The virtues of not having an audience
I was thinking recently that it sucks I dont’ have many readers of this blog. Then I thought what a virtue it was- and how that means I have no restraints. I can write about anything, no matter how frivolous. And that leads to..
How I was thinking about a situation thats roughly the inverse of the above - something first considered positive but has serious downsides when you further consider it. Many people choose entrepreneuralism because they’ll be their own boss. Besides the standard observation that when it comes to bosses, people can be their own hardest taskmasters, I think its interesting how blind we are to the value of a good boss. A good boss motivates you, she teaches you, she knows your strengths and weaknesses better than you do yourself, and can give you the resources you need to get the job done. When people say “I want to be my own boss” they’re likely thinking of the boss they had who most resembles’ Dilbert pointy-headed, hapless, autocratic manager. The downside of not having someone constantly tell you what to do is….you have no one constantly telling you what to do. I marvel at people like Mark Zuckerberg who can master the vague art of entrepreneuralism and build a major business without serious prior work experience. Its almost akin to watching a volunteer from the crowd at a circus, hop on the tightrope and making it across without falling, conquering both the fear involved in such a feat and the physical act itself, without a single session of acrobatics.
