53,550 here's the, here's the trick, but I had no context for it. 1033 00:33:53,700 --> 00:33:53,760 Yeah. 1034 00:33:53,820 --> 00:33:56,490 I didn't have a reason that I needed to learn finance. 1035 00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:57,000 Yep. 1036 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:58,980 I would've flunked seven years in a row. 1037 00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:00,960 Well, it was somebody else's dollar signs in front of it. 1038 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:01,830 Who cares about those? 1039 00:34:02,035 --> 00:34:02,695 Exactly. 1040 00:34:02,785 --> 00:34:04,525 But as soon as you put my money in 1041 00:34:04,525 --> 00:34:06,385 front of it, no context, no connection. 1042 00:34:06,504 --> 00:34:06,625 Yeah. 1043 00:34:06,625 --> 00:34:07,225 Forget about it. 1044 00:34:07,285 --> 00:34:07,645 Right. 1045 00:34:07,675 --> 00:34:09,925 And I, I use that by the way, in fact, I think you and I 1046 00:34:09,925 --> 00:34:10,855 talked about this yesterday. 1047 00:34:10,885 --> 00:34:12,955 'cause we were talking about open AI had had launched 1048 00:34:12,955 --> 00:34:14,425 their new agents, uh, product. 1049 00:34:14,425 --> 00:34:14,514 Yep. 1050 00:34:14,514 --> 00:34:16,105 You know, this, the, the nodes and stuff. 1051 00:34:16,344 --> 00:34:18,655 And I said, I looked at it, I, my eyes went 1052 00:34:18,655 --> 00:34:21,085 cross-eyed and I had, you know, I, I had no interest. 1053 00:34:21,415 --> 00:34:21,955 You said, you 1054 00:34:21,955 --> 00:34:23,725 was like, I didn't make it through the five minute video. 1055 00:34:23,725 --> 00:34:23,784 Yeah. 1056 00:34:23,784 --> 00:34:26,155 And I confirmed that later in the day by asking, Hey, did 1057 00:34:26,155 --> 00:34:27,925 you get to the part where it showed this, which is about 1058 00:34:27,925 --> 00:34:29,125 three minutes and 30 seconds, 1059 00:34:29,125 --> 00:34:29,335 you're like. 1060 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:30,370 Nope, Nope. 1061 00:34:30,550 --> 00:34:34,750 However, the moment I find a use case for it, the moment I, you 1062 00:34:34,750 --> 00:34:37,630 know, I find, um, okay, this is, this is how I'm gonna use it. 1063 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:38,500 Yep. 1064 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:39,610 Totally different, right? 1065 00:34:39,610 --> 00:34:42,160 The YouTube rabbit hole portal opens wide Oh yeah. 1066 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:43,660 Will pops in feed first and at that 1067 00:34:43,660 --> 00:34:46,390 point turn on the obsession filter and go, yep. 1068 00:34:46,630 --> 00:34:48,190 I look at that a lot in kids, by the way. 1069 00:34:48,190 --> 00:34:50,740 'cause again, I'm make making that parallel when a kid 1070 00:34:50,740 --> 00:34:51,820 says, Hey, I don't get it. 1071 00:34:52,030 --> 00:34:53,920 It's often because they don't care about it. 1072 00:34:54,585 --> 00:34:57,465 But if you, if you look at what your kids are capable of doing 1073 00:34:57,555 --> 00:35:00,615 when it's stuff they care about, I watch my son in Minecraft. 1074 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,080 He's building the most extraordinary things. 1075 00:35:04,319 --> 00:35:04,710 Yes. 1076 00:35:04,859 --> 00:35:05,100 Yeah. 1077 00:35:05,100 --> 00:35:07,049 Like, like literally like, and again, I've got a 1078 00:35:07,049 --> 00:35:09,089 pretty high bar for what that might be, Uhhuh. 1079 00:35:09,115 --> 00:35:11,250 And I'm like, damn dude, that's like legit. 1080 00:35:11,339 --> 00:35:11,819 'cause he cares. 1081 00:35:11,819 --> 00:35:11,879 Yeah. 1082 00:35:12,569 --> 00:35:12,899 Right. 