The few times I have had an opportunity to speak to successful business men and women, I usually have to ask the one question that bugs me constantly
why are you doing this?
And I always find the answers to be very interesting and varied. Some of the more common answers I have had are:
To make money.
That type of thinking will only get you so far. Greed can be super powerful for some, but typically, those folks have the attention of a four year old. Their greed will take them to another project before they finish this one.
Some have no idea.
Well for that selection of response the conversation is usually very short lived, as they lack the motivation to keep it going and will abandon the project at the first sign of trouble
Some just want to do it, as we say “for sh3g3 reasons”.
These individuals intrigue me. Often, after enough questions, you realize something really pissed them off, or they found the present solution inept, and could not let it go.
I, too, have to work on something that really pisses me off.
When I initially started working on the idea of solving the recruitment problem and starting at the very root of dealing with interns, I was having personal crises with a few friends and relations. I broadened the scope to review the problem properly. My initial solutions even though exciting were not original and so I had to look at the present solutions to see what made them not work effectively—a problem that needed a solution. It’s not a particularly good or unique idea anyway, so I asked myself the same question I ask other founders.
So I asked a few HR personels what they thought and why it didn’t work. One in passing just blurted out…
IF IT ANNOYS YOU OF SO MUCH WHY DON’T YOU FIGURE OUT A BETTER SOLUTION?
So, I asked myself the following questions:
“Why would I do this?”
A. It pisses me off. A lot. I haven’t been this pissed off about something in a long time and it bothers me that the solution which is supposed to be working is not.
“Do I have time to do this?”
A. Not really, but I could make time. I schedule study time for myself a couple of days a week.
“Will you build a company out of it?”
A. It’s possible. If I build something that solves a problem and gives me a living, I could do this gladly
“What will you learn from this?”
A. Something, I guess. Maybe that’s an understatement…I mean, here is a computer science guy attempting to solve a human resource problem. I was in for a full education.
“Is it worth dedicating half your life to?”
A. I guess, at least if I can fix it right, I can leave a legacy, a brand and a solution.
“How much does this really piss me off?”
A. loads I have tried many placement services just to see how their solution works and every time I sign up for new services hoping it does it differently, and it never does.
So, I know it bugs me to no end, and I know I can’t let it go. It’s not a personal issue, and the more I think about the time we all lose to this problem, the more it bothers me.
This may not be true for others, but for me, if a problem:
- Doesn’t get me out of bed
- Make me lose sleep
- Drive me to the point of getting angry when I see strangers going through it
- Isn’t systemic in society (a lot of people deal with it)
Then I shouldn’t solve it!
If you’re an habitual starter, but have problems following through, start asking yourself questions before you start.
It is odd how concentrating on the things that make you angry are sometimes indicative of how you’ll choose to manage the priority of a project in your life.