Commitment Reminders and FWYDWYD syndrome

I've learned that whenever you commit to something difficult that involves a great deal of sacrifice, like quitting your job to found an internet startup, you need to constantly remind yourself why you chose your path. This is because, almost always, distractions come by and you lose track of your original motives, and these motives were what drove you to do what you did in the first place, and these motives will always be the strongest.

What I've learned is that the syndrome of forgetting why you're doing what you're doing (FWYDWYD) is all too common, and almost always it creeps up on you without you knowing. You don't just wake up one day and say to yourself "wow, I've forgotten why I'm doing this," FWYDWYD is a lot more dangerous than this. The symptoms are always indirect. You start losing energy, you start doubting more consistently, it becomes harder to pull yourself up in the morning, you feel stressed some days and you can't even explain it. These are symptoms of FWYDWYD and the only way to prevent and squelch them is to constantly remind yourself why you do what you do. As an entrepreneur, I've found the following useful ways to do this:

1) Reliving those days when I started my commitment. Includes reading emails I sent back then, reading articles I had read back then when I was first inspired, getting back in touch with people I was in touch with back then.

2) Writing and communicating the original motives to people. I've learned that whenever I put something into words for me to hear and see, the ideas behind those words liven up and take on new meaning internally.

3) Interact with others who currently have the same motive as you did back then. When I was in China for the Spring Festival, I had the chance to talk with a product developer at a Chinese internet startup. The energy he had and the forcefulness with which he articulated his vision reminded me of how I was like back then, and brought back a lot of fire.

I think that for anyone committing to something great, the fire is always greatest when just starting. And to go back to those days is essential fuel to ensure that the fire doesn't burn out.

burnout, persistence, character, and failure

by no means do i call myself an entrepeneur... and no chance of me making that call until success. but here's what i think about successful entrepreneurs... (disclaimer: take my words with a quarter-grain of salt)

if comedians are professional jokesters and
court lawyers are professional blabbermouths and
our president is a professional idiot then

an entrepreneur is a professional persister. why?
because all an entrepreneur has is a vision and time creates friction for visions. in other words... a vision fades over time. visions can be re-strengthened through reasoning and inspiration, while at the same time its demise can be sped up by failures, embarassments, and empty-handedness (otherwise known as burnout). but persistence is the fuel for reasoning & inspiration. persistence extends a vision, visions don't create persistence. when persistence doesn't keep up with burnout, the vision dies.

i think a lot of people make the mistake thinking that... well, as long as you really want it that badly, you won't give up. this might work in a short timeframe... but in the long haul there will always be a time when you don't want something as badly anymore. some distraction will pop up... you meet a girl (or guy) and boom your previous dreams go to dust and you run off into your world of romance only to find out a month later she turns lesbian and there you sit on your ass feeling like an ass wishing for your old vision back, but you've dashed it. okay maybe too extreme of an example... but hey shit happens, and what do you do during those times when you don't want something as bad anymore. what keeps bringing back the hunger? persistence.

where does persistence come from? character... and character is built from responses to experiences. sooo... what type of response to what kind of experiences. here's my shortlist of what i got so far...
- picking yourself up from deep, utter failures
- confronting & overcoming fears
- fight or flight situations where you fight

a lot of times i've noticed, ppl who are tough were forced into these situations in childhood. i always think of a friend of mine whose father was sent to five years in prison when we were kids. in that kind of situation, you either fight or flight. he fought through it, spent those five years comforting and taking care of his distraught mother, and i saw instantly in that period of time the transformation of a boy, my age, to a man. the guy is tough as nails now. people like that persist. and if he had only but a vision, he'd make a great entrepreneur.