Resiliency, Stoicism and Entrepreneurship

21 Years ago my life dramatically changed...

It was 6:30 AM on a Monday morning when my life changed for good, I had just returned from my morning jog, comprised withing my weekly routine that included a three day interval jogging, four days swimming and four days cycling allowing myself a recovery day, that was my critical route towards becoming a pro triathlete, I had been at it for the past three years non stop, I had participated in a few races with fair success, though I was nowhere near where I projected myself to be, I was determined to become a pro triathlete with all the sacrifices that it entailed.

Generally I felt full of energy and strength, solid and powerful, fast, I smiled when I looked at the chronograph and noticed that I had already knocked-off almost two minutes from my personal best from the previous month, but that morning something did not feel right, in the midst of my run, my left knee started to feel tight and there was discomfort every time that my foot struck the dirt path, at one point it felt a bit wobbly, so I slowed down until it felt better then I picked-up pace once again despite the little pang of pain that I felt in the back of the knee, in a dismissive though I told myself "just walk-it-off", I later regreted that lack of mindfulness, I finished and headed back home, I had a bit of pain and noticed my knee a bit red and swollen, I was getting ready to go to work and was stepping into the shower when inadvertently I nicked my left knee while stepping into the shower, it gave-in and I ended on the bathroom floor, while I was lying on the floor I was struggling to understand what had just happened, took a look at my left knee and it had ballooned to the size of a grapefruit and the tibia seemed a bit offset towards the front, I tried to straighten my leg and a pang of intense pain rushed through my body, that was the day that my competitive triathlon career unceremoniously ended on the bathroom floor, I would be lying if I'd say that I did not shed tears of pain, impotence and anger.

There is a time and a place for everything...

The consequences from our actions will always pursue us, you can call them cause and effect, what goes around comes around, Karma... and it has many levels, from the absolute personal sins and mishaps towards ourselves to the consequences of our actions towards our fellow human beings, it is just like the first rule of thermodynamics, energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is only transformed, so do not expect that if you stole from your brother that delicious ice-cream and later vehemently denied it and thought you got away with it, that somebody else will just come along and steal some ice-cream from you, heck not even steal anything at all, you could end-up later losing a job promotion or not even that, the person for which you care the most in the world could have an unfortunate mishap and there will be nothing that you will be able to do about it, at the end of the day life as with water, always finds its level (fluid dynamics).

Getting back to sins, particularly towards ourselves that are the most noticeable, by pushing myself unreasonably I hurt myself to a degree that ended my aspirations, what made me breath, that moment I learnt that I was being unreasonable, by pushing my body to its very limit I ended-up hurting myself, I sincerely thought that I was being stoic, tolerating the pain, I thought that I was being resilient by pushing-on despite the distress signals that my body was insistently sending me. Later that same day while lying on the examination table I had time to reflect, why didn't I stop? What was I thinking? How long before I could get back at it? One week? No, most definitely a month or a month and a half, I was negotiating, I was more concerned about losing my top shape, all those hard earned seconds and minutes. I bargained with myself, yes two months maximum, that's all that I would allow myself.

Reality check...

While lying on that examination table with an immobilized knee and already happy with my bargain the doctor walked in and rendered verdict, I was almost certain... then the diagnose, elongated ACL (Antero Cruciate Ligament) and both menisci were torn and the bursa burst, translation, my knee was a true mess, prognosis arthroscopic surgery, 9 months total immobility and physical therapy, my bargain and sense of control went out the window, it was as if someone pulled the ground from under my feet. I felt betrayed, vulnerable and angry, I was rather young and as any young adult I felt as if life was eternal and I would not have to plan for tomorrow, how do millennials call it? YOLO? Yes I agree, but to a certain extent I started to understand my Baby-boomer parents, a lot! that was a Thursday, on Sunday I underwent surgery and on Tuesday I was back home, staring at the ceiling, reading and receiving the occasional visit of a friend, with all the words of encouragement and get well wishes, I was never alone and that made it so much easier, I was grateful, some friends asked me "when will you be able to race again, we miss you", and that unleashed a chain reaction in my brain, when will I be able to compete again? My inner voice so brazen and bold for the first time answered back "will you be able to race again?" hesitant, for the first time in my life I had to make a decision, a pragmatic decision that is... so with a lot hinging on that decision, one night while my mother was taking care of me, removing the bandages and helping me clean the surgery area, my eyes welled with tears and with a broken voice I told her "you know mom, I think that my racing days are over... and I think that it is time for me to find a job", to my surprise my mother was relieved, she answered back "I knew that I had risen a sensible young man that knows how to chose his battles well, I did't like the way you were pushing yourself, you were being unreasonable towards yourself", boom!

