Nothing to fear. Nothing to hide. Nothing to lose.
It is common for entrepreneurs to have experienced moments of being close to losing everything or actually losing everything.
The Monk Moment – a viral article written in 2015 – parallels this particular entrepreneur’s experience to that of Monks who have gone through Vairagya – a practice of detachment that comes from the intentional giving up of all possessions and money.
Like the monks, real entrepreneurs will give up everything for their startup ideas. They do not just live to execute their startup; they die to execute their startup. They are missionaries, not mercenaries, who are on a mission while making money as a by-product. They are rational optimists, not irrational pessimists, who will risk everything to scale a startup.
The entrepreneur’s ability to take risks stems from the security in the inner life’s depth. It is an inner state that has nothing to prove, nothing to lose and nothing to hide.
Nothing to prove is a state of deep security
Nothing to lose is a state of absolute surrender
Nothing to hide is a state of true integrity
Having nothing to prove is humility that comes from a deep sense of security. It is having the humble boldness to do whatever it takes to scale a business without an ounce of care for what others think.
Having nothing to lose is a state of absolute surrender. It parallels to the experience of Moksha – the liberation from illusions – that comes after monks had intentionally given up everything. Nothing to lose is knowing that possessions should not possess you. It is understanding that we are stewards and not owners. It is the Stoic’s understanding of memento mori. It is to remember that you are going to die and you have nothing to lose. Such realisation allows you to surrender all, and live with nothing to lose.
Having Nothing to hide is true integrity. If honesty is a publicly practised virtue, integrity is a privately practised one. What you do when no one sees is who you truly are. This is the reason why indiehackers like Pieter Levels could gain a huge following by building his startup in public; he has nothing to hide and that fascinates everyone.
Build your inner security. Have nothing to fear, nothing to hide, and nothing to lose. Take care of the depth of your life to scale the breadth of your work. This is Depthflow. This is building from the inside out.
Depth Flow is a philosophy I developed based on a series of books by Edmund Chan that influenced me as a teenager some two decades ago. While Edmund had written his books for a religious audience, I had applied his teachings in a secular startup context. The result is Depth Flow – a series of articles based on my thoughts and experiences as a startup founder.
