Seize The Day

When Horace first mentioned carpe diem, it was part of a longer message from Odes Book I.

In full, Horace writes: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.

In translation this means: Seize the day and place no trust in tomorrow.

While I am no philosopher, it is easy to see the message that Horace attempts to convey to his audience. Think little about tomorrow, think only about today. Whether you are the executive in a Fortune 500 company or the CEO of a startup company, carpe diem pushes one to not worry about what may happen, but rather what will happen right now. If you are constantly looking forward to tomorrow, you may miss the opportunities that are in front of you today.

Never A Smooth Ride

In the business world, the path to success is one that is guaranteed to have bumps along the way. For some, these bumps will be minor ‘distractions,’ but for others they will be ‘game-changers.’ These ‘game-changers’ are the ones that the business world fears most. One day it could be law suit that threatens the stability of the company and the next it could be a partner pulling out. In 1988, Bob Marley inspired his own form of carpe diem, when he wrote “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Although Bob and Horace we’re hundreds of years apart, both deliver similar messages: Bumps are bound to happen. No matter what we do, they will happen. Live in the present, don’t worry about tomorrow.

For the entrepreneur specifically, being able to focus on the present is crucial. While it would be ignorant to ignore the consequences of the choices we make today, that doesn’t mean we need to live life on a leash.

The Conflict With Carpe Diem

Based on the full context of carpe diem, we arrive at a conflict. While ‘seize the day’ is a message that hundreds have heard and quoted, why do so few truly ‘seize the day.’ Is it because they don’t believe it? Or is it perhaps that it just isn’t realistic. That may be true to some extent, but the fact still remains that carpe diem, whether spoken in Latin or English, still resonates among individuals.

Take for example Kobe Bryant. If you had visited his website earlier this year, one of the most noticeable bits of information on his site was a line of text clearly displayed across the landing page:

Scito hoc super omnia….Tempus neminem non manet….Carpe diem.

Translated it means:

Know this above all else….Fully use every point, moment, and hour that you have. Time waits for no man….Seize the day.

People can debate about his talent level and where he falls among the greatest, but few can doubt his work ethic and determination. He takes every day as a new opportunity to further his skills and work toward his goals.

When you look at why we admire those that work tirelessly, it is in part because we are admiring someones dedication to taking each day and living it to the fullest. We all wish we could ‘live life to the fullest’ and be able to ‘seize the day,’ but life likes making things complicated. With bills to pay, kids to drop off at soccer practice, and meetings to attend, few have the chance to fully embrace carpe diem.

Even before the decision is made on how you will seize the day, perhaps the question should be when.

The “Perfect” Wave

If you have ever been to the ocean and watched surfers, one thing you will notice is the patience that they have. Sitting on their boards, they will wait for hours for that perfect wave to come along. If surfing were a business, you can call the perfect wave, the “Facebook” of all waves. No matter how many ‘bad’ waves they have to ride out, they will continue to wait. Even if the perfect wave lasts only for a few minutes, the day is not wasted, but rather well spent.

Although surfing has little in common with the business world and entrepreneurs, surfing can be used as a metaphor for the road to success. For the surfer that sits their everyday riding out the bad waves waiting for that perfect one to come along, the feeling of satisfaction is special and fulfilling. In the same sense, for the entrepreneur or business that endures the hardships of starting up, success is bittersweet and fulfilling as well.

Like the changing waves, each day bring new opportunities.

Carpe Diem. Seize the day

The Start Of Something Special

American poet and writer, Carl Sandburg, once said that “nothing happens unless we first dream.” For entrepreneurs, failure knocks at the door, waiting to crush their dreams. Still, no matter how many times people will tell someone that their idea or dream is foolish, they still pursue it. No matter the number, the entrepreneur sees what some fail to recognize, opportunity.

Off just a ‘dream’, an individual is willing to put it all on the line. How many times have you heard of the 9-5 worker leaving the corporate world to start their own company? There is nothing glamorous about being an entrepreneur. You have an idea, you start your company, and you hope for the best. Aside from picking the name of your company and who will work with you, you control little more than that. So why do entrepreneurs ride this dream for all its worth? Is there an attraction to the thrill of the unexpected?

