We're two weeks in to what so far has been a really enjoyable process of building something completely new. I'm still what the VC community would describe as 'pre-revenue', but as discussions with businesses and tech leaders get underway it's clear that there's no shortage of interesting opportunities.
In this episode, I wanted to discuss how closing the right doors can be an extremely powerful tool, both in a career setting and in a business setting. This will be of interest both if you're ascending the corporate ladder and if you're thinking about going out on your own, since it's a universal skill which in my experience is tricky to get right.
When I'm talking about closing doors, I'm talking about opportunities, but more specifically the pathways your life could take for any given opportunity. For example, by living where you are, you have (possibly unknowingly) closed the door to all opportunities in [insert town/country name here], unless those opportunities might reach you through the magic of the internet.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I for example have no interest in becoming a pumpkin farmer in the Cotswolds, so not being physically nearby is no issue. However, if you invert this mentality and instead choose somewhere you'd like to be and start closing the doors which won't lead you there, then getting there becomes less of a goal and more of an inevitable outcome .
The whole door metaphor works well for physical locations, but it becomes really powerful when you apply it to more abstract concepts in your life like relationships, routine, health & fitness, and so on. The tricky bit is figuring out which doors to close and how.
There are some doors which you can only close permanently. I will never know what it's like to drive a Corsa around a car park on a sixth form lunch break, and I've made peace with that. But others can be temporary, much like moving to another country and leaving a corporate job. It's easy to frame that as a permanent decision, but it's really just a calculated risk. When it comes to actually closing the door it might be as simple as having a conversation, making a purchase, selling an item, or installing or uninstalling an app.
If you're thinking about your own life and which doors you might want to close, I find it helps to consider questions like 'is this path actually interesting to me', 'what's the best possible outcome', and 'would I regret not closing this door'. The worst thing you can do is not even consider which doors are open, so if one thing comes from reading this please let it be to consider it. It's amazing how you're forced to achieve your goals when you take decisive action to close all the right doors.
This door metaphor isn't only about long term thinking, it can apply very (very) short term as well. In a previous job I was what you would describe as a 'support engineer', basically someone who fixes things when they break, and hopefully in a somewhat reasonable time. This is all well and good when the thing you're fixing is a squeaky door or a broken chair, but if it's software which could cost many multiples of your salary should it not work for X minutes, it's a bit of a different game.
In these high stakes response environments, you quickly learn that there are basically no doors open to you in the moment. You either diagnose and fix the issue, or you don't. You may be the most senior engineer and you may have the most knowledge of the system, so it's not for lack of people nearby - it may literally be only you who can fix it. This pressure creates a pathway towards a level of expertise unlike anything I've ever seen, to the point where you'd eventualy reach a 'there's no problem I can't solve' level - not sure I ever got there, but I've definitely seen it happen. All this to say that sometimes closing most/all of the doors available to you can be a good way to create pressure in the right direction, even if that direction is just 'away from where you currently are'.
Anyway, for those of you reading this newsletter that are considering leaving corporate life, that same pressure exists when you're building a business. If you can't get something working then you have no choice but to fix it. There is nobody who will help you, but even if it takes hours/days it's time well spent , since after the dust settles you're one step closer towards having no problem you can't solve.
Next week I'll be describing very literally what I've been doing during the week, which technologies I'm using, and which discussions I've been having on the path to engineering independence - see you then!
Thanks and all the best,
Oliver
Previous Episode: Thinking In Capabilities