More than once I heard from experienced entrepreneurs how important it is to know in advance what to do after the successful sale of the business has taken place. It usually seems that the main thing is to build something meaningful, to reach the cherished peak, and harmony and grace are sure to await there. But many founders are shocked that after many years of focused extra effort, there comes a brief moment of triumph, followed by despondency, depression, and emptiness. It feels as if someone has knocked the stool out from under you. The meaning that had guided, sustained, and inspired you up to that point suddenly evaporated. And the new meaning did not emerge by itself. Expensive toys, hedonism and entertainment cannot become substitutes for meaning. On the contrary, existential longing is only exacerbated by the thought: “How dare you be dissatisfied? You have absolutely everything.
Knowing this, experienced founders, like in a telescopic fishing rod, begin to pull in a new segment of meaning long before D-Day. Thus, the current goal is not the final destination, but a prerequisite for achieving something even more desirable later. If we develop this thought to the limit, we will see a multilevel hierarchy, where one meaning is subordinate to the second one, the second to the third one, etc. With such a vertical of meaning, a person will become almost unstoppable.
Life will create obstacles, breaking the current plan of action and questioning the current goal. But instead of discouragement and frustration, a person simply turns to the meta-meaning one or two levels higher and from that height redraws the route differently. After all, the feeling of deadlock is a consequence of a lack of perspective, when it seems there is only one, but absolutely unacceptable option. As one gains altitude, the number of options grows rapidly.
When multiple personal meanings are embedded one within another, life resembles a conscious path toward infinity. Perhaps this is what Lao Tzu meant when he said: “A good traveler has no precise plans or intentions of getting anywhere.”
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
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”Who are you and what do you do?"
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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