Dreaming Like You’re 9 Years Old

There is no simple explanation as to why entrepreneurs are willing to risk it all. Everyone has their own reasons, just like everyone has their own dreams. But step back for a moment and go back to when you were 9 years old. At that age, I remember that the most I had to worry about was whether or not I would make it back home in time to watch X-Men and how to avoid doing homework. At 9, our minds were full of creativity and ideas just waiting to burst. While we still are full of creative ideas the big difference is that at 9 years old that dream became something you had to share and make happen.

For example, when I was 9 I had a dream that I could turn my tricycle into a sleigh similar to the one Santa Claus had. Using my dogs as reindeer, I spent an entire day fashioning my 3-wheeler into a makeshift sleigh. Even better, I had the brilliant idea of using dog treats as motivation for the dogs to pull me. By throwing the dog treat forward I would get them to move and thus pulling me anywhere I wanted to go. As great as this sounded at the time, I must stress the point that at this stage of my life I was still afraid of the dark, hated vegetables and didn’t know what the SAT meant. Long story short, the dogs pulled like I planned, but instead dragged me about 100 yards after I fell off the bike. Although it was a failure in many aspects, that’s what being a kid meant. While the risks maybe greater as an entrepreneur, the same mentality is there: follow your dreams without fear of the unexpected.

Waking Up From The Dream

For entrepreneurs, not all dreams can last forever. Perhaps it didn’t work out or it just wasn’t meant to happen. The beauty of a dream though is that once you ‘wake up’ from one, you can start again. For the lucky ones, you may never have to wake up from it. Take Bill Gates for example. I think many would agree that although he’s had some bumps along the way, he’s “living the dream.”

When I think of entrepreneur’s that chase their dreams, I am reminded of something that the Greek scholar, Euripides once said:

The wisest men follow their own direction.

As the saying goes, impossible is nothing.

As the sun begins to set, the work day does not end. Instead, work continues late into the night with sleep the last thing on one’s mind. This is the life I have chosen. — An Entrepreneur

As an entrepreneur, if you want to ‘survive’ and make it off the ‘island’, then you must succeed. Failure is not an option, yet it is the most common result. In what can be called odd, so many people choose to play this game of ‘entrepreneurship’ even though they are fully aware that odds are against them.

The biggest question that one may ask is “Why play?” For some it is the thrill of watching their dreams take flight while for others it just comes natural. Just how some are born natural athletes, some are just natural entrepreneurs. For those that choose to follow their dreams and ideas, they find themselves stranded on an island with only one way off: success. This is as real as it gets. No one tells you how to play the game, nor how to succeed. You have to trust your instinct and most of all your dream.

The Island

With little resources and new problems at every corner, an entrepreneur is essentially on an island of his own, trying to find a way off of it. An entrepreneur stuck an on island is never there by accident. This is the path they have chosen. This isn’t some reality TV show where producers are making sure that they are safe and secure. Instead, this is as real as it gets. If you lose, you don’t get to try again, you just have to keep moving forward.

Your “Tribe”

Once on the island, an entrepreneur quickly realizes the difficulty in trying to ‘survive’ without any help. Without help, the chances of success are lower. Thus the concept of the ‘tribe’ is introduced. The tribe that one forms as an entrepreneur shares a common and important trait: the belief that they will succeed. When one member of the ‘tribe’ begins to waiver in confidence, group morale is affected.

Just like in a company, a tribe has its own hierarchy. From the leader of the group to the support lines, each part of the tribe plays an essential role. The startup ‘tribe’ is unique in that individuals within the group may be asked to take on different roles and assignments. For a tribe to be successful it is imperative that there be some sort of flexibility within the group. A member that is able to take on many different tasks is far more valuable than someone that can only do one.

Create Your Own Map

As an entrepreneur you can read as much you want on how to start a business, but in the end their is no blueprint to success. No two success stories are the same. They may be similar, but no two are identical. As an entrepreneur not only are you an island, but you are also without a map. Instead you are to make your own. There is not set path you can take, you decide where it goes.

The hardest part about not having a ‘map’ are the distractions you come across along the way. Because you make your own decisions and don’t have to follow a set route, opportunities that may seem like the right choice may in fact just be a distraction and slow you down. I believe Jack Ma, CEO and Founder of Alibaba.com said it best:

If there are nine rabbits on the ground and you want to catch one, just focus on one.  Change your tactics if you need to, but don’t change the rabbit you’re focused on.  Just stick with it.

Being able to identify between good opportunities and dead-ends is crucial. Time is money and dead-ends are just a waste of time.

