Investor Ray Dalio offers a 5-step process to get what you need in life. 1) Have clear goals, 2) Identify the problems that stand in the way of your achieving those goals. 3) Accurately diagnose the problems to get at their root causes, 4) Design plans that will get you around them, and 5) Do what’s necessary to push these designs through to results. So simple and logical, isn’t it?
Similar feedback loops have been described in developmental psychology, philosophy of science, biology, business, and the military arts even before Ray. Common to all is the passage of successive stages in the form of a repeating “loop”. Obviously, each of the stages is necessary, because the fewer of them, the better. But there is no equality between the stages either, for some are more important. At least this is what I observe in my work with tech founders.
Founders have no difficulty with stages 4 and 5, that is, the development of realistic plans and their immediate implementation. After all, the strength of entrepreneurs is that they have a bias to action. So if the decision is made, the result is just around the corner. Also at stage 2 — identification of problems that complicate life — no one, as a rule, stalls. Negative symptoms are irritating and painful, so it’s hard to ignore them.
Surprisingly, many founders slip on clarifying goals. If goals are even outlined, it is done in passing, as if along a horizontal line. There is no ascent to breathtaking heights, nor a plunge to frightening depths. But the main stumbling block becomes stage #3, the diagnosis of the root problem, which is responsible for 80-90% of all symptoms. Why this stage? That’s a curious question, requiring a detailed answer in a separate article.
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
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As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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