Yesterday I had a conversation with one of the truly outstanding entrepreneurs in Singularity University’s Startup Network. What makes him such an amazing (and successful) founder is his ability to shut down the noise, hunker down and get stuff done.
I see a lot of entrepreneurs end up engaging in busy work instead of focussing on the stuff which really moves the needle. And worse — a lot of that busy work’s primary focus is to feed the ego of the founder.
The problem usually gets serious once a startup gains some traction — when the press articles come out, the invites for speaking engagement roll in and the coffee meetings with “important” people pile up.
It is easy to fall into this trap (and trust me — I am guilty as charged) and spend hours on end with things which make you feel good about yourself but end up doing little to nothing for your business.
I fundamentally believe that one of the most important things every entrepreneurs has to learn and remind himself of is to keep the ego in check.
As Ryan Holiday writes so eloquently in his new book “Ego is the Enemy” (highly recommended read by the way!):
“To be or to do? Which way will you go?”