Who First? Lead Yourself First, Then Others.

By Bob Acton and Steve Adam

This is the second blog post in our series "Mental Fitness for Start-Ups"

One of the most exciting aspects of a start-up is the lack of complexity in the whole thing. It's typically you, maybe a few friends, and some good ideas. The lean start-up requires very little in the way of infrastructure. In fact, the less the better. So is leadership even a topic or consideration? The answer is yes, it's fundamentally necessary. The reason for this sits firmly in the foundation of any understanding of leadership, leading yourself first.

Mental Fitness for Startups: Blog Series

By Steve Adam and Bob Acton

Being mentally fit is a critical component for start-up success. Anybody can create a start-up and have potential success as a result. The idea of starting your own business is thousands of years old but it is only in recent years that we can conceive of an idea, test it, receive feedback, and decide if it is worth pursuing with almost no money and in very short time frames. Methods to manage our way through the wild ride of growing ideas to products are laying strong foundations for beginners and seasoned entrepreneurs alike. Approaches such as Eric Reis' Lean Startup and Osterwalder's Business Model Generation have proven to be excellent resources at a time when even MBA programs cannot keep up with the dizzying speed of evolving tactics and methods.

Are your meetings just bad habits?

Meetings drive everybody crazy. It's not a particularly new revelation to say that most meetings are a waste of time. We have all experienced meetings that seem to drag on or go nowhere. We feel like we are being robbed of our chance to get real work done or just go home and be with our family. Meetings are too often abused and misunderstood. We seem to have forgotten why we have them in the first place.

Lessons of Vision from Hollywood

There is a surprising lack of vision in Hollywood sometimes. The irony is that movies are a visual medium, yet many creative types lack a deep understanding of vision. Many studio execs are excellent leaders. They have a keen eye for talent, a passion for the medium and a truly collaborative approach to filmmaking. Yet they can not see the vision within a script.

Being distracted at work is a bigger problem than you think

I recently read an excellent online article in WSJ by Rachel Emma Silverman about distractions at work (link), things like email, YouTube, and instant messaging. Ms. Silverman does a really good job of outlining the problem and several studies on the subject. This got me thinking about what being distracted really means because it is not just the distraction that is the problem but everything that goes with being distracted, such as bad habits, focus, discipline, and leadership. If we can address distractions, we will shine some light on other workplace problems as well. Here are 6 problems, their significance, and some approaches to help you deal with being distracted.