Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jascii 2272 days ago
One of the major but rarely talked about causes of failure for startups is simply the entrepreneur getting demotivated. Gamefication could be an excellent way to deal with that. Beating yourself over the head and giving yourself a guild complex "Focus! Distraction! I should be..." Tend to build resentment and do more harm then good.
1 comments
xwdv 2272 days ago
Except this isn’t how companies are built. If you have to rely on “motivation” to accomplish something, you’re finished. You’ll never do it, your motivation will run out. And then what’s going to carry you? This goes not just for companies, but for anything else in life, such as school or exercise.

The real way you build a company is by honing a hard discipline: getting up everyday and doing things you have to do whether you like it or not (and usually not). Whether you’re motivated or unmotivated, inspired or uninspired, sick or healthy, confident or afraid. You just get out there and fucking do it, and if you can’t, then be a failure.

A company can stay challenging longer than you can stay motivated.

link
jascii 2272 days ago
That is not really how human beings function. Motivation causes "hard discipline". It does not exist in a vacuum.
link
xwdv 2272 days ago
Only initially, but motivation doesn’t last forever.
link
jascii 2272 days ago
Some motivations last a lifetime, I don't think our desire to feed ourselves is going away anytime soon.. A lot of current thinking on the subject is based on Abraham Maslow's 1947 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation". Your "hard discipline" seems based on the "esteem" part of his "hierarchy of needs" while this might be a sufficient motivator for some, for many it will likely be beneficial to look for other motivators.
link
peteforde 2272 days ago
Honestly, xwdv is more right than wrong. If you lose motivation to work on your startup, your startup didn't really fail so much as you're doing the wrong thing for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIYXaa9IcxA&t=28m5s

link
jascii 2272 days ago
Anecdotal evidence is no evidence. Here we have one, almost context-less, statement vs 50+ years of scientific research.

Besides, he doesn't really answer the question. Why does he choose to work on x rather than y? That's called motivation.

It's simple not to care about motivation when you have motivation..

I agree though that motivation primarily comes from aligning the purpose of your start-up with your values.

link
jascii 2272 days ago
PS> Your name sounds familiar, did you used to know a Sarah in Portland, OR?
link