For Starters #1: The End is Inevitable
“Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?" he asked.
"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
Six years ago, on the first day of my recently closed professional chapter, I reviewed the document officially creating my team. In addition to articulating the strategic goals and structure of the team, it also listed the multiple ways this newly formed team would be dissolved in 24 months.
After the initial shock of reading the obituary of something I just started, I appreciated how explicitly it embodied Stephen Covey's advice, "Begin with the end in mind" ( https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/habit-2/ ).
Everything has an expected lifespan.
The Lindy Effect ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect ) suggests the longer something persists; the longer it'll either persist or it ends tomorrow.
21% of new busineses close within 1 year.
38% within 3 years.
50% within 5 years.
( https://www.businessdit.com/small-business-failure-statistics/ )
Even today, the first few years of life are the most tenuous, and life expectancy in the US is 79.11 years ( https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/life-expectancy ).
Just 4,108 weeks ( https://www.oliverburkeman.com/books )
I've been in professional cultures which presumed once something was started, it would persist indefinitely. Regretfully, I led one of those cultures - running my first business for 15 years, allowing undead product lines to accumulate, all because I never considered what stopping it would look like. Not from the beginning. Not from any point along the way.
And yet.
As much as I fought it at the time, today, they've all been stopped.
Inevitable.
So, rather than be blind to or surprised by and end - let's instead expect it, appreciate it, plan for it, from the start. This means purposefully setting time-bound goals for the effort from day one.
Purposefully as in, knowing your personal and professional 'Why'. Time-bound to overcome inertia and identify a point of recommitment.
'I/We're (re)committing time and effort to this for the next 24 months to [deep purposeful Why]'.
You can do this anytime, not just at the beginning.
You could re-declare your 'Why' tomorrow.
In my coaching with early-stage startup founders, we'd regularly set an 8-week goal of interviewing 10 prospective customers. How close we got to that goal directly correlated to the lifespan of the startup. Yes, some never surived the 8 weeks. At first, we tried heroic measures to keep them going, then we accepted they were a 4-week idea or a 6-week idea. They weren't a 10-year project - https://garrickvanburen.com/first-crack-125-open-font-licensing-with-david-crossland/ .
Only in a culture where everything indefinitely persists is this 'failure'. These days, I much prefer defining failure as “We didn’t stop soon enough“ - https://garrickvanburen.com/what-is-failure/ .
We didn't stop when we couldn't land the interviews.
We didn't stop when we couldn't land the sales.
We didn't stop when our 'Why' stopped being relevant.
Instead, we continued a feeble attempt to disprove that most things don't persist - not from the start, not over an extended timeframe. The longer the timeframe, the more unexpectedly the reasons for the inevitable conclusion.
Having short, time-bound goals and appreciating persistence is rare opens us up to tiny bits of gratitude for however long we were able to test the arch of history.
On the way to a grand goal, celebrate the smallest victories as if each one were the final goal. That way, no matter where it ends you are victorious. - Kevin Kelly, Excellent Advice for Living (https://kk.org/ )
As we wrap up this first proper installment, what are some likely ways 'For Starters' stops for either of us?
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So often we begin things without appreciating they will, inevitably conclude. There will always be a last time, and in many cases, we may not be aware of the last time is upon us and we neglect to say, 'Thank you and Good bye.'
Until we reach the inevitable end, of both this email series and our connection, thank you for joining me this far.