Mindset is the difference between

Imagine fly fishing a beautiful river and without warning being dragged into the trees. Blood gushing over your face and enormous pain from everywhere as a bear decides you must die.

The decisions you make in the next few seconds dictate if you live or die.

These are decisions made under stress, with pain, and without prior experience. What do you do?

The answer is complex as it must be based on your abilities, resources, and many other factors. Alaskan guides tell stories of similar events that conclude with shooting the bear as it chomps on their arm. Others explain how they played dead and the bear left them to make a long hike with broken bones.

Many give up.

While extreme, it paints a picture of why some founders succeed and others fail. That is the ability to keep functioning, planning, and taking action under serious stress.

Many give up.

Those that do not, eventually learn what needs to be done. Be it a bear attack or growing a startup.

One learns by trial and error. You can learn from those with experience… but, until you get bitten in the arm and drug over boulders… you have no way to determine how you’ll react.

You must try something, see if it works, and make a new decision. Cold call 100 people to learn who your customer is. Bash the bear with a rock. Both are events associated with pain and fear.

At some point, the advice, books, and previous experience become less assuring. Now ask yourself, “What do I do next?”

Todd Moses