Building a Bridge To Your Best, Startup Style

It's six weeks past New Years. How are your resolutions really shaking out?

That's what I'm asking myself this week--a tidy bit of pre-Valentine's timing. 

My New Year's resolutions melted somewhere in my mind with the movie trailers. Superman, Batman, Kung-fu Panda, Captain America   .  . .   The line up of super-ness can give a basic business person like me an inferiority complex. It also made me think about what the real-life superheroes around me do to create exceptional outcomes.

Share.

Every day, some brilliant person shares something with me that's smarter, sharper and stronger than what I already know how to do. I love that. Are you using your inherent superpower--sharing--as much as you want to this year?

I'm going to enjoy sharing--and learning--from some real life super heroes at the April 12 Atlanta LaunchTN Southern Series (Register Here - FREE).

CEO Lynne Laube of Cardlytics, speaking about how she raised $170 million+ in Atlanta, is just one of the super heroes that will be on that stage at Emory. You should come.

Commit.

One thing all heroes have in common is uncommon commitment. Whether you're a Katniss Everdeen fan, an Ender's Game groupie, or a journeyman Jedi, committing to being that person who makes it happen is central to all the big stories. I believe that. I nurture my own commitment every day, and I look for commitment in others.

Next month, I'll be speaking at the 10th Annual Southeastern Venture Conference (not free, but still at under $400 a ticket, a steal of a deal). Knowing some of the startups there, I am really inspired by their commitment.   I'm also inspired by the living commitment I see in other speakers like:

• Dayna Grayson of NEA,
• Dave McClure of  500 Startups, and
• Atlanta's own startup superhero,  David Cummings.

Commitment is the stuff of heroes--what are you still committed to six weeks out from New Year's?

Cry.

There's always that point when all is lost, when the team is under siege, when the dark lord is laughing (you know, a basso profondo moo-hoo-hahahaaa with a Gregorian chant building in the background) . . .

The dark side of super-moments from the big screen stories is the hero, weeping. I always hate this part--I'm sure you do, too. Yet, without it, how do you know the quality of the heroism? Mark Manson wrote that the most critical question to determine your own life's trajectory is to get honest with yourself about what you're willing to cry about. He said,

If I ask you, "What do you want out of life?" and you say something like, "I want to be happy and have a great family and a job I like,"
it's so ubiquitous that it doesn't even mean anything.

A more interesting question, a question that perhaps you've never considered before, is what pain do you want in your life? What are you willing to struggle for? Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives turn out.

I think that's spot on. We all want a lot of the same components of happiness--health, wealth, a great relationship, professional significance. Our paths to our joys are individualized by the types of pain we can tolerate to get there.

Startup superhero Elon Musk says pure hours are his preferred pain:

Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you're putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you're doing the same thing you know that... you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve.

So don't give up.

Albert Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." You know, how many times have you heard an entrepreneur say the same thing? 

If there's one superpower in real life that separates the heroes from the hoi polloi, it's sticking with it. So when you know what you're willing to struggle for, when you've surrounded yourself with the right people, and when you're sharing the strange truths and strengths the journey brings you--you're already a working, real life hero. I hope this year brings you face to face with just how super you already are. Maybe I'll get to compare notes with you at one of the startup superhero-making events in our near future.

Register Free: Atlanta Southern Series.

A version of this article was published in my column in Inc. Magazine.