Comments on: Thought vs Action

By: Ben Young

Ben Young — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:45:47 +0000

@Scollings Exactly this graph is just a snapshot in time. Maybe I could do a follow up on maximising the area under the curve.

@Ben Milsom Interesting, I agree to a degree. I prefer to think grind would provide better on the ground information (as planning ends up being defunct quite often) so that when you pause to take a review your in a much better position.

By: Ben Milsom

Ben Milsom — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:36:47 +0000

This is what I wanted to illustrate in a response to the ‘Y Combinator is a cult’ article that was floating around yesterday. In the article they stated that when you work 18 hour days in a startup, you restrict your ability to engage in top notch creative thought. But 9/10, creative input isnt the thing that is required – you’ve already done that with your plan or idea. Grind is whats needed – that relentless, milestone driven stream of action. I spend alot of time surrounded by startups, and If I had to boil down a simple metric for backing winners over losers? Who’s at work at 9am on Sunday morning. They’re the winners.

By: scollings

scollings — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:29:32 +0000

I think you’ve almost got in the the statement “The curve shifts up/down due to external pressures”. I think that these more than anything effect the Action and even the Thought functions. For example if I’ve had a hard week at work with sick family then my want to Act or Think is greatly diminished, however, if you’ve had a great weekend relaxing and everything is going well you are much more likely to do & think.

There is also a version of this graph over time that has more focus on action then thought then action etc. like this /\/\/\/\/.

One good way to get into action mode – make your life (or income) depend on it!