Hard to believe it’s March 30^th?  Where did the first quarter of 2011 go?  According to Seth Godin; I am behind on shipping…feel more like UPS ground rather than Fed Ex.   Sitting at my laptop this morning; I thought about what projects we shipped on time and which projects did not make it out the door.

Why were these ideas sent to the black hole of my mind?  Why were some projects completed quickly; while two manila folders sat on my desk for weeks?  In my mind; I could not find the motivation to spend time and money to convert the idea to an actionable project.  There was no call to action, no interest on my part – but there was peer pressure to move the idea forward from others.

Over the weekend I finished “The Monk and The Riddle” by Randy Komisar.  I highly recommend the book if you have not read it; Randy tells a story to explain why successful ideas must have passion.  At a gut level, we know that our idea must be aligned with our belief system and that our motivation must have a purpose.  When the motivation behind the idea is not genuine it shows; especially when the motivation is greed.

In the book, Randy discusses passion and drive; which on the surface seem to have the same meaning; yet, the two words are different.  Randy states “passion pulls you toward something you cannot resist.  Drive pushes you toward something you feel compelled or obligated to do”.

This morning, I tabled the ideas with much relief that lacked my passion and fit my purpose.   You cannot fake interest in ideas or projects – in the end the passion behind the “why” must be authentic.

Many individuals start businesses to escape the Deferred Life Plan, seeking to find any idea that will generate enough money to grant their escape.   Just like Lenny, a character in book, focusing on the escape without the passion will lead you nowhere.   Investors seek big ideas with a soul – an idea that can grow.

Startups must be careful not to succumb to peer pressure to appease potential investors or advisors; ask yourself is rejecting the passion behind the “why” worth the funding?

Passion keeps the motivation of the big idea alive.

Over the holidays I watched “The Empire Strike Backs”.  I believe this movie is the best of the Star Wars trilogy because of the struggles that Luke faces and the wisdom given by Yoda.   Every time I watch the movie after more than thirty years, I hear a different quote by Yoda that makes me think.

When Luke is struggling to learn the Jedi ways Yoda tells him to “unlearn what you have learned”, this quote stayed with me.  Many times when starting a business what you have learned in the past may not be the best course of action today.    While running on January 1st, the quote just stuck in my head.  Unlearn what you have learned…..was there something I was missing that could make my young company better.  Was there something I learned in the past that was making things worse instead of better but yet I had not thought of unlearning the knowledge.    I started to feel liberated at the thought of letting go knowledge that was not working and exploring the possibilities of unlearning.

As I continue to revise the website, I started to think about what knowledge has been learned by startups that needs to be unlearned.   Some marketing consultants will tell you that if a company puts too much information on a website, clients will not need your services.   This learned knowledge bothered me because I want to share with our clients and startups valuable information about starting a business.   Yet, I believe the clients will still call us as they need assistance beyond what we have shared on the website.    The information posted is one dimential and many times clients need guidance to understand the information.

I also considered the quote from a personal perspective as being a startup many times your personal and business life merge into one where it is hard to determine where one part of you stops and the other part of you begins.  Was there something that I had learned in my personal life that needed to be unlearn that would bring about a positive affect on the business.    Cornbread dressing came to mind, it is a learned tradition that has been in our family forever; however, cooking and eating the dish this past holiday did not seem right.   Something seemed different, the food and the setting did not fit our urban lifestyle and food taste.  Again, our family has always eaten this dish but never discussed the glaring fact that it no longer fit our lifestyle.    Think about the quote, think about what you have learned in the past that may need to be unlearned.

May the force be with you.