517: How to Plan in 2020?

Explicit content warning

06/30/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to make plans during 2020.

With everything that has happened in 2020, you’d be forgiven if you chose to describe this year as the year of crisis. With this crisis comes uncertain and it can be quite challenging to make long-term plans in uncertain times like these.

In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about if you should make plans in 2020, how you should plan in this year, why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:42 Why this topic was chosen.

01:33 Should you make plans in 2020?

02:43 How you should plan in 2020.

04:19 Why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis.

04:59 How Steli currently makes his plans.

06:04 The right way to approach crazy times like these.

08:00 How Hiten approached the crisis.

11:59 How teams could deal with high pressure.

12:12 How you can adapt to the uncertainty.

3 Key Points:

You’re just planning, but not as far ahead as you normally would.
2020 isn’t done with us.
During a crisis, your timelines have to be shorter

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:05]

Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about how to make plans during 2020. So, making good plans is always challenging, but I find 2020, I mean... 2020 is a particular, unique year, in that it probably is a more challenging year for companies and startups and founders to make any sort of plan that people might have real confidence in, especially if it’s a longterm plan. So I’ve encountered this a couple of times this year already with friends that I thought it might be useful for the two of us to unpack this for our listeners, which is, “What the hell do you do?” If you run a startup, if you’re a founder and you want to plan, should you, in 2020? Are plans completely useless? Are they totally useful? And how should you think about making plans kind of the way that we approach this and the things that we’ve seen work well? I thought might help founders keep their sanity and hopefully accomplish more of the things they want to accomplish, even during an outstandingly crazy year like 2020. So, first of all, let me ask you this question. 2020, should we still make plans or would you advise anybody to stop making plans because this year is too nuts?

[0:01:29]

Hiten Shah: So, the... The... I’ve had, like, two or three conversations specifically about this, and I’ve shared something that... By the time I have two or three and I get the same question, and it’s a new question, I tend to like, have some kind of way to think about it or, like, you know, I’m driven crazy, you know? So I think that’s a really good question. The way it worked for me, and the way I was approaching this, not too long ago is I... Hang on, I just need to fix my mic. So I basically... When the sort of pandemic came along, I was taking things in a sort of hour by hour adjustment period, so to speak. So everything to me was thrown out the door because now all of a sudden, there’s this virus that we’re all dealing with and we have to sort of figure out what that means for us. And so I was taking it hour by hour because new information was coming in. This is like all up to about Shelter in Place. And then after Shelter in Place, I think the first few days were very similar and our, by “our”, meaning, like people were consumed with the news about it. Nobody knew what was going on obviously, and what was going to happen to us as a society like overall. Like what’s next? And then basically I... I realized that I was then going day to day and after that I was going week to week and I barely got to like a month ahead. And then the protests started and the rioting and kind of... And then it got global. And then I got back to like almost an hour by hour, just making sure that like, you know, people I knew were safe and accounted for and were kind of, you know, taking care of themselves and then more news kept coming in and opinions and all these other things. And then I went to about day by day. And right now, I’m still at about day by day. I think I’m about to be week by week soon, maybe starting next week. And what that means is you’re just planning not as far ahead as you normally would. Because oftentimes we’re planning the month, the quarter, the year. I don’t think we can do that. And it’s not because I expect anything new to show up, but I definitely, more than ever, expect the unexpected.

[0:04:12]

Steli Efti<...

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to make plans during 2020.

In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about if you should make plans in 2020, how you should plan in this year, why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:42 Why this topic was chosen.

01:33 Should you make plans in 2020?

02:43 How you should plan in 2020.

04:19 Why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis.

04:59 How Steli currently makes his plans.

06:04 The right way to approach crazy times like these.

08:00 How Hiten approached the crisis.

11:59 How teams could deal with high pressure.

12:12 How you can adapt to the uncertainty.

3 Key Points:

You’re just planning, but not as far ahead as you normally would.
2020 isn’t done with us.
During a crisis, your timelines have to be shorter

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:05]

[0:01:29]

[0:04:12]

Steli Efti<...

Previous Episode

516: There’s No Mastery in Inner Work

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the lack of mastery in inner work.

As humans, we all are experiencing life differently, and these experiences shape who we are and mould us into what we are at any given time. Although some of us would love to master our shortcomings, it is an ongoing situation, and mastering inner work is the type of work that never ends.

In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how your strength can be your weakness, how inner work is the type of work that never ends, why you shouldn’t dehumanize your heroes and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic

00:48 Why this topic was chosen.

01:01 How your strength can be your weakness.

03:04 How inner work is the type of work that never ends.

04:05 How inner work can feel like a never-ending onion.

05:21 How what you are today will always keep changing.

06:22 Why you shouldn’t dehumanize your heroes.

07:12 How Jeff Bezos is a human.

08:47 Why there’s no mastery at the end of the tunnel.

09:51 How long it took for the Steli and Hiten to realise they were full of shit.

3 Key Points:

There’s no mastery in inner work.
Inner work is the type of work that never ends
Your strength is your weakness.

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:02]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:04]

Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about the lack of mastery in inner work. So, here’s what I want to briefly chit-chat with you about and kind of unpack with you for the audience. Recently, I had a very intense kind of weekend session with a good friend of mine, where we did a lot of what I would call inner work, just very introspective work of what’s going on in our lives and what are the challenges? What are the limitations? What are possible blind spots? We had some very deep, very, very intense, very good and honest conversations with each other. Then there was one moment where my friend looked at me and was like, “Wow,” because I’d brought up something that I’ve just recently gotten to realize about myself and how surprising that was, because it didn’t fit my self-image at all. I was like, “I’m so surprised that I am this way.” It would have been- [crosstalk]

[0:01:03]

Hiten Shah: But I am. And I know.

