Dichotomies For Entrepreneurs
A handful of binary truths to nudge you back on course
I had a history teacher that had a particularly good rapport with his students. Mr. Heston had catch phrases like “Horses, Pigs, Cows, and Poultry” that he used to drill American history into our heads. Of all of those, the one that I liked the most was one he called “The Nike Rule” — “Just Do It”. The stark simplicity of this phrase made it well-known, even famous to most of the 9th-12th grade students.
Not only was the Nike rule simple, it was also effective. On hot June days after lunch, waves of yawns cascading front to back through the rows of desks, attention waning, Mr. Heston would instruct us to begin an exercise. We would grumble. We would try to get him off track with questions due to his well known propensity to spend useful time on tangential anecdotes. Increasingly, he would simply say “Just Do It.” There was no arguing with that.
While not a dichotomy, I was reminded of it when I was trying to find ways to keep myself on track while working on projects. We’re so easily distracted when we don’t want to do something. With that in mind, I started thinking about useful things I could easily remember that would snap me out of these frequent moments of procrastination. Here are a few, as dichotomies.
1. At any given time, you’re either producing or consuming.
This one gets a pretty interesting reaction from people. Some get slightly defensive, others, slightly defeated. Others love it. I love it. I love it when I’m browsing reddit, or singing lyrics to my favorite song, or getting caught in a Youtube related video whirlpool…. Suddenly, I say “Am I producing or consuming right now?” This is most definitely consuming. Time to get something done.
2. You can either look for problems, or look for solutions.
When I’m caught up in a frustrating moment where I am convinced the world is timing its multifaceted, coordinated attacks on me, I begrudgingly remind myself of this. I’m only looking for problems right now, and that helps me solve nothing, it merely shines a light on the problem. Time to stop my whining and do something about it.
3. Before you can let go of negative feelings, You must grab hold of them.
My personal experience has been that it is much too easy to neglect our feelings about our life circumstances. We distract ourselves in any number of ways, we willfully ignore and avoid bringing those painful feelings into a conscious space. The problem I’ve found is, this creates a sick mind and spirit. I like to call it “emotional constipation”. The key is not to bury how you’re feeling, but to deal with it, wallow in it, even if it seems selfish, trite, and silly. You have to let those feelings pass through you. If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, throw on some Elliott Smith, curse the world for a few minutes, frown, swear at your cat, whatever works. I found that getting my emotions out helps me feel lighter, and I can get my focus back after I’m done feeling the feels. Also, real men feel the feels. They aren’t afraid.
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