Day 1001: Doing everything "right" is overrated 

Why doing everything "right" is overrated

Today marks my 1,001st day as an entrepreneur:) Whoop whoop.

Doing anything 1,000 times will make you question life in a bigger way — I've been thinking a lot about existence lately.

A few people close to me experienced unfortunate turns of events in their lives recently. The thing that seems to hit them hardest—is the thought: "but I did everything right."

There's something profound in that statement.

Something that applies not to just starting some business but life as a whole.

The material world we inhabit—the weather, our clothes, money, pandemics, man on the moon...all that stuff—operates as a zero-sum game. You either succeed or fail. You have or have not. You are or are not. This is enough to make a sane person pretty insane.

Today's problems look like nothing next week and can't be remembered in a year. And more importantly, you can still do everything right and still lose.

Most builders, including myself, start ventures with a non-zero-sum perspective. It's the mere action of trying and hoping that in the end, success or failure, our efforts will have contributed something positive to the world and the lives of others—even if in this life we never know the full extent.

On this 1,001st day, I want to remind myself and others of just that. Being a leader, an entrepreneur, a friend, a parent, a partner—whatever you want to be—is and can be so much more enjoyable if you let hope be the center of your every aim.

Because as my friend said, you could do everything right and still face an unfortunate turn of events, still have your company fail, still never hit that milestone, still lose or gain it all... Or, you can trust that somehow it will all have been for some greater good, even though you'll probably never know.

My view is that either way, at least you can live without that sort of pressure on yourself. Because even if you achieve everything you want, nothing is going with you.

It's this moment of great mental gymnastics that I hope I'm saving you from as you journey toward whatever you're called to be and do.

My second and last quick point is this: It's better to pay attention to who you become along the way, not what you accomplish. That needs no explanation I hope.

I got here with hope in mind (and of course good people and let’s be very honest, the grace of God). Let's see how long it lasts :)

Dominyck