Entrepreneurship

Significance

Most of us seek peace, love, and significance.
All can be achieved by offering each to others.

Visions, missions, and titles may help guide teams in a shared direction, but linchpins want work that matters and culture outshines even the most thoughtful strategy.

The race to revenue makes it easy to see why we’ve been seduced by surveillance, predictable profit margins, and forced productivity. Too often, the easy metrics borrowed from such compliance are the ones that get measured. This leads to endless meetings geared toward delivering information, avoiding blame, and asserting authority for those in charge. The illusion is that control will lead to predictable results thanks to a maximization of resources. The problem is: humans are not a resource.

Leaders who make a difference welcome tension brewed by those who make a ruckus. We nurture initiative, even when results aren’t perfect, which creates enrollment where enthusiasm is met with consistent action. We keep promises and our sense of abundance fuels intentional permeability that invites people to leave. We create a culture where everyone can be proud of the impact they make. Contributions are appreciated, knowing they would be missed if they were gone and the work is worth doing because it invites each human to sing their own song of significance.

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Are your meetings led by a few people talking and most pretending to pay attention? Perhaps it’s time to get real by inviting the team to lead together.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Tinker

This is your invitation to tinker.

The Headline Trap is real, life can feel busy, and we all have existing responsibilities, but take a moment to hold your arm as high as you can. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

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Need fresh ideas?
Try this daily exercise.

…ok, now…hold your arm higher! I bet you found room to push further, eh? This is a fun reminder that we all have more to give. Tinkering requires initiative, but we all have extra gears to help us avoid feeling like we left something on the table. Yes, comfortable feels safe and easy is easy, but why not turn a few knobs to see your idea twinkle?

When we accept an invitation to tinker, financial capital can speed things up, but time is usually the primary capital required. It’s amazing how much happens by showing up and activating a few early moves. While more of everything will be needed to commercialize an idea, thinking about this exploration through an adaptive lens of seasonality also reduces the weight of side hustles.

If you’re having a hard time finding inspiration, force yourself into environments were others are tinkering too. Community events within an entrepreneurial ecosystem can provide energizing human, intellectual, and network capital, but classrooms, makerspaces, hackathons, and coworking spaces are where people are tinkering together.

Whether it’s at home or in the community, tinkering celebrates pure wonder and will nourish your innovative spirit. Even if the answer is “no”, at least you’ll know.

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Things you dedicate time to will grow.

By Ben McDougal, ago

No Running

“Please walk.” <wait 5 seconds>
“Please walk!” <repeat endlessly>

At the swimming pool, how many times does a lifeguard remind children to walk and why is it so hard for kids to slow down, even when they’ve slipped in the past? Let’s write through why repetitive reminders may be needed to motivate awareness, action, and steadfastness.

The first thing that comes to mind, is how hard it is to get anyone to do anything. Motion requires force, we don’t know what we don’t know, and if action calls for commitment (time, obedience, money, etc.), movement is even harder to inspire.

When we think through the lens of marketing and sales, an easy start is clarity. Does messaging and calls to action immediately resonate with your smallest viable audience?

When it’s time for action, sequencing comes to mind. Conciseness allows first impressions to be more impactful, with connected content to guide newcomers toward more natural action(s).

Lastly, I wish repetition wasn’t a part of the equation, but it’s loud out there! Attention is hard to earn and even harder to maintain. Endless reminders can be annoying, but systems thinking and a strategic cadence ensure more positive encounters supported by lasting clarity. Thoughtful repetition also catches fresh awareness along the way.

Along with helping to connect with an audience, these motivators are important for anything that involves rotating participation as well. Succession can bring healthy revitalization to teams, organizations, and communities, but without clarity, fresh energy can be misguided. If information is not sequenced, the weight of too much information may feel unnecessarily daunting and once again, friendly reminders maintain momentum without a slip or fall.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Seasonality

The change of seasons is revitalizing. The renewal felt in Spring, the fun of Summer, the release of Fall, the refreshment of Winter, and endless surprises to keep us bewildered. What if seasons apply to our work as well?

With less finality, thinking of projects, experiments, side hustles, or startup ventures more like a season of creativity, reduces the weight of a new initiative. It helps keep our diversified portfolios growing, fresh, and connected. It offers a fresh spin on what’s already been accomplished, with room to learn along the way.

As we bask in the crisp glow of a new season, milestones help track progress, while an uncharted mentality and being open to next keeps valiant optimism flowing. If an initiative connects to the right people who care, the season can be extended. A seasonal effort can also be cut short if things don’t go as planned.

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Seasons change, but never lack significance.

What has me sensing seasonality?
I am hosting a new weekly podcast!

More details are brewing, but it’s been helpful to consider You Don’t Need This Podcast as the latest season of my art. We are sequencing toward launch and producing enough remarkable episodes to give listeners something to sip on long-term. While there’s always a healthy amount of stress whenever you’re working to ship something you’re proud of, I’ve enjoyed dancing with this new piece of my own puzzle, without the weight of forever.

This has been nourishing, knowing that quality takes time and consistency requires sacrifice, but seasons always change. The beauty is that even if a surge of creativity is held in abeyance, seasonality makes something you spent time with, more natural to keep building in the future.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Indexing

Create a library of written works.
It can unfold into a timeless asset.

Imagine if you had already started writing. With no index cards required, welcome to your very own collection of organized, articulated thoughts, eh!

You will have embraced the moments of your own thoughts. You will also have felt the nourishment of released energy that awaits within the art of writing. Even more, you also moved past the fear and began “shipping your art” by sharing it within a community as well.

With your library of writings in place, even if traffic is low, your future self can become a real-time index. Available any time, from any device, and you’ll remember them all because you created them!

This treasure trove becomes super handy and very valuable! You can effectively add thickness to any interaction. What a timeless gift to yourself and to those you seek to serve, beyond so many beautiful, but brief sparks in time.

Quick temperature check. The world is experiencing a mainstream surge in AI, but don’t let that become an excuse. Anyone can now unleash AI and #ChatUX is so sweet, but those who show ingenuity will never be out created. Along with helping us all maintain intensity, your own writings can represent a honest heart connected to different topic you’re also talking about… maybe even building realities around as well!

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“Reading helps us understand the world.
Writing helps us understand ourselves.”
– Ben McDougal, Roasted Reflections

Does writing take serious time? Yes. Does publishing your writing online spark hesitations? Yes. Will writing welcome a creative release and potentially deliver more art for you to ship? Also yes.

Start writing my friend, then get generous by sharing it with us.

By Ben McDougal, ago