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It's often pointed out that an entrepreneur has to "wear many hats." By this, people mean you have to be capable of a variety of functions, spanning anything from sales, to programming, to recruiting, to legal work.
I sometimes think of the hats not as functions, but as two attitudes or modes: zealotry mode, and reality mode.
"Zealotry mode" is starting from the perspective that your idea is the best thing ever and will be the biggest thing ever. "Reality mode" is starting from the perspective that your idea is suspect and potentially should be scrapped at any second.
- The times for zealotry mode: executing, pitching, recruiting. Developing a prototype before the next iteration of testing.
- The times for reality mode: periodic evaluation of how things are going. Testing a prototype before the next iteration of developing.
It's hard to do both modes. People like to poop on new venture ideas, which can bias an entrepreneur toward reality mode. But entrepreneurs often have undue self confidence and an instinct to compensate for everyone's negativity, which can bias an entrepreneur toward zealotry mode.
I just switched from reality mode to zealotry mode. I tend to enter reality mode about once a month, lasting for about a week.
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2 comments:
awesome post, andrew. deserving of classroom discussion, methinks.
where do you go from there? I think you should come up with a third more- zeality maybe? this is the part of it when you have created what you set out in your mind, but need to do what's required to convince others to get on board and us it - converting zealotry into reality.
I agree:) Great post!
I think we can define success as the point in which you get the same results, despite being in either zealotry or reality mode...
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