It’s been about a month
Since I’ve started my new position at an exciting, early stage startup.
Originally tasked with position of Director of Marketing & Growth, I’ve learned the real job functions and responsibilities have spanned much further than I had anticipated. This role also includes everything from customer service, product, marketing (in all capacities: strategy, content, social, etc.), BD & sales, startup growth, etc… all while getting myself up to speed on “data science in general” from the ground up. NBD.
And personally, while I’ve been fighting every basic, primal urge to freak out from the sheer amount of things on the table, my personal sentiment has leaned towards optimism, not fear. And that’s purely for one reason.
So far, this experience has been a hell of a ride, and I’m treating it as a phenomenal opportunity to learn, and grow.
Startups = Growth
YC founder and Silicon Valley guru Paul Graham, has written extensively about this subject — all the while, drilling these principles into the very DNA of each and every one of the companies who go through YC’s gauntlet.
An appropriately timed quote:
“In this world you’re either growing or you’re dying so get in motion and grow.” — Lou Holtz
It’s one of those phrases that gets used, requoted, and rehashed on a never ending basis. No wonder of course, growth is an important facet of life for everyone. It applies not just in business, but personal development as well.
How Are You Growing As a Person?
Objectively, can you say that you are a better, more capable person today than you were yesterday? While this idea is simple to acknowledge on an intellectual level, very seldom do we truly embrace it and put it into practice.
- Note: Self development also includes the “softer” side of things — being more patient, understanding, empathetic.
I speak from personal experience. I’m a self-diagnosed sloth. Lounging out, leisure activities, overall, just being lazy as hell is a cinch. Staying driven and motivated? —For me, it definitely feels like a true uphill battle. But ultimately, it’s something that I refuse to give up on.
But when does personal development become a never-ending rat maze, chasing ideals endlessly? While some would like to argue that it is “nothing but mental masturbation”, ultimately, I believe it’s about setting an intent.
Are you “growing” for the sake of growing? Or is there a specific direction you want to move with quantifiable milestones and accomplishments you can achieve along the way?
Setting My Intent, or Rather, Lack Thereof
My journey in the last few months has been something of a blur. At the beginning of the year, I left a personally unfulfilling industry job to take a few months to do some soul searching, and to focus on writing.
While there were many lofty ambitions and long term goals that I had set for myself at my previous employment position, I realized that I had long since stopped growing, mainly due in part to my own lack of inspiration and passion for the things I was doing.
In essence, I stopped growing as a person and deluded myself into repeating a set of scripted responses:
- “I’m really busy!”
- “Sorry for not getting back to you, things have been crazy!
- “No way do I have time for this, I need to work on ____!”
These things became a regular part of my vernacular, as I stripped away things that interested me, or used to make me happy. And all the while, progress was nowhere near where I felt it should be — nor was I learning anything new.
Of course, these excuses fall plainly on my lap. Which is why ultimately, I made the decision to part ways from my employer/partners respectfully. And while I am appreciative for every opportunity I was offered, I think back, knowing it was definitely the right decision for me to make, with many lessons learned.
This time, I’ll be implementing some new processes into my personal work flow.
As I’ve been tasked with the function of growing this new company, I’ve also taken it as a challenge to personally grow with the organization. Never does someone truly and actually know everything about everything. In my opinion, anyone who does has got to be puffing up their chest in some way.
The key distinction, and the personality trait I respect the most, is in being able to say “I don’t know, but I’ll find out”.
So as I learn, I am making it a point to track and measure my personal growth, by documenting the learnings, advice, and knowledge I pick up along the way.
Each Week, I’ll Be Posting A Recap
Of knowledge, articles, advice, and reflections on what I’ve learned from the week and how I want to apply it to the following week.
The exercise here is to catalog my thoughts, keep myself accountable, and create an easy to reference guide for learning all things that can apply to and benefit my position and role: Data science and analytics, machine learning, marketing, writing, startup principles, business finances, building and marketing a SaaS product, sales, social media, SEO, etc.
And that’s just a snippet of what kind of new information has entered my life — through a torrential downpour of knowledge and readings.
My goal will be to do this every Sunday night.
To serve as a recap for the week, reflection for my thoughts, and to better plan my upcoming weeks’ work. I’ll also be including anything related to my personal hobbies: music, diet, fitness, personal learning and enrichment, etc.
For now, my intent is set, so I’ll see you all this Sunday!