1083 00:35:13,140 --> 00:35:15,240 And you watch, you mentioned musicians, right? 1084 00:35:15,299 --> 00:35:17,160 You know, I think I told you this story that, you know, years 1085 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,710 ago I got to see Lars Ulrich, the drummer of Metallica, 1086 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,069 talking to his parents at the private induction of 1087 00:35:23,069 --> 00:35:24,839 their, when they were in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 1088 00:35:25,290 --> 00:35:27,689 And he said to him, he said, the only reason I'm here. 1089 00:35:28,290 --> 00:35:29,819 Because every day you played music in the 1090 00:35:29,819 --> 00:35:31,709 house, because every day you let me be a drummer. 1091 00:35:31,709 --> 00:35:33,330 You encouraged me to be a drummer. 1092 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:35,339 You know, he could have been, we talked about this, an accountant 1093 00:35:35,399 --> 00:35:37,859 or something else like that, but it turns out he's one of the 1094 00:35:37,859 --> 00:35:39,089 greatest drummers of all time. 1095 00:35:39,089 --> 00:35:39,930 I mean, he went to Julliard. 1096 00:35:39,959 --> 00:35:40,049 Yes. 1097 00:35:40,049 --> 00:35:42,870 I mean, he's pretty gifted because someone encouraged him 1098 00:35:42,870 --> 00:35:44,430 to do what he wanted to do. 1099 00:35:44,819 --> 00:35:46,229 Someone forced him to do it. 1100 00:35:46,319 --> 00:35:46,799 Didn't, wouldn't say, 1101 00:35:46,890 --> 00:35:47,549 sit still. 1102 00:35:47,549 --> 00:35:48,899 Stop tapping your foot, Lars. 1103 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:50,009 Where will that get you 1104 00:35:50,009 --> 00:35:50,339 in life? 1105 00:35:50,345 --> 00:35:50,714 Exactly. 1106 00:35:50,850 --> 00:35:51,540 Exactly. 1107 00:35:51,899 --> 00:35:54,120 But I guess what I'm saying is when it's something that we're 1108 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,750 genuinely interested in, we take a a different passion around it. 1109 00:35:58,020 --> 00:35:58,259 Right? 1110 00:35:58,259 --> 00:36:00,120 And it changes things dramatically, even if 1111 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:01,350 it's the same information. 1112 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:01,799 Right? 1113 00:36:01,799 --> 00:36:04,955 So we saw this a few weeks ago with my middle daughter, aria. 1114 00:36:05,700 --> 00:36:09,600 She's 10, and it's not that she doesn't like history or 1115 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,600 social studies, but it's not been her like favorite thing. 1116 00:36:12,900 --> 00:36:14,100 You ask her about what she's learning about, 1117 00:36:14,100 --> 00:36:15,030 she'll give you some basics. 1118 00:36:15,630 --> 00:36:18,960 She went on a one hour, took, took tour while we had some 1119 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:20,100 friends in town a few weeks ago. 1120 00:36:20,100 --> 00:36:22,110 I didn't, I wasn't on it unfortunately, but they, they 1121 00:36:22,110 --> 00:36:22,860 went on this little tour. 1122 00:36:23,220 --> 00:36:24,600 She came back and she unloaded. 1123 00:36:24,630 --> 00:36:27,330 I, I don't know how she told me about Madrid history 1124 00:36:27,330 --> 00:36:28,260 for about three hours. 1125 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,590 How she learned three hours of, of history in an hour trip. 1126 00:36:31,590 --> 00:36:32,550 I have no idea. 1127 00:36:32,910 --> 00:36:34,710 But she came back so excited about it. 1128 00:36:34,875 --> 00:36:38,325 All these little anecdotes, all these details, exactly the kind 1129 00:36:38,325 --> 00:36:40,935 of thing that you could learn from a book, but she didn't 1130 00:36:40,935 --> 00:36:42,765 because she was bored to tears. 