During the summer, my wife and I make a summer reading list for our boys. One of my favorite books is Make Your Bed, by Admiral William H. McRaven. In this book he shares simple principles that helped him in the military as well as life. I think many of these principles can apply to entrepreneurs. For the next couple of weeks, I will share a principle from the book and how it applies to startups.
Principle #1: Start your day with a task completed
The author talks about how every morning when the soldiers woke up, they were required to make their bed perfectly. He elaborates on how the beds were then inspected to ensure every detail was taken care of. You would start your day with a task completed. Then even if you had a terrible day, when you returned home you would see your bed was made and be reminded you had accomplished something.
Making your bed is something you alone completely control (not subject to external forces). Doing little things right every day creates good habits.
For entrepreneurs:
Little things lead to big things. Good habits of doing little things right help prepare you to tackle the inevitable bigger, harder problems. If you can’t do the little things right, you likely won’t be able to accomplish the bigger ones. You can’t just build a product on day one that solves your massive vision. You have to work with the team and customers every day to keep iterating. Solve one thing, move on to the next thing. Over time, all of those little learnings and iterations lead you to solving the big problem.
Another variant of this is accomplish one key to-do first thing in the morning. This is often when you are most fresh, can block time, and can then know you have already accomplished something important at the beginning of the day.
Consistently doing the little things like speaking to customers, supporting your team, and iterating the solution to better solve a must-have problem create a strong foundation on which to have success with your startup.