Ask News.YC: How to re-motivate yourself? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask News.YC: How to re-motivate yourself?

#41

Post by fiaz » Sat, Feb 23, 2008, 3:14 AM UTC

h34t wrote: post #40

fiaz wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

h34t, Please read the second paragraph in this article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1604891,00.... How different would the developed world be if he didn't persist in creating his own "Gubmarine" and listened to his colleagues who told him to quit? Success is the veil of hard work, difficulty, and a whole lotta pain. It's the result of these things (and many more negative things people usually avo…

What an amazing story... this is the first I've read of it. It doesn't much to do with my argument, though. Even though I haven't talked about this much here, I personally believe that persistence is one of the most important ingredients in doing anything important. But it's not a holy grail to be worshiped at all costs. You can't make a general rule called "never give up" if "giving up" means ceasing the cooperation…

What is your argument then? I'm afraid that you are not communicating across your argument effectively...I thought the article above was a pretty good refutation of the post to which I replied.

It is an amazing story isn't it?

Re: Ask News.YC: How to re-motivate yourself?

#42

Post by trekker7 » Sat, Feb 23, 2008, 5:29 AM UTC

In addition to all the advice from the other comments, read this essay: http://paulgraham.com/die.html.

Re: Ask News.YC: How to re-motivate yourself?

#43

Post by socratees » Sat, Mar 08, 2008, 6:06 PM UTC

1. When things go awfully wrong, still go ahead - but analyze what went wrong where. Make note of what contributes to the failure, and how to fix it. Start with why did the startup fail? Or why is the startup losing users? Is there anything you can do to fix it? Is it feasible to fix it, and will it generate profits? When will I reach a break-even point? etc. But if you believe in your DREAM, then GO AHEAD.

2. You can almost sense about the potential of your startup idea. If you think there are ways which could improve you revenue, or media exposure ( in a good way ), do it. Change your maket processes, partners so that you save every single penny, but make sure you build a lot of good will along the way)

3. If your startup is bleeding a lot of money, and when you don't SERIOUSly see a future for your startup, QUIT. Of course, when the market doesn't need a product, its value goes down. If you believe you product has the potential, but isn't successful because of other factors (like lack of media exposure, etc), go GET IT.

Hope I was clear... Thanks!!!