The Most Important Startup

ever.

(That’s Baxter from the Los Angeles SPCA. Go adopt a dog. or cat. or bunny.)

This morning I read a facebook post from a friend about how he has gotten to the point that he realized that his family mattered most to him.

He had read a post by Chris Brogan, Build A Home, who has really begun to hit his stride in prioritization of self, work and family. In Chris’s post he discussed the difference between entitlement (Buy a Home) and controlling your own destiny (Build a Home).

The past year or so has been amazing. The issues surrounding depression and entrepreneurship have slowly moved from the dark into the light. We hug more. We look at each other in the eye, and mean it when we ask each other how we are doing. It’s been amazing to be part of this transition.

And now it’s time to take the next step.

Everyone of us has been lied to. We have been told that the only way to succeed is to put work before everything.

If we do that, then one day, we will be able to retire and have fun.

Bullshit.

By the time we are ready to retire, or hit that elusive exit that gives us F-U money, we are beaten down. Tired, and worst of all, we are strangers to our families and often either find ourselves alone or at the end of many failed relationships.

Our lives are not a Field of Dreams where the simple act of building it is all that is needed.

So what is the secret? What is the truth?

Selfishness.

Yup. Put yourself first. Before everything. Before work.

By always putting others first, you teach them that it is okay to put you second.

Stop for a moment and think. It’s 20 years from now. Maybe 30. What do you want to be known for? The guy that build that thing that is now wildly antiquated and out of touch?

The startup you are building today is just work. It certainly is a pig with a different dress than your standard corporate job, but it is still a pig. (A greased pig at that, who eats everything and shits in your living room.)

My legacy is not the currency I collect over time. It’s the small moments of happiness I experience daily. It’s the opportunity to look a friend in the eye and say, “I may not understand, but I empathize.”

It’s understanding that my startup is me.

It’s time that we spent time on the only startup that matters without guilt.

And the secret to happiness?

It’s not about what you do; but rather what you don’t.