Have you ever been in a super stressful situation that afterwards, when things had calmed down, possibly weeks or months later felt like it was part of a dream or a movie? Well startups can be a lot like that especially around critical events such as a potential financing or sale of a company or a product launch. I have been calling it the “Fog of Startups” after the expression the “Fog of War” but as I will point out in a minute that analogy is problematic.
Why did I think of this analogy in the first place? Because the dream like state is the result of a high degree of uncertainty combined with a high degree of stress and emotion. It is a combination that dramatically reduces human rationality and lets older, more autonomous systems of the brain take over. That’s why much later when things have calmed down you wind up with the disconcerting movie or dream-like sensation that you were someone else at the time.
So what’s wrong about the analogy? It proliferates the idea that startups are akin to combat, which they most definitely are not. Nobody is shooting at you. There is no risk of you or others around you being killed or traumatically injured. The stakes may *feel* existential but they aren’t. They only become that when we let them in our minds.
What does that mean in practice? When startup stress ramps to 100 you need to remind yourself and everyone around you that – even if the crisis may be “existential” for the startup as an entity – it is not so for the people. The outcome may be a massive setback or a massive success but you will still be the same person. Then you need to figure out what you can do to calm yourself down as much as possible. For some people that will be going to the gym, others taking a long walk, or meditating or just mindful breathing.
All of that may sound easy but it is quite hard, so look for people who can help you. You may also think that this doesn’t apply to you which is probably the best sign that it does.
