Achievement vs Development

If your goal
is to lift weights,
you can achieve that goal
by lifting weights.

But for your muscles to develop
you must put the weights down
and help your muscles
recover.

Without recovery
you may achieve,
achieve,
and achieve
with minimal development
while promoting fatigue
and injury.

What if
our psychology
and our relationships
were like muscles?

Hyper-Empathizing with Our Companies

When we, as parents, hyper-empathize with our children,
The children’s lives feel like our own.

Similarly,
When we, as founders, hyper-empathize with our companies,
the companies’ lives feel like our own.
So much so that we’re willing to sacrifice our health to keep them alive.

Sacrificing our health to keep our company alive
Can produce behaviors critical to the well-being of our company
In its early stages of development.

But as our company develops—as do our children—
Some of our “sacrificial” behaviors born out of care
Can also stifle its development,
Not to mention fuel our frustration, resentment, and disappointment,
As we can’t help but take everything personally,
When we hyper-empathize.