The Inclusive Entrepreneur, Doing Your Job, Problems
Avthar's Weekly Wisdom #44 (02/28/2021)
Welcome to edition #44 of Avthar's Weekly Wisdom!
đ„ This newsletter is where I share practical wisdom about self-mastery, startups, health and happiness, all to help you live better. My guarantee is that youâll discover one thing that can change your life every week.
Here's what I want to share with you this week:
A new podcast on entrepreneurship, career hacks and No-Code
High Standards and âDoing Your Jobâ
Eckhart Tolle on problem solving
A personal update from me
đš But first, I wanted to offer you the special, subscriber-only opportunity to submit questions for upcoming podcast guests: Rhodes Scholar, Jordan Thomas and entrepreneur and investor, Jon Ma.Â
Iâll pick the best questions to ask during the podcast recording. You can read more about them and submit questions below:
đ On Startups â (and new from Avthar)
Yaw Owusu-Boahen on No-Code, Career Hacks, Founder lessons and Diversity & Inclusion in techÂ
Yaw is a Ghanian-born, American entrepreneur. He currently directs the Immerse Pre-Accelerator for BIPOC founders, as a leader of the founder inclusion team at Bubble, a company which makes a No-Code application building platform.
Previously, Yaw co-founded LMNS, an equal-opportunity hiring platform for digital marketers, and was a consultant at the prestigious Bain and Company. Yaw is a graduate of Princeton University, with a degree in Public Policy and International Relations.
What can you look forward to learning from our conversation?
Yaw's experience being an entrepreneur in the Diversity and Inclusion space with Bubble and LMNS, including his biggest lessons and mistakes.
Frameworks which helped Yaw make the most of his corporate job as a consultant at Bain & Company and why he left it
The phenomenon of "No-Code", and how can it help you test your ideas faster (even if you already know how to code)
Practical tips for budding entrepreneurs including how to choose a co-founder, how to find and approach investors, as well as how to distribute and find traction for your ideas.
đ§ Listen to the full audio now:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Online
đș Watch the full video podcast on Youtube!
Please subscribe to my Youtube channel while youâre at it. Youâll be first to get new videos every Saturday!Â
đ On Self-Mastery âÂ
High Standards and âDoing Your Jobâ
If you want to develop an ELITE mentality, look no further than Manchester United footballing legend, Roy Keane.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the greatest football manager of all time, said this about Keane:
"Pounding over every blade of grass, competing as if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player.â
Most people would be flattered and happy for being recognized by such a legend.Â
Not Keane.
His response to the quote has become iconic:
"Stuff like that almost insults me. What am I supposed to do? Give up? Not to cover every blade of glass? Not do my best for the teammates? Not do my best for my club?Â
I actually get offended when people throw quotes like that...as if I'm supposed to be honored by it.Â
It's like praising the postman for delivering your letters. He's supposed to, isn't he?Â
That's his job!
My job was to try and win football matches for Man United"
Keane's response shows the power of having high standards for yourself.
His mentality is a great example of having an internal scorecard: holding yourself accountable to your own standards of behavior regardless of what others expect of you.
This principle can be applied to our professional, family or social life. Internalize it. And as Keane would say, go do your job...đ
đ For more on living life according to your own standards and values, see my essay: âThe Internal Scorecardâ
đ On Happiness â
Problems
Everyoneâs got problems, right? They seem to be part and parcel of everyday life. Enter Eckart Tolle, the German spiritual teacher, who offers a radical re-thinking of problems and their effect on our mind and identity:
âProblemâ means that you are dwelling on a situation mentally without there being a true intention or possibility of taking action now and that you are unconsciously making it part of your sense of self.
Tolle posits that you have two options for every situation in life. You can either deal with it now, or accept it:
Ultimately, this is not about solving your problems. Itâs about realizing that there are no problems. Only situations â to be dealt with now, or to be left alone and accepted as part of the âisnessâ of the present moment until they change or can be dealt with.
A situation that needs to be either dealt with or accepted.
Why make it into a problem? Why make anything into a problem?
When we donât either accept or deal with situations at hand, but stress about a looming situation that we canât take action about, we create an unnecessary burden for ourselves:
âŠyou are carrying in your mind the insane burden of a hundred things that you will or may have to do in the future instead of focusing your attention on the one thing that you can do now.
Tolleâs words remind me of Jeff Bezosâ definition of stress, which I wrote about in Edition 30 of this newsletter:
đšđœâđ» What I'm up to these days:
Feature release at Timescale: In addition to writing and podcasting, I work full time as a Developer Advocate at Timescale, teaching engineers about databases and data tools. This week I helped with a big feature release, which was intense but very rewarding. Iâm grateful to do work that uses my strengths and where I can see the impact of my contribution.
Podcast with someone I look up to: Iâm grateful to be recording a podcast with one of Africaâs leading changemakers: Veda Sunassee. Veda spent ~10 years building some of the finest and most innovative educational institutions in Africa: African Leadership Academy and African Leadership University.
I was interviewed about work and career: Earlier this week, I was interviewed on the Springtide Research Instituteâs Voices of Young People podcast about âWork / Life: Helping Gen Z Flourish and Find Balanceâ. The host Marte Aboagye and I talked about work-life balance, mentorship, positive feedback, meaning at work, and a slew of other career-related topics. I think the episode will bring a lot of value to young people navigating their career. Iâm excited to share it once itâs published.Â
đ Thank you again for reading and for your support! I wish you a week of happiness, success and peace!
AvtharÂ
đ avthar.com
đ PS. Iâd love your help to make the newsletter the best it can be. Please share your feedback with me, it will only take a minute:
đ If you found this online or someone forwarded it to you, please take a moment to join the Wisdom Wave:
Let me know which parts spoke to you by replying to this email or hitting the comment button below:
đ If you enjoyed this letter or any of my previous letters, please do share it with friends, family and coworkers who would enjoy it too: