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Be Relentlessly Resourceful

paulgraham.com

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Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#121

Post by NewWorldOrder »

jodrellblank wrote: post #97

If you want to know whether you're the right sort of person to start a startup, ask yourself whether you're relentlessly resourceful. What if I'm not, but want to be? You say it can be taught "surprisingly often", but then in the same paragraph say people either are (latently) or are not. This seems exactly the opposite of being able to teach it...

One strategy for becoming relentlessly resourceful is to refuse to accept conditions you find undesirable. And as someone who has taken the oath to become relentlessly resourceful, you illustrate your refusal of external circumstances by finding a resolution that ultimately solves the issue or works around the issue (a.k.a. a hack).

Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#122

Post by jibiki »

grinich wrote: post #44

I wonder if you can shorten it down even further to just relentless. When all of the employees quit, when rent is due, and when the ramen runs out, it takes a certain kind of person to continue working. And I think it's more than just being resourceful, although that's a big part. It takes relentless dedication to keep pushing forward and innovating, when all the tides are pulling the wrong way. Edison had it this dr…

I know for many things, being relentless is a necessary condition, but not sufficient. It is very easy to get stuck banging your head against a wall instead of finding a saving resource.

Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#123

Post by pg »

ajju wrote: post #50

Regarding: "I'm pathologically optimistic about people's ability to change." I am very interested in finding out if this optimism is based (somewhat empirically) on your experiences or is more of an intuitive belief based on your general outlook in life.

It seems to be wired in. It causes some inconvenience in everyday life, but it's very helpful in YC. It's as if I was made to to this.

Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#124

Post by ajju »

pg wrote: post #123
ajju wrote: post #50

Regarding: "I'm pathologically optimistic about people's ability to change." I am very interested in finding out if this optimism is based (somewhat empirically) on your experiences or is more of an intuitive belief based on your general outlook in life.

It seems to be wired in. It causes some inconvenience in everyday life, but it's very helpful in YC. It's as if I was made to to this.

Fair enough. I too am optimistic about people's ability to change (and mine as well) but I have found that it is usually very gradual, in the order of years.

Once in a while though, some major catalyst materializes in life and changes one radically in some aspects. I have reason to believe that diving into a startup is one such catalyst. From personal experience, starting a startup on the side is not. Most likely because it violates PG10 [1] guaranteeing that you never gain enough momentum to break free from your old mindset.

[1] Startups in 13 Sentences. Sentence 10: No distractions.

Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#125

Post by herdrick »

aristus wrote: post #25

In spanish you might say "un barbaro". It's literally "a barbarian" but with the implication of native cunning, resourcefulness, drive, and few inhibitions. It's someone who always wins because he figures out a way.

And Spanish unlike Italian has the exact word PG was looking for to say 'a success', and it's is perfect for startup founders: 'exito'. Of course it's derived from the same Latin word as English's 'exit'.

Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#126

Post by omaniblog »

What a great piece. Thank you very much. I found you by signing on to FriendFeed and looking at popular people. I picked you because your name appealed to me, and then I was excited to see you'd written about something I'm working on over in Cork, Ireland. "Relentlessly Resourceful" describes me well. Thank you for coming up with such a powerful descriptor.

Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#127

Post by omaniblog »

What a great piece. Thank you very much. I found you by signing on to FriendFeed and looking at popular people. I picked you because your name appealed to me, and then I was excited to see you'd written about something I'm working on over in Cork, Ireland. "Relentlessly Resourceful" describes me well. Thank you for coming up with such a powerful descriptor.

Re: Be Relentlessly Resourceful

#129

Post by jcl »

ams6110 wrote: post #81
ajju wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your being down voted has little to do with political correctness. You insulted the OP and the comment wasn't even funny.

Oh it was a little funny. Lighten up.

For what it's worth, if something is only a little funny, I tend to mod it down.
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