Starting a company takes a lot of hard work. That’s why so many ideas dissipate with the clouds in the wind. It’s easier to let them float away. Some people cannot get their idea out of their minds. They toss and turn at night, blink their eyes while driving and listen to music — but to no avail! The idea seems to have a life of its own, and it has captured an entrepreneur. It haunts him and stalks him. He may not realize yet that he is an entrepreneur, but he is. He is obsessed, and there is no easy way to escape.
If you know it’s a long walk, your focus will be different than if you think there is a quick way to success. Consequently, if you are in it for the end goal and not the journey, it will make the process so much harder.
The Long Walk is a book about a Polish officer who is captured by the Russians in 1939. After his escape from a Siberian labor camp, he and 6 comrades trek thousands of miles to freedom. They are chased by soldiers and eventually are faced with the decision to cross the Gobi desert. The crossing and the total “walk” is long, but freedom awaits the survivors in India. Read it. This type of determination is what it takes to start a company. And when you have succeeded, you can look back poetically and write comparison war stories.
Bottom line: it’s all about keeping the clouds floating high and not letting any goat-staring cynics burst them.