On the Chicken and the Egg

“Which came first — the chicken or the egg?” fits a thousand situations. I want to look at it through another eternal question: “Do I commit, or not, when the outcome is unknown?” And by “commit” I mean less the money than our effort, our time, our energy, our emotions.

“What’s in it for me?”
“What am I even doing all this for?”

When there’s too much uncertainty, questions like these stop being merely useless and turn destructive. Hiding behind them are fears:
— that we won’t be able to agree with our partners later;
— that we’ll burn the effort for nothing;
— that we’ll look like a “fool” for being the first one in.

But building anything new always works this way: there’s more uncertainty than clarity. And no amount of squinting into the future will hand us a guarantee.

What matters here is something else: if you’re going to commit — commit a hundred percent. Half-measures, “I’ll give it a try,” “let’s see how it goes” — none of that works. The world is too competitive, and somewhere alongside you there’s always someone who’ll take the risk and go all the way. If we don’t give ourselves to the thing whole, there’ll be nothing left to talk about afterward.

Of course, you can always find excuses later — “my partners let me down,” “too many unknowns,” “it just felt too dangerous.” But that’s only cover for our own weakness. Want to know whether it would have worked or not? Then we’ll have to give it everything. Otherwise time passes, and we’re left with the question that gnaws: “What would have happened if I hadn’t spared myself back then and had seen it through?” That question can eat you from the inside more savagely than any defeat. Paradoxically, the fear of a life filled with regrets can turn out to be the most powerful motivator of all.

Yes, the risk is real. But every big thing began exactly this way: someone, one day, decided and went all in.

I’m fond of a line attributed to Genghis Khan in Isai Kalashnikov’s novel The Cruel Age: “If you act, don’t fear. If you fear, don’t act.”

Here’s to all of us — the courage to take the risk wherever the heart says: “I’ve got this.” 😎