Giving Up

As an entrepreneur when one finds the odds against them and no end in site, giving up shouldn’t be an option. Instead of giving up, one needs to realize that as humans we are not perfect and that we will make mistakes. From those mistakes, we need to learn from them and make the appropriate adjustments the next time around. Giving up means you are accepting defeat. The enemy of an entrepreneur is doubt. Doubt that what they have been working toward is nothing but a failure. If one intends to be successful, being able to cast away doubt must first be done.

The island for entrepreneurs symbolizes two things: isolation and dreams. The isolation refers to the experiences that an entrepreneur faces when they leave the 9-5 jobs. People can offer you help, but as an entrepreneur, you are alone. No one but yourself and team will be able to say “I understand. Also on the island, dreams can become reality. An entrepreneur starts with an idea and works to making it become a reality.

Many have succeeded in making it off the island, but many more are still waiting for ‘big’ break. It may take weeks, months, and even years, but we are all looking for the day we make it off the island.

When you first enter a job, one of the first things that you need to understand is your role within the company. Are you the leader or are you the follower. While their are obviously more followers than leaders in a company, that doesn’t mean you should accept that role and not try to be more. One of the biggest complaints that I hear people say is that they hate their job because their is no chance for them move up. To this I ask: Have you done everything you can?

If they answered yes, that means that you have put in the extra hours, you have offered to help out in areas that aren’t your own responsibility and you have taken an active role within the company to try and bring value. If not, then it you need to ask yourself: Why? While their is nothing wrong with being a follower, people remember leaders, not followers. In the workplace when a project has positive results, typically the leader of the project will get most of the credit. It is true that those involved in the project get some credit as well, but the bulk of the credit will go to the leader. When a project goes bad, the opposite will happen. Someone has to take responsibility for a failure and that means one of the ‘followers’ are subject to scrutiny.

Why Be The Leader?

If we define what a follower is, it may go something like this:

Follower (Noun) — someone who accepts the leadership of others; a person who follows the directions of others

When you were a kid do you remember how much fun it was to play with your friends when you got to pick the games and be the leader?  Now think how much fun it was for your friends when they had to play a game that they didn’t want to play. Regardless if they wanted to play it, they did it anyways.

By no means is being a follower a bad thing, but when you look at all the benefits that a being a leader has, it is surprising to see how few people try to maximize their efforts to excel into a leadership position. In a competitive job market, doing the minimum and even more is not enough to secure your job, let alone a promotion. When you look at the jobs most commonly listed in job openings, most are entry level work. One big complaint from college graduates is that they don’t want to take just any job that is just entry level. They want a 9-5 job that is going to pay them at least 50-60K a year with benefits. With expectations like this, it is obvious why entry level jobs are seen as ‘last option’ jobs. Entry level jobs are essentially the lowest seniority within a company. Does that mean you should ignore it and not consider it an option? No. Everyone starts somewhere. Every job is a stepping stone to something bigger and better. It is your job to make the most out of it and use the experience to be not just a follower, but grow into a leader.

So How Can I Be The Leader?

While being a leader is obviously not for everyone, it is something that everyone should consider. Being a leader doesn’t mean you have to be the CEO of a company. You can be a leader in your own way. Being a leader among your peers is something that everyone can set as their goal.

Being a leader starts with having the right mindset. If you have the mentality that you can be the leader and are able to handle the responsibilities that come with it, then you are one step closer. I was told as a kid that “you need to believe in yourself before you can accomplish anything.” Erase doubt from your vocabulary and transition into a positive attitude.

The second thing is to evaluate your situation. You should consider the following:

1. Do you understand your role in the company?

2. Are you using your time efficiently at work and go far and beyond expectations?

3. Do you have good relations with your co-workers and peers, including upper management?

4. Does upper management know your name?

5. Are you one of the last ones to leave work or are you one of the first?

It is important to consider these questions because these are the same questions that upper-management and the ‘leaders’ of the company will consider about you. If you are not able to say yes to these question then you should start working on them if you truly want to be a leader.

The last step is realization of your potential. In sports, analysts will sometimes say that certain athletes have reached their potential. They have used all their skills and have reached the max of what they are able to do. As an employee, you should always have a gauge of your potential and capacity and always keep it mind. If you are given a project to do but feel you can’t do it, does that mean you have reached your potential? Have you used all your skills? Self-doubt is one of the biggest reasons for people staying in the same job as a follower their whole life. Sure you can be content and happy doing it, but if you could accomplish more, why wouldn’t you?

