Find your inner David Goggins

It’s easy to fall in the trap of thinking that your top, most successful founders had a sudden burst into the arena of success. They didn’t. Their success was a culmination of many years of toil, false peaks and failures.?

A few years ago, a huge study was conducted on the most successful founders (as measured through exits or IPOs). The aim was to try and identify common characteristics that might lead to success. Was it the stage at which one raised money? The kinds of investors one had? The stage at which one expanded the GTM motion from local to global? The kind of product? The pedigree of the founder??

You know what they found? The key common characteristic was the determination of the founder to stick with it, and not give up. Through the ups and downs, through the exhaustion and exhilaration, through the wins and dashed hopes.?

Stick-to-it-iveness. A very under-rated quality, and one of the most important.?

A few years ago my husband and I were kayaking in Bermuda, when a sudden ocean current caught us and dragged our kayaks out to sea. It felt like no matter how hard we paddled, we couldn’t get closer to land. I was exhausted and terrified. I didn’t think I had it in me make it back to shore. “Don’t stop paddling,” my husband urged. “Whatever you do, just don’t stop paddling.” It took hours to get back to shore, but in the end we did. If there’s anything I can thank for our survival, it’s the determination to just put our heads down and keep on paddling, no matter how hard.?

Even when everything feels impossible. Especially when the path forward feels impossible. Just put one step in front of the next, and move forward. Just get momentum, no matter how slow, and it will compound over time.

#ceo #founderculture #growthstage #startupculture #sparkyourleadership #sticktoit #resilience?#davidgoggins