Prior to starting my newsletter, I asked myself one question repeatedly, “What do I aim to achieve with this newsletter?” I took time to mull over this question and at one point of time the answer was as clear as a glass of water to me. I wanted to share my personal experiences about life and what I had gleaned from them. I meant to do this so others could learn from my experience and save the trouble and time in learning the same thing again.
Simultaneously, I also realised there’s a wealth of information on the Internet that would point us in the same direction. To make life less painful for us by learning vicariously from the mistakes of others. The elders have advised us that it is wise to learn from our own mistakes. I have no doubts about the veracity of this statement but I have found this approach to be expensive too. In some cases coupled with the loss of money, we may end up losing another scanty resource – Time. Archimedes once proclaimed, “Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.” On similar lines I would say, show me the mistakes others have made, and I will learn from them. By doing so, I will save a considerable amount of time – something which we are always short of.
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
―Friedrich Nietzsche
Without Good Reason, this newsletter would never see the light of day. This is my reason for the newsletter – to think better, to make fewer mistakes, to appreciate life, and to learn from it.
Consider these two scenarios:
- Imagine you are a start up on the lookout for funding and a VC asks why they should back your startup. You answer with confidence, “There’s no concrete way to describe it, you’ll have to use the product to find out”.
- Consider you are in a job interview and the interviewer asks you to give them a good reason to hire you. You tell them, “I cannot give you good reason now, but if you hire me you would find out”.
AFAIK you have blown your chances in both scenarios. Not only for the present but for the foreseeable future too.
This is what happens when you utter indecisive words to someone who wants to back you up. They would want to know why they’re backing you up and what they’re up against. Peter Thiel asks one question when he interviews people for a job – “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” To paraphrase – “Give me a good reason about why you believe in a truth that few agree with you on?” If Peter Thiel thinks Without Good Reason is important stuff, we too must give it a thought.
If you want someone to back you up for anything, you must give them a compelling reason to do so. All the efforts you have put in will go in vain Without good reason. Before you embark on a journey, ask yourself – “Why?” Unless you are able to answer this question for yourself, you can never convince anyone else. You are not going to make it past a certain point and people will look through you.
If you do not know your destination, having the best ship to sail will not suffice. However, if you have a burning desire to reach your destination, even a raft in tatters would suffice. It is not the medium, but the intent that matters.
Without good reason, you would not exist.
Cover Image: WHY? A Photo by Ilkka Kärkkäinen on Unsplash
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