Tag: coworking

Desperate to fit in at the start-up circus

Posted on by philipdodson

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There is an ever growing desperation to fit in, to be part of the crowd.

Let’s pivot, be authentic, investor ready, get that deck done and go out a find a VC, Angel, Crowd meal ticket to a short-cut.

No, don’t, please.

Speak plainly, speak from the heart, do not spend your life regurgitating other peoples words, have something to say yourself, be bold, speak out loud from the heart about what really, really, really matters to you. Show that genuine burning desire in all that you do.

Do not be scared about what others think or say, do not be frightened to say what is really on your mind, it will be more interesting, different and so what if it is a bit controversial, a bit risky. Risky is remarkable, safe is boring.

Don’t sit listening to platitudes, don’t sit listening to soulless people delivering words devoid of meaning. Don’t clap and nod in agreement, when deep down you know you’d rather chew your arm off than listen to any more of this painful process driven banality.

That does not mean being outrageously insulting and rude for the sake of it. That doesn’t mean that you shut yourself off. But if you speak genuinely based on your values and what matters deep in your heart, then the people who matter will appreciate it, the ones who don’t like it, well they are not part of your tribe and they do not matter. If you listen to your own intuition and listen to your inner voice, then you will break free from this life sucking circus that ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘start-ups’ have become.

I hear many people say stuff, without passion, without care, and I see people sit there and listen, who equally do not care, but they are desperate to fit in, desperate to be part of the crowd.

Well, don’t fit in, break free of the crowd, set yourself free from jargon, soulless babble and speak your true mind and build your own audience of rebels, free spirits and people who have a passion.

Build something based on your values, build something sustainable, be patient and don’t sell out to others, no matter how tempting their money might be to short-cut success.

The people who peddle the jargon, who peddle the need for an investor, the people who offer bland ‘paint by numbers’ short-cuts to success are selling your dream to someone else or selling you their service.

Stand up, be brave, be bold and be different. Don’t jump on that start-up merry-go-round, stay away from the circus.

Sense of perspective

Posted on by philipdodson

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Travel can be great for giving you a true sense of perspective on your life, especially when you travel to a developing country. I am currently in Bali at the Copass camp and today we travelled from the luxury of our resort to the Ulun Danu Bratan Temple.

During our journey there and back several things struck me, fortunately not literally.

One thing, for example, the population of Bali is over 4 million and for a small island that means the roads are pretty crowded, and the drivers do not follow the highway code in quite the same way we are used to in the sanitised developed world. They love their scooters, a cheap and an easy way of navigating the traffic. But for those not used to this, they would look with amazement when one passes laden with children, gas cylinders and a surprising number of adults and other items, none of the passengers wearing a helmet and travelling in the wrong direction in monsoon style rain.

The majority of the population here are poor and their day-to-day existence is tough, yet blind to the world we live in, most seem contented and cheerful. Although, that does not mean that their lives could not be improved by a better system of wealth distribution. That is a whole new topic for another time.

Many in the developed world would almost hyperventilate, in an often phoney hysteria, one which has been cultivated by a society that has risen well above Maslow’s basic needs, to an elevated part of the triangle, where we question ‘why we are here’. The bottom section of food and shelter has been replaced by date codes and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Our fear based media and society has us worrying about flu’s, insects, bugs that will leap from the toilet and eat us. We worry about the sell-by dates, we fear terrorism, we fear almost everything. Yet if we lived or experienced more or the world that billions live in daily, then we would worry less about the mundane.

We would be less fearful, we would be a lot more grateful for what we have and we would be happier with what we have.

We focus our energies on what we do not have, when compared to most people on the planet, we have it all and more.

We would focus more on people, activities and shared experiences and a whole lot less on material stuff and many more unimportant things.