1131 00:36:42,825 --> 00:36:44,535 Right now when she's racing around town. 1132 00:36:44,535 --> 00:36:45,975 And it took to getting to see these places 1133 00:36:45,975 --> 00:36:47,145 touch things, right. 1134 00:36:47,265 --> 00:36:49,725 See, smell like all of a sudden completely different experience. 1135 00:36:49,725 --> 00:36:52,305 So even sometimes it's not the information, it's the, it's the 1136 00:36:52,305 --> 00:36:55,154 modality, it's the context, and it's the reason behind whether 1137 00:36:55,154 --> 00:36:56,415 I want to do this or not. 1138 00:36:56,654 --> 00:36:57,524 Correct, correct. 1139 00:36:57,524 --> 00:37:00,435 And so build on that for founders who are like, oh, 1140 00:37:00,435 --> 00:37:02,055 you know, again, I'm not good at all these things. 1141 00:37:02,205 --> 00:37:02,384 Yeah. 1142 00:37:02,415 --> 00:37:03,345 'cause you don't care about them. 1143 00:37:03,610 --> 00:37:03,670 Yeah. 1144 00:37:04,450 --> 00:37:07,000 Once you care about them, and there's two versions of 1145 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:08,980 caring about them, there's one, I, I really need to 1146 00:37:08,980 --> 00:37:10,660 get this done 'cause it's important to my startup. 1147 00:37:10,870 --> 00:37:12,250 That's actually not what I'm talking about. 1148 00:37:12,250 --> 00:37:14,920 Like, it being important doesn't mean you care about it. 1149 00:37:15,070 --> 00:37:16,840 There's a million things in my life that are important 1150 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:18,160 that I actually just don't give a shit about. 1151 00:37:18,310 --> 00:37:18,550 Right? 1152 00:37:18,550 --> 00:37:20,260 That, yes, I should care about them. 1153 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:20,740 I just don't. 1154 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,550 But once you actually, you, you find a fascination. 1155 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:25,529 Around it. 1156 00:37:25,589 --> 00:37:25,920 Right. 1157 00:37:26,370 --> 00:37:28,290 At some point, Ryan, you looked at like Google 1158 00:37:28,290 --> 00:37:31,110 Analytics or another analytics package and just something 1159 00:37:31,110 --> 00:37:33,480 clicked in your head where you're like, I need to know 1160 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:34,500 everything I can possibly know. 1161 00:37:34,529 --> 00:37:34,620 Yeah. 1162 00:37:34,650 --> 00:37:36,240 I need to know everything about this. 1163 00:37:36,299 --> 00:37:36,509 Yep. 1164 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:39,089 And then it became course after course video, after video 1165 00:37:39,089 --> 00:37:41,549 book, after whatever, anything I could find to consume. 1166 00:37:42,060 --> 00:37:44,220 But because I had a goal in mind, there was somewhere I 1167 00:37:44,220 --> 00:37:45,900 was trying to get, I didn't just wake up one morning. 1168 00:37:45,900 --> 00:37:47,580 I was like, I wonder what analytics are. 1169 00:37:47,940 --> 00:37:48,420 Absolutely. 1170 00:37:48,690 --> 00:37:51,509 And so in, in the same way, like for years, every year 1171 00:37:51,509 --> 00:37:53,009 I said, I'm gonna, this year, this is gonna be the 1172 00:37:53,009 --> 00:37:53,879 year I learned to code. 1173 00:37:54,029 --> 00:37:54,240 Right? 1174 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:56,549 Like, and you and I haven't coded in like 20 years, right? 1175 00:37:56,910 --> 00:37:59,009 And so like, this is the year I'm gonna learn Python. 1176 00:37:59,009 --> 00:38:00,569 This is gonna, I'm gonna learn whatever, right? 