15. Priorities and Perseverance: Finding balance and moving forward in the face of major adversity

I recorded the video for this episode in a hotel room while evacuated from my home because of the Kincade fire in Northern California. A few days earlier, when we were experiencing safety power outages and watching the extreme fire conditions, I wondered if I should just skip this episode. I was feeling very stressed and distracted. I thought it might be interesting to do a short episode about how sometimes life makes you look at where your true priorities lie. Then on Wednesday, October 23, we saw the fire start on a ridge about 15 miles to our north during another wind event. Between then and when we evacuated on Saturday, I was not focused on anything but the fire.

Kincade Fire Progression Map after 10/27/19

However, once we were out of the area, and in a hotel with lots of time on our hands, I had time to think more about this issue. I realized that I really wanted to stay on track with these episodes, and that there was not really any overpowering reason not to. Major adversity can certainly justify all kinds of changes in priorities and plans; it is also easy to use situations as an excuse. I could easily have just spent my time hanging out in the hotel, refreshing the emergency information web pages, and drinking.

Instead, I decided to go to a nearby store and pick up a cheap stand for my phone, so I could record a quick and dirty episode. And doing it made me feel better. I was doing something positive and productive when there was nothing at all I could do about the main crisis going on.

If you are running a startup, you will likely encounter many existential crises along the way. Hopefully, most existential to the business, not to you or your family personally. This situation has reminded me of all the times I experienced that as a founder. At the time, I was actively studying kung-fu, and one of the lessons from that served me incredibly well in business, and with this fire. They taught the concept “mind like water”. The idea is that, while water is incompressible, it freely conforms to the shape of the container it is in. A mind like water stays relaxed and adapts to situations as they happen. Stress and tension sap you of energy without providing any benefit. They can actually slow down your reactions and thinking. By staying relaxed, even in the face of adversity, you can quickly pivot to take action on the most appropriate task at any moment. Whether that be packing all your most valuable possession in a car, or recording a podcast during downtime in a hotel.

As I get ready to post this, our neighborhood is still under mandatory evacuation, but residents are being allowed back. Hopefully, things will be largely back to normal soon, and the next installment will be more typical.

Let me know if you like this kind of post, it is an unintentional experiment.

Till Next time …. Ciao!