#23 - Tough Out There
Out of our depth, seeing through it, and the startup game
Life in 2021 is hectic. We’re not built for it. Human society is growing rapidly more complex and as a result our brains are overwhelmed. The lenses through which we see the world struggle to keep up.
The result? It’s chaos.
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Out of our Depth
Biologically little has changed from our pre-historic days. Yet, we’re faced with a world far more daunting than hunting and gathering in a peaceful forest.
Just look at the chronic stress of office workers today. That stress response is designed to keep us alive- it’s our survival mode. Is a presentation on Q2’s marketing plan really life threatening? Probably not. But yet the proceeding days are filled with sleepless nights and frayed nerves. Yikes.
Why are we quite so broken?
Well, reality is complex. Far too complex for us to comprehend. So our brain’s must condense it down. They must make assumptions, assign emotions, and continually update our models of the outside world. But they’re not built for the world of today. Whilst they did a decent job of building models for out ancestors, they serve us up a mess.
Seeing reality more clearly is a wonderful idea, and easy for me to preach in this article, but devilishly difficult in practice. Our prehistoric bodies and brains are in the driving seat. It can, however be done. We can train ourselves. Even I managed to get a glimpse, just this week…
A warning, before we proceed, this might be a little “woo woo” for my more skeptical readers. Feel free to skip this next section if that’s you.
Seeing Through it
This week my Indian housemate, Sanyam, taught me a Vipassana meditation.
The full Vipassana is ten days of eight hours a day sat crossed legged, bolt upright like a flag pole. Mercifully, we kept it to an hour. All it is, really, is sitting and observing yourself. That’s it. How hard can it be?
Hard. And rather painful. I suspect the ten days is considerably worse but even an hour is enough to get you wincing.
I’ve spoken with friends who have done the full 10 days. They tell me that once you sit with the pain for long enough, your mind sees through it and it goes away. Armed with this knowledge, I tried it out.
40 minutes in it happened. My body was starting to kickup a fuss- Get up you d**khead. It said, as pain seeped through my legs. But by observing the pain, a different perspective emerged. The pain is simply my body trying to move me into what action it thinks is best: To get up. In our hunter gatherer days, there’s little reason to doubt this response. Pain is to be avoided. But now, in 2021, we’re so out of wack that baring the pain has a real benefit. It helps us see through our broken lenses and see reality more clearly. That’s why Vipassanas work.
Our ancestors had bodies fit for purpose. We, alas, do not. Therefore our biological responses, like the stress at work, are no longer to be unconditionally trusted. Of course, there are many occasions our biology is still bang on- listen to your body is sound advice. But, today we must proceed with caution.
The superpower, then, is realising when we might be being lead astray.
The Startup Game
Launching a startups is life on steroids. All the biases and failings that litter our daily lives are turbo-charged by the startup journey. Identifying what’s really going on is vital. Yet, it’s an immense challenge. One Ben and I have failed countless times.
Half the battle running a startup is keeping one’s composure amidst the stress and emotion. As Mike Tyson said:
“Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth”
Indeed Mike.
It’s quite simply, a wildly unnatural thing to do. We’re not built to handle the uncertainty, the publicity, or the overwhelming odds of failure. It’s not in our blood.
I’m coaching myself through this. If I feel a flash of stress coursing through me, I remind myself that a delayed compostable toilet, or other such mishap, probably isn’t life threatening.
It’s often hard to compartmentalise. When fires are burning, bills loom, and I’m sending potential investors a pitch deck littered with errors, it can be daunting. I can feel my biological defence system ready to kick off. But just like with the delayed toilet, there really isn’t much danger. I’ll survive. Problems will pass, and sure, new ones will arrive, but the world will keep on spinning.
Once the fear of death switched off, I can engage my rational mind and attempt a solution. The challenge is finding the switch.
My Week in Books📚
“A World Without Emails” by Cal Newport
Wouldn’t that be nice. More along the lines of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism but a great read none the lesson. The basic premise is that email / notification centric way we work is a shocker for our happiness and productivity. I agree. I’m also as guilty as the next person; one to work on.
I’ll be updating the books I’ve read this year here. Any recommendations? Let me know!
A Final Thought 💡
“Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.”
- Tupac Shakur
Dude - Do a Vipassana, it's so down the line of what you're up to as it is you can't skip it. Yes there is a lot of pain, but also a remarkable calmness and sense of clarity and purpose that you didn't know was possible.