1177 00:38:00,575 --> 00:38:00,694 Yeah. 1178 00:38:00,930 --> 00:38:03,299 And every year I get into a prompt and I'm 1179 00:38:03,299 --> 00:38:04,470 like, oh, that's right. 1180 00:38:04,470 --> 00:38:06,240 I have no reason for learning any of this. 1181 00:38:06,330 --> 00:38:06,569 Right? 1182 00:38:06,569 --> 00:38:06,580 Yeah. 1183 00:38:06,580 --> 00:38:09,509 Like, I, yes, like I know it's part of my job with regard 1184 00:38:09,509 --> 00:38:13,020 to what we do, but there's nothing that I want to code so 1185 00:38:13,020 --> 00:38:14,615 badly that I wanna learn it. 1186 00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:17,430 Every time I manage getting through, like installing 1187 00:38:17,430 --> 00:38:19,740 the terminal and the packages that are necessary, 1188 00:38:20,250 --> 00:38:21,270 and then it stops there. 1189 00:38:21,270 --> 00:38:23,129 I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah, we should accomplished, 1190 00:38:23,129 --> 00:38:25,589 I created the environment that will allow me to code. 1191 00:38:25,589 --> 00:38:26,819 I'm not gonna write a single line 1192 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:27,870 right now. 1193 00:38:27,870 --> 00:38:29,069 I remember I don't give a shit. 1194 00:38:30,774 --> 00:38:32,970 So, so, yeah, exactly. 1195 00:38:33,029 --> 00:38:33,390 That's the thing. 1196 00:38:33,390 --> 00:38:35,459 I I actually don't have any reason to do this. 1197 00:38:35,669 --> 00:38:35,790 Yeah. 1198 00:38:35,819 --> 00:38:36,209 Correct. 1199 00:38:36,209 --> 00:38:38,730 So I think where, where this all maps back to, which I think 1200 00:38:38,730 --> 00:38:42,750 is really interesting, is it is possible, dare I say it. 1201 00:38:43,715 --> 00:38:46,085 We could enjoy a certain level of self-acceptance. 1202 00:38:46,445 --> 00:38:49,085 Now that is not the same as being complacent. 1203 00:38:49,535 --> 00:38:52,265 It's taking inventory of, of the assets that you have 1204 00:38:52,595 --> 00:38:55,175 and figuring out how to use them to best effect. 1205 00:38:55,175 --> 00:38:55,925 That's way different. 1206 00:38:56,435 --> 00:38:59,405 And so I think for, for a lot of us, again, we're so 1207 00:38:59,405 --> 00:39:02,135 convinced that we have to fix our shit, that we never 1208 00:39:02,135 --> 00:39:04,835 take the time to say, maybe I need to apply it differently. 1209 00:39:05,015 --> 00:39:05,525 Maybe. 1210 00:39:05,525 --> 00:39:06,335 And again, not all of it. 1211 00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:07,020 Yeah. 1212 00:39:07,290 --> 00:39:07,650 Some of it. 1213 00:39:07,650 --> 00:39:09,089 But yeah, I, I think, you know, a way of looking at, 1214 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:12,720 it's, it's, you know, self acceptance isn't surrender. 1215 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:15,210 It's redesigning the org chart of your personality. 1216 00:39:15,210 --> 00:39:15,995 Of your makeup, right? 1217 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:16,140 Right. 1218 00:39:16,140 --> 00:39:18,629 To be able to say, how do we, how do I reorganize these 1219 00:39:18,629 --> 00:39:21,240 things that exist, these resources that I have, right? 1220 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:23,460 So instead of thinking of these things as, as skills or 1221 00:39:23,460 --> 00:39:25,650 flaws, these are the resources that I have, these are the 1222 00:39:25,650 --> 00:39:26,339 things that I'm made of. 1223 00:39:26,730 --> 00:39:27,990 How do I organize those? 1224 00:39:27,990 --> 00:39:30,420 How do I utilize those in a way that stacks up to 1225 00:39:30,420 --> 00:39:33,390 being something absolutely useful as opposed to just. 1226 00:39:33,895 --> 00:39:35,725 Fighting my wiring endlessly. 