The model is for me, not you

Marcus Aurelius wrote a journal entry everyday. His journal is incredible. It kicked off stoicism and has fuelled Ryan Holiday to write some incredible books. This is foreshadowing and will connect to building a growth model if you continue reading. If not, you learned something new about Marcus Aurelius and maybe, discovered two of my favourite books.

I work on the ClearAngel product at Clearbanc and we recently started modeling the future. This is a dangerous and exciting time for any team. You put numbers into a spreadsheet, and if you do it right, you get big numbers with lots of $$$ near the top of the summary sheet.

However, modelling brings out the lizard. Things get real when you model. You start comitting, you start making bets, decisions get made… it’s downright scary. Getting chased by a jungle cat scary. The cortisol starts pumping, the veins constrcit, the stomach tightens. Shit is getