Marcus Aurelius – the Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD, is certainly some of the famous … [+]
Stoicism is a faculty of philosophy that’s gaining popularity amongst startup founders for reason – its values and the mindset it teaches are thoroughly fitted to overcoming adversity and keeping yourself mentally healthy in hard situations.
Marcus Aurelius – the Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD, is certainly some of the famous Stoic philosophers. Despite living two millennia ago, his wisdom is to a big degree applicable to startups for the straightforward reason that the character qualities and values that help people prosper personally and professionally are timeless and never context-dependent.
So, listed here are 6 quotes from him that can assist you in your startup journey:
1. The more we value things outside our control, the less control we’ve. – Marcus Aurelius
As a startup founder, many things are beyond your control, comparable to market conditions, customer behavior, and economic trends. Furthermore, your time and resources are limited. Consequently, as a substitute of worrying about these aspects, it is crucial to deal with what you possibly can control, comparable to your product development, sales and marketing strategies, and team-building efforts.
In fact, you continue to should be cognizant of your environment even if you happen to can’t control it, because it presents opportunities and threats.
2. Confine yourself to the current. – Marcus Aurelius
As an entrepreneur, it is simple to get caught up in future goals or to fret in regards to the outcomes of your efforts.
Planning is essential, but overthinking the longer term could counter-productive. The identical is true about analyzing the past – taking lessons from past mistakes is crucial, but dwelling on them is destructive.
By confining yourself to the current moment, you possibly can stay focused on what you should do immediately to maneuver your corporation forward.
How do you climb that mountain? One step at a time.
3. How ridiculous and the way strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life. – Marcus Aurelius
As a founder, you should prepare yourself to be surprised and to be flawed very often. The entire idea of the early startup stages is to check your ideas against reality and to seek out out in what way they should be modified before investing in them heavily.
In case you hold your beliefs too dearly, then you definately wouldn’t be flexible enough to achieve the extremely unpredictable and dynamic tech environment.
4. Every day provides its own gifts. – Marcus Aurelius
While this thought is generally about appreciation, it is usually true about opportunities. To be startup founder you should have the option to identify them and seize them.
In fact, you should be able to create them as well.
5. Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst. – Marcus Aurelius
As a founder, you’d make mistakes and fail often – if you cope with innovation, that is unavoidable. For this reason being honest together with your stakeholders (and yourself) is crucial for 2 reasons. First, to construct trust. And second – to purchase yourself the liberty to take the optimal plan of action without fear that the people around you’ve gotten different expectations that you simply’ve built through dishonesty.
6. Have I been made for this, to lie under the blankets and keep myself warm? – Marcus Aurelius
Turning an idea right into a real, working business is certainly a really hard task. What would motivate you to proceed moving forward when the going gets tough?
In case you embark on a startup journey, you should be prepared to desert comfort for the sake of ambition and more importantly – for the sake of what you discover meaningful.