1227 00:39:35,755 --> 00:39:35,905 Right. 1228 00:39:35,905 --> 00:39:39,385 If you stop fighting your wiring and just give it a workload 1229 00:39:39,385 --> 00:39:42,055 in SLA, you'll probably find yourself far better off. 1230 00:39:42,055 --> 00:39:42,385 Right. 1231 00:39:42,505 --> 00:39:43,105 Right, right. 1232 00:39:43,345 --> 00:39:46,015 And I, I think from my standpoint personally, the 1233 00:39:46,015 --> 00:39:48,265 moment I was willing to do that. 1234 00:39:48,660 --> 00:39:51,630 Again, the separation was this, but separation was okay. 1235 00:39:51,690 --> 00:39:53,250 There are some, again, my attention span. 1236 00:39:53,279 --> 00:39:56,549 There are some places where that is an absolute problem, but 1237 00:39:56,549 --> 00:39:59,400 there are also some places where it's an absolute superpower. 1238 00:39:59,610 --> 00:40:01,080 I'm going to recognize both. 1239 00:40:01,110 --> 00:40:02,460 That's part of the acceptance. 1240 00:40:02,670 --> 00:40:06,090 The acceptance is to say that this, this is a thing. 1241 00:40:06,210 --> 00:40:08,220 My lack of attention is a thing. 1242 00:40:09,005 --> 00:40:11,255 I have to control where it's good and where it's bad. 1243 00:40:11,405 --> 00:40:13,295 And I think that's the big difference. 1244 00:40:13,535 --> 00:40:16,145 Instead of inventorying everything that ever causes 1245 00:40:16,145 --> 00:40:18,665 a problem, holistically calling that, you know, 1246 00:40:18,665 --> 00:40:22,175 I have to fix this entire thing is wrong, is wrong. 1247 00:40:22,175 --> 00:40:23,795 Some people say, I get too emotional. 1248 00:40:24,065 --> 00:40:26,585 There is a time and a place where getting too emotional 1249 00:40:26,675 --> 00:40:28,205 is exactly the right answer. 1250 00:40:28,205 --> 00:40:30,545 Exactly, and it should be applied accordingly. 1251 00:40:30,755 --> 00:40:33,695 But I think for, for founders, one of the hardest things 1252 00:40:33,695 --> 00:40:37,985 for us to, to enjoy or, or, or accept is ourselves. 1253 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:41,880 Is for who we are and what we're great at, and 1254 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:43,080 again, in what we're not. 1255 00:40:43,140 --> 00:40:46,020 It's okay to be not good at things, but I think once we 1256 00:40:46,020 --> 00:40:50,160 do that, once we figure out the things that are strengths 1257 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:53,730 and our weaknesses and, and we inventory when we accept 1258 00:40:53,730 --> 00:40:57,480 both, then at that point we can start to become the 1259 00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:58,860 best version of ourselves. 1260 00:40:59,009 --> 00:41:00,930 Because we know where we're supposed to put ourselves. 1261 00:41:00,930 --> 00:41:02,790 We know where we're supposed to stay away, and we can 1262 00:41:02,790 --> 00:41:05,640 go all in on the stuff that actually makes a difference. 1263 00:41:06,585 --> 00:41:08,415 Overthinking your startup because you're going it alone. 1264 00:41:08,835 --> 00:41:11,685 You don't have to, and honestly, you shouldn't because instead, 1265 00:41:11,745 --> 00:41:14,654 you can learn directly from peers who've been in your shoes. 1266 00:41:14,895 --> 00:41:17,235 Connect with bootstrap founders and the advisors 1267 00:41:17,235 --> 00:41:19,665 helping them win in the startups.com community. 1268 00:41:19,815 --> 00:41:24,465 Check out the startups.com community@www.startups.com 1269 00:41:24,585 --> 00:41:25,485 to see if it's for you. 1270 00:41:25,725 --> 00:41:26,775 Could be just the thing you need. 1271 00:41:26,985 --> 00:41:27,975 I hope to see you inside.