While ‘leaders’ are often tagged with titles like CEO and President, that doesn’t mean you can’t be one either. John Quincy Adams said it best:

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

Aspire to the be the leader, not the follower.

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Photo by Rafnap

If you have ever used Twitter, you may have come across the infamous ‘fail whale.’ While you may wonder what the fail whale actually is, it is quite self-explanatory. When their is an error or an overload of users on Twitter, users will find themselves staring a whale being carried over water by tiny birds. With so many errors on Twitter and users finding themselves staring at a fail whale so often, one would expect angry and annoyed tweeples. Instead, it is quite the opposite.

The fail whale has become something of a phenomenon in that what was just supposed to be an error page for Twitter, has now become an iconic logo. Originally created by Twitter user yiyinglu, the fail whale has made ‘failure’ profitable and also amusing.

Enjoying Others Fail

So what is about the fail whale that makes failure acceptable? Most would agree that failure is a disappointing and it would be shocking to hear someone say that they take pleasure out of seeing someone ‘fail.’ Still, it is a growing trend that is making failure become laughable and amusing.

The biggest reason for this growing trend stems from the direction that television shows and most recently the internet have begun to dip toward. For the last 19 years, America’s Funniest Home Videos has been bringing laughter to families across the nation. While shows consist of dogs doing tricks and kids saying funny things, it does include segments where someone ultimately ‘fails’ and gets hurt. This has been AFHV’s bread and butter. Without it, they wouldn’t be the same. Audiences watch because they want to see failure. Not only do they want it, but they almost demand it.

Fast forward to the present and we can see even more extreme cases where ‘failure’ is a joke.

Would you believe it if I told you that one of the fastest growing websites on the web revolves around people sharing their stories of failure and bad luck? I introduce you to FMyLife. With nearly 2 million unique visitors just last month, FMyLife has a growth rate of more than 75% in the last 2 months.

Here is an example of something a user wrote on FMyLife:

Today, I was meeting my girlfriend at the airport after studying abroad for a year. She ran to hug me, and I wanted to pick her up and spin her around, like they do in those romantic movies.I tried to do that, but instead I dropped her.FML

While it may be bad enough for people to laugh at one’s failure, FMyLife makes sure to have one key element to a successful website: Building Community. FMyLife allows users to rate these events by voting:I agree, your life is f***ed or you deserved that one. For the example given above, the FMyLife community voted you deserved that one 21,877 times.

Another site similar to FMyLife which has been gaining popularity is Fail Blog. As the name suggest, Fail Blog advertises themselves by the following:

Fail, Owned and Pwn moments in pictures and videos. Share fails, pwns, and owns with the world on FAIL Blog.

Fail Blog also builds their community presence by allowing users to comment on photos and videos as well as share content to other platforms like Facebook and Twitter. At nearly 11% growth rate, Fail Blog is close to reaching the 1 million unique visitors mark.

So what does this tell us?

Twitter has brought us the Fail Whale, FMyLife has brought us the now popular term “FML”, and Fail Blog has created an epicenter for ‘fail’ moments. People don’t just like hearing and seeing people ‘fail’, they love it. Love may be a strong word to use, but numbers don’t lie. People don’t mind reading and hearing about it, as long as it doesn’t happen to them. That is the key to it all. It is perverse to think that one can take pleasure out of someones bad luck, but as long as they themselves aren’t the ‘victim’ it seems like one could care less. One way to look at the situation is that when users see and read these stories about others unfortunate events, if they have no sense of connection with the ‘victim’ then they have no shame in laughing about it. The result of sites like FMyLife and Fail Blog is that they have created a new sense of what I call ‘fail humor.’ In a society where failures are becoming the punch lines of jokes, who is to say that when someone tells of how they failed at some pivotal point in their life, we as a society won’t laugh at them?

In an ideal and entirely optimistic world, failure would be seen as a way to learn from one’s mistakes. Some of the most powerful quotes we have today have been about failure and overcoming. One of my favorite quotes comes from Michael Jordan where he talks about his failure and the role it played in his life:

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.

If failure is a joke, would you laugh if your best friend failed college? Would you be amused if your mom failed at being a parent? Failure is a term we use to describe times when the outcome was unsuccesful or unfortunate events, it is important that we never forget that.

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Photo by Shes Jack