The reactions to an emotional post from one of our colleagues are interesting in that they too
contain a large amount of emotional references.
Some random examples:
Fuck ‘m all
You failed
Having lost touch
You just got lucky
Being average
It is ok to be xyz
You aren’t alone
Own it
It sucks
Things may not be as bad
Disappointing
Frustrating
Don’t give up
The first time is the worst
It can be hard to keep our head
Freaked out
Taking other people’s money is a big one
On the brink of bankruptcy
Staring death in the eye
Going down with the ship
Don’t worry
Poems and questions from social heroes
Emotional generalizations, value-based references, hero-based metaphors are stomach (feeling) based expressions.
Probably posted in the hope to change our colleague’s feelings. I hope it works.
An additional approach is to move our focus & energy away from the stomach and into to the head (thinking).
As such, a non-emotional metaphor would be something like:
A startup = an analysis + a set of assumptions/decisions + certain actions, resulting in specific projected results.
The original analysis includes the resource constraints assumptions (yup, if xyz happens, we will run out of $ by this month).
Then the standard actions start:
Regular review the of obtained results + if not as projected, revisit the analysis, decisions and actions. Keep doing these steps till the projected results are realized or till the resources run out.
Whatever comes first.
Period.
Feelings not required.