Daring Greatly
Yesterday, Jason Calacanis1, posted about how to save money running a startup. Techcrunch took one part of Jason’s post and it and blew it way out of proportion, and Jason wrote a second post to continue the conversation. I weighed in on Jason’s blog about this, but I wanted to elaborate a little bit here.
The whole argument stems from a simple fact: some people dare greatly to do great things. Some don’t. It is safer not to take the field at all, to sit in the stands and cheer or jeer. It takes some stones to get out there and play the game. You put some of yourself on the line for anything worth doing, be it a startup, writing and promoting a book, or trying to build a podcast audience. It takes old fashioned effort and that effort takes time.
There are a lot of people talking about “life balance.” Let me say this: it’s not up your boss to make sure you have a balanced life. It’s up to you. I don’t expect my boss to be watching out for my home life or my sanity. That’s up to me. I expect that he’ll respect when I say something is too much, that something cannot be done and we need to rethink it. So far, I’ve never been disappointed when relying on reason and communication when dealing with my superiors. When you work hard, your boss will respect your word. When you phone it in, he’ll always question your judgment.
My life, right now, is as balanced as it has ever been. I work 45-60 hours a week, more when there is an emergency. I have three wonderful kids and my wife is holds down two part-time jobs. Is there enough time to do everything I want to do? No. Of course not. Thing is…that was also true when I was working 40 hours a week and my wife wasn’t working at all. It’s always something. Difference is… (and I’ll say it even if no one else will) if things go well…all this hard work will pay off with more than just an attaboy. If things go very well at Mahalo, I could very well be a millionaire at some point in the future. That’s not true of your standard 9-5.
Some of my coworkers (C.K. Sample, Sean Percival) have tossed their opinions out there, and we are all in agreement, it seems. Birds of a feather, after all.
I leave you with this thought:
It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. ~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
- Disclaimer: Jason is my boss at Mahalo, for those who do not know[back]
March 8th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Chris, your post made me think of another Teddy Roosevelt quote that I really enjoy. “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Thanks for the inspiration!
March 8th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
[...] Coworkers CK Sample III and Chris Miller have weighed in, also Hawksdomain one of our [...]
March 8th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Here’s to dirty faces my friend.
March 8th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Mahalo “a sweatshop powered search engine”
March 8th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Nice, Marcos. Excellent, reasoned, and insightful comment.
Not.
Clearly, you’ve never been there.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I think you are spot on when you say that people should be responsible for their own happiness and life balance.
However, I think the dichotomy between those who seek balance in their life and those who dare to do great things is crap. One does not have be at the exclusion of the other. Moreover, what constitutes doing “great things” is open for interpretation. Each man or woman should seek his or her own greatness.
There are many people in this world for whom working long hours on a web start-up does not exactly constitute daring to do great things.
Likewise, I don’t think that is what Roosevelt had in mind when he speaks of “worthy causes” and “high achievement.”
What is strange is that you send a very different message when you state that you are presently proud of your work and yet feel more balanced in your life than ever before.
So why not shared that message instead of implying that people who openly seek balance are lazy, no good doers who site on the sidelines?
March 9th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
“However, I think the dichotomy between those who seek balance in their life and those who dare to do great things is crap. One does not have be at the exclusion of the other. “
I’m not implying that you cannot have both. I feel that I have both. THat was part of my point. You need to define your balance, and stick to it.
“Moreover, what constitutes doing “great things” is open for interpretation. Each man or woman should seek his or her own greatness.
There are many people in this world for whom working long hours on a web start-up does not exactly constitute daring to do great things. “
Very true. But to my mind, it is. So what’s wrong with that? If find it odd that people are hopping up and down because some of us feel that working hard like this for a time (not forever) is a good thing because the possible rewards make it worthwhile. As if it’s morally offensive if some fashion. Hogwash. it’s a preference, that’s all.
“Likewise, I don’t think that is what Roosevelt had in mind when he speaks of “worthy causes” and “high achievement.”
That’s not an argument. That’s supposition. You read it your way, I’ll read it mine.
“What is strange is that you send a very different message when you state that you are presently proud of your work and yet feel more balanced in your life than ever before.
So why not shared that message instead of implying that people who openly seek balance are lazy, no good doers who site on the sidelines?”
I thought that’s what I was sharing. I love what I do. It’s worth it to me. I don’t feel like I’m lacking in balance. My point was that all this indignation about what one man, Jason or not, says is ridiculous when none of the commenting parties have ever, well, worked for the man.
I’m hunting in my post for where I call anyone a lazy no-good-doer. I can’t find it. I do advocate a little personal responsibility, but that’s a far cry from calling someone a no-good-doer.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:12 am
[...] auch ehemalige und Noch-Mitarbeiter sowie Freunde von Calacanis einstimmen (hier, hier, hier, hier, hier und hier) und ihre Erfahrungen von der anderen Seite zur Gehr bringen. Mittlerweile hat sich auch [...]
March 12th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
[...] auch aktuelle und ehemalige Mitarbeiter in ihren Blogs in die Diskussion eingeschaltet (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Insgesamt also eine sehr interessante Diskussion, die hinter die Kulissen der Web 2.0 Startups [...]