Most podcast episodes are okay to good, but occasionally you come across a truly exceptional one. A few easy ways to distinguish them:
I feel physically frustrated at how often I have to stop and take notes
The note-taking : listening ratio is so high that I can’t keep pace even when listening on 1x speed
I’m at a higher risk of an accident when crossing the street because I’m so distracted while trying to pay attention
Mike Maples’ podcast episode on WFIO is one such example. 3 minutes in, I realized this was not a commute-friendly podcast, quickly gave up, and listened in a focused state of mind later.
It’s only 12 minutes, but it’s one of the highest signal content (of any medium) about the startup journey that I’ve come across in a long time. In the interest of upvoting quality content, I’m copying my notes below.
Notes
Lessons of Greatness: How to Defeat “We’re F*cked, It’s Over” (WFIO) Moments — Starting Greatness
How to handle WFIO moments
“this is bad but the other way is worse. saw your leg off so you can survive”
It's rarely as bad as you think
WFIO moments feel like death when you’re in them
Take control of your own psychology first
Strategies for dealing with WFIO
Get it out of your head and onto paper
Write it down to separate it from your psychology, the chattering voices in your mind
lets you make decision faster and less emotionally
Forces you to stress test the clarity of your thinking
Tune out the mind chatter
share your biggest worries with best friends who have also gone through WFIO moments
some problems are better to share with team; others aren’t (vague and scary)
need trusted friend outside of the company to talk to
if you dont do this, you’ll have sleepless nights and bad mental state
having someone you can be completely honest about your concerns and worries
100% supportive and objective
need to think about this from day 1 so u have go-to friends available when WFIO moments hit
create victory psychology
get all the brains in the room
some problems aren’t yet ready to be solved
trust your team on the actionable problems in crises
creates sense of mission clarity and bonding
make sure you focus on what’s critical and eliminate distractions
focus relentlessly on what you can do to keep pushing forward every day and every hour. every erg of energy u spend on something you cant control distracts you
break down big scary tasks into manageable and rapidly achievable chunks
figure out quick data-driven approaches
time box and frame decisions
speed, desire, and unique insights are why startups win
focus on path through the obstacles, rather than the obstacles themselves
dont focus on the obstacles; visualize the way through
loud cloud - worst scenario was bankruptcy; he would buy the company’s software out of bankruptcy
face the pain head on
great leaders deal with the sleepless nights and the cold sweats
they dont deal with it by drinking, losing temper, checking out, or quitting
sometimes it really is over, but until that moment, while your team is still fighting, you have a shot, and usually a decent one
grit in the face of WFIO
sometimes you have to believe even when you dont believe
amazing grit. refused to quit in the horrible WFIO moments
it’s only over when you decide to quit