The Right Formula Of Work

The reason you don't get what you want is because you don't put in the right formula of work.

I can't stress this enough but the amount of founders who think working hard and fast equals results simply don't get why certain start ups win and why others don't.

Especially in startups we have this belief of building things quickly, fail fast at them and learn fast from your mistakes.

The problem is, 9/10 you already know what you should do differently or what you do wrong, but you end up doing it anyway.

You just don't allow yourself to do what you internally know you should do. Because of this, you find yourself in repeated cycles over and over again. Where things don't seem to work out for you despise your efforts to make it work.

You find yourself working on a lot of ideas or projects. or in the same one that doesn't seem to work out.

You just miss the right formula to make it work.

Example.

Builders are amazing at building things, but if it comes to building things people want. They rarely get the point. They often find themselves in building things right rather than building the right thing.

people that are amazing at making the deals happen and getting idea's of the ground. But they always run into the issue that their idea's aren't scalable, or find themselves pushed into the corner of the room, working on something that takes more out of them than that they get back because what they're working on never reaches that next stage.

This leads to founders or indie hackers who built 10 projects that rarely make a difference. Or founders who continuously work on one thing, despite knowing it's not working out.

This just comes over as if you don't know what you value and try to aim for the stars at attempts that should aim for the current ceiling.

What this means is that some ideas were never meant to scale, they're just stepping stones for your next idea or thing.

We often jump right into our 2.0's future version without clear step by step growth techniques, or we find ourselves stuck in 1.0's that have a clear value proposition for now but no vision or goals to make it work once it's there.

You don't need to work more, you need to know more on what you should work on. precise directed energy is what you need. You can't hit something specifically if you don't aim specifically.

Because the thing is if the risk to reward is off, you just end up demotivated, uninspired or unenergized by the current state of things.

Next to that

If you truly care about your input, there should be a clear mix of quality and quantity. Most people just want to have something work because it gives them the validation of the community. They think they aren't worthy if they don't have a successful running business project or career. It fucks with their self esteem if they can't have the results they think they deserve or should have.

This extrinsic motivation, scarcity mindset leads to building things that are scarce in depth. The kind of startups that are being built for shallow reasons like wanting to make a shit ton of money for example. These startups always miss character, they miss the story and feeling you get from amazing teams and products. They can still work and be conventionally successful, since businesses don't require much effort to function or to stay alive.

But there are worlds in between working businesses and startups that are alive and those who are seen as a living example.

A lot of features, a lot of work. But nothing of it rarely hits the point. It's like playing the piano for hours but the notes rarely hit you or others.

If you want things to survive, built ideas that are truly alive and find a way to keep that alive. Either business model wise or work wise.

Waves vs oceans

Next to that most founders are trying way too much. The reason they fail most of their attempts is because they set their projects up for waves, for what is hot right now. that trending thing that they personally think they should work on now.

Problem is, by the moment you identify a wave you are probably already too late to start surfing that one. Then you see teams of founders quickly peddling in the hopes to catch it but end up with nothing in the end. Don't look at waves, look at how the sea underneath it creates it. There is a mechanism there. It's the difference between trends and developments.

Calculating success

Allow yourself to be a full blown creative, don't limit visions or ideas simply because of external factors. just make sure you also understand the science of what works and what doesn't. Understand the business models and the strategies but only use them as a backbone.

You can calculate success, really you can. It's all about raising that percentage bar of probability that whatever you work on will work out or has a bigger likelihood of working out.

You can build the right product in the wrong environment for example. Even if everything about it should work in theory, it doesn't because your environment doesn't reciprocate it.

Problem founders face

The reason we keep on making the same mistakes in our processes is because founders rarely delegate tasks or have the ability to look themselves clearly in the mirror. Being honest with yourself and others is the clarity you need in order to figure out your next steps.

if your ego is too involved in what you're doing. you have a stagnated mindset, meaning. If you don't win or don't control the outcome in the end, you don't make others win as well, or you don't see or allow an opportunity to win in another way.

Things can work out way better than you could ever imagine if you remain open minded.

One of the hardest things for founders to do is remove their f-ing ego from the collaboration. Bad collaborators value other people's input lower than their own, this leads to a lack of trust and desire for control. If you're an engineer you underthink marketing, and would say it's easier than what you're doing. If you're in sales you would think the same about coding etc.

Good collaborators understand that every puzzle piece is just as needed as the other to make the full picture work.

How to win at future ideas

Old leadership methods don't work anymore, having one single founder or leader in a team. It rarely works. What you should do is work with leaders in their own domains and make them collaborate on something amazing where everyone is winning. This way you build a cake together that is so big, that when you get your piece of it, it's bigger than what you would have ever been able to make by yourself.

Only work with people that want the entire table to win, if you deal with someone that cares only about what is in there for them. you will never ever have a great collaboration. Because most likely, you won't be the one benefitting from the collaboration in the end. Or you or someone else will be the one that stagnates the growth of the team. because you end up being the wrong link. It's all a puzzle anyways.

Give yourself time to make important decisions, everyone that wants you to rush things isn't there for long term goals or ambitions.

Spend more time on making important decisions and focusing on your vision. especially those who set you into a specific direction for a long time.

And don't feel bad if you let others wait or even yourself. You don't lose anything by being patient with yourself, your ideas and your team. You are just making space for what is next.

Clarity is oftentimes nothing more than removing the elephant from the room. just identify the core problem. Fix it and the road is clear in front of you and those who walk besides you.