From that moment on I poured my energies into finding a job, I landed some interviews and as soon as the doctor gave me green light I went to them helped by my mother and sometimes by friends, I am an industrial designer by formation and choice, I knew that I wanted to be an industrial designer since I was around 12 years old, so my career was so amazing, I loved every minute of it, graduated top of class, little did I know that that devotion would land me a position at the same level as aeronautical engineers. Among those interviews there was one that I was surprised to have landed, design engineer for GEAE, I was intimidated to say the least, it became a three day elimination process, first a practical math exam that included physics problems on thermodynamics and other topics, I loved it, next day 3D visualization with complex geometric calculations all on paper, no computer, I had so much fun, I told myself, even if I am not hired I will never forget this experience, and an interview with whom was going to be my boss and an amazing influence later in my life, we clicked immediately... two weeks went by and I received a call, it was the voice of a young lady "Hi! Is this Oscar? Yeah? OK we were wondering if you could come tomorrow?" I said yes of course, and I asked if there was another interview, because it was the middle of the week, to what she answered a bit astonished "No, can you present yourself to start working?" Three years down the line while having a beer in Boston with my boss, he asked me if I knew my score when I was hired, evidently I told him that no, he chuckled and answered "well, let's say that you were worth fighting for", that was an eye opener because the only thing in my mind during that selection process was to find a job, and start to build.

Entrepreneurship...

I have been privileged to live in Europe, North America, and Oceania, not with a lot of money, though those trips and experiences have given me a sense of humility and a global perspective that makes me appreciate the continuous effort that my parents put into my education, it took me some time to finally settle down and contemplate life from a more stable position, I was always told that we were not the entrepreneurial type, that our family had been traditionally one for lawyers, MD's, engineers and university professors, my grandfather had a very illustrious career, some of my uncles too, my father started a few businesses, nothing grand but I could see him and I wondered, what if I start my own business, to what my family always answered, we are not business people, I settled down reluctantly, and then took over jobs that did not satisfy me, always working for someone, there was always something that I thought could be improved and my suggestions were perceived as challenges to authority or that they made no sense despite evidence to the contrary.

One of the positive influences that I acquired from my academic life was the application of the scientific method to anything that I started in life, that has helped me sort out some quite complicated problems, that to the uneducated eye come across as easy solutions and automatically try to devalue the effort that comes behind each solution. It is this take on life that a few years ago made me realize that I would not be able to settle down until I tried entrepreneurship, I heard one too many times, entrepreneurship is not for everyone, you need a special kind of character, and I must tell that yes entrepreneurship is not for everyone, I can tell that if you go into it seeing yourself driving a Maserati with exotic vacations in Bali... I would invite you to revise your motives behind becoming an entrepreneur, you might be able to do it at some point, but that would be in a very distant future. If you jump into entrepreneurship with eyes wide open and it takes over your life and are willing to work on your dream for 12 to 14 hours straight out of your day Monday to Sunday, then yes your motives are where they should be, your goal becomes the essence of life and you do everything and anything to make it happen, you bootstrap until you literally reach the limit, some VC's and Investors do not understand that entrepreneurs not only do it out of love but also to make a living out of it, so sometimes it is not fair on their part to ask from us to bootstrap some more, they don't seem to realize that their reason of being is us, entrepreneurs and the ecosystem that they generate, including market movement, jobs and revenues, we do this at a great personal risk, a calculated risk, and specially here in Canada we lag behind the start-up world, and Montreal does not even break the top 100 world cities for start-ups, Toronto is the city that fairs the best at number 10, even five Indian cities are above Montreal.

I would like to invite Montreal investors to take a serious look at the state of affairs of our economy and question themselves if that is what we want for our city and province, either we move forward with determination if we want to be taken seriously, and take risks that others take for granted, or we lag and fade into a dark slumber and become the city that could but did not dare because the risk was not acceptable, or they were not 100% sure about the ROI, well entrepreneurs take risks, so we expect that our investors find themselves sharing those risks to make our economy grow.