[0:01:04]

Steli Efti: But I am. Now I know like, “Wow.” And then it was like, “Wow, I’m mind blown,” especially, I wouldn’t have expected you having this kind of a surprise revelation because you have such a master of inner work. And I was like, in that moment, my response was like...

[0:01:19]

Hiten Shah: Feel like that but not really.

[0:01:20]

Steli Efti: No, I’m like... I think I said verbatim and then I thought, “Oh, I should tweet this someday.” And then the world, it started exploding...

[0:01:27]

Hiten Shah: Wooh, yeah.

[0:01:29]

Steli Efti: So I’m just thinking about, I just kept it to myself. But he was like, “You’re such a master of inner work.” I’m like, “There’s no mastery in inner work. This isn’t mastery.”

[0:01:36]

Hiten Shah: None. Sorry. That’s good. That’s good.

[0:01:39]

Steli Efti: “This doesn’t exist. There’s nobody that has a black belt. You don’t remember how many books you read. I don’t remember how much I’ve analyzed.”

[0:01:43]

Hiten Shah: No. No. No. No.

[0:01:44]

Steli Efti: “You’ll never figure the shit out.” And I think that that’s what I wanted to talk about a little bit, because I think...

[0:01:53]

Hiten Shah: That’s great. Great topic.

[0:01:54]

Steli Efti: I see this with myself a lot, Hiten. I see this with some of my smartest, wisest, most successful friends. Your strength is your weakness. The thing that you spent a lot of time around...

[0:02:13]

Hiten Shah: Absolutely.

[0:02:13]

Steli Efti: Right? Is now cleaning a false sense of confidence. “Oh, I know this topic. Oh, I know myself in this way. Oh, I’ve done the work. I got the black belt. I’ve put in the years. I’ve accomplished mastery in whatever, in understanding myself or human psychology,...

Next Episode

518: Reinvention Causes Everything to Thrive

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how reinvention causes everything to thrive.

People or companies might seek to reinvent themselves or change the way they do things, and most of the time, this can be a good thing. However, a lot of the times, people think that for you to reinvent yourself, something has to be destroyed. While this is true in some cases, it doesn’t always have to be.

In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about reinvention versus destruction, one beautiful thing about the USA, how reinvention can cause hardship and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:31 Why this topic was chosen.

01:07 Reinvention versus destruction.

02:24 One beautiful thing about the USA.

04:01 How reinvention can cause hardship.

05:13 How more American companies go through reinvention.

05:47 Why Hiten wrote this tweet.

06:01 How America has always been about reinvention.

06:23 What destruction is about.

07:19 What causes things to survive and thrive.

3 Key Points:

I don’t think destruction is always required for reinvention.
Reinvention is such an interesting concept.
It is not easy to reinvent yourself.

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti : Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about something I... Popped in my head and I tweeted. And the statement is, “Reinvention is what causes everything to thrive.” And for me, just to lay it out real quick, this comes from the fact that many folks think about destruction, or destroying things, in order to build them up again, or start fresh. And I feel like that’s a very... Has a lot of negative connotations and can probably bring up a lot of things that prevent people from thinking about how to change and adapt. I truly do believe that is how you thrive. And when I think about it like that, I think the right word is reinvention, versus destruction, or versus tearing things down. Because I don’t think, that is always required for reinvention. Maybe it is sometimes, but our worldview, I believe, which is healthier, should be oriented around, at least my worldview, I prefer being oriented around reinventing the things I’m working on. My business, my product, my marketing, my sales, whatever. Myself. Over thinking of it as rebirth, which is what a lot of other folks sometimes call some of this stuff. So anyway, I know you wanted to talk about it Steli, because you saw it amongst the things I tweeted recently.

[0:01:38]

Steli Efti : This is one of the new format that we’ve established this year, which is, Hiten tweet episode, which is when I see a tweet of yours and I’m like, “I wonder why he tweeted that. This interesting thing. Let’s talk about it.” Which is what we would do if we met up for coffee today, I’d be like, “I saw this tweet of yours. What was up with that? That’s an interesting thought.” I think reinvention is just such an interesting concept. See, I thought about it very differently, because I didn’t have the context. But to me, one thing that I’ve always been explaining to Europeans, about one of the greatest things about the US to me, and the US has a lot of bad things about it, and I talk about that as well with people, but the one beautiful thing that I find in the US to be more true than in any other place that I’ve ever lived or visited, is this belief in the individual, and the belief in the power of reinvention for the individual, right?

[0:02:50]

Hiten Shah: Yes.

[0:02:51]

Steli Efti : So you can be anything and everything you want to be. And there’s no expiration date to that.

[0:02:57]

Hiten Shah: Right.

[0:02:58]

Steli Efti : There is none. You could be 60 years old, your whole life you were an accountant and you now want to be an actor. America is just going to go, Go for it, buddy.

[0:03:09]

Hiten Shah: Yeah why not? Go for it.

[0:03:10]

Steli Efti : Pack up your shit, drive to LA and go for it. Right?

[0:03:14]

Hiten Shah: Give it a shot.

[0:03:15]

Steli Efti : Give it a shot.

[0:03:16]

Hiten Shah: Absolutely

[0:03:17]

Steli Efti : No other place on earth. Not a single other place on earth...