Why Start Up Stress is Not Only Inevitable but Desirable
My clients love this way of thinking about stress because it moves it from the abstract feeling that needs ‘managing’ to something concrete that’s both normal, not ‘bad’ and most importantly actually provides huge growth for you and the business when faced skilfully.
So putting my neuroscience hat on for a moment stress is one of two things;
It’s a lack of prediction and response in the current environment.
or
2. It’s an unskillful prediction and response in the current environment.
(There is more if you wish to dig deeper but into body battery but we are keeping things simple for now)
Prediction = interpretation of the current environment, what it means and what will happen next.
Response = How I will respond in order to survive or thrive
If we are missing either this will result in the famous fight, flight, freeze responses verbally, physically, emotionally ie stress.
So why is it so inevitable and even desirable?
Well, right from birth you have been assessing the environment and extracting meaning from that environment in order to survive and thrive within it. Each environment informing what you believe is true about the world.
On top of that you’ve had to rely on parents and teachers to inform you about the world because you needed some sort of coherent operating system.
However there have also been some MAJOR shifts in your environment across your life.
From home to nursery, from nursery to school, school to high school, to university, to work, to start up and a million in between from relationships to places the world is an ever changing landscape.
Inside each environment you formed beliefs about the world and each time you entered a new environment those beliefs were tested.
Stress, anxiety, overwhelm, are the inevitable result of a belief that was once true now being proven to be unskillful or detrimental in this new environment.
Crying when you were a baby got you fed, changed, hugged, but as a strategy at school it likely produced a very different response. Discovering that was stressful but you learned from trial and error and adapted new systems.
Flash forward to Start up and scale up life. The number of new environments to navigate is incredible.
Board - managing up
C level - managing across
Team - managing down
Customer - understanding the market
And a bunch of other dynamics besides. Beliefs are challenged, strained and broken daily. ‘Stress’ is our resistance to reality. Our brain believes one thing to be true and the world is demonstrating that in this new environment that belief is no longer skilful.
So what’s the answer?
To cultivate the understanding that this is what stress is.
2. Hold on to beliefs lightly so that the presences of new data will allow you to change them.
3. Actively engage in the process of testing your beliefs, particularly in areas of stress, struggle, frustration and confusion. As these are indicators that you model of the world is no long serving you and requires an update.
The job of a founder is to step into these environments, challenge beliefs, create principles and practises that allow you to make order out of this chaos and then invite the next environment.
Ultimately that is what it is to grow up and that is what it is to grow a company fast. The speed at which you follow step 1-3 will determine your success.
People hire me when they want to get there FASTER and with more FUN ie far more quickly integrating the stress, fear and insecurity presented by each new environment.
Does that make more sense as a way of looking at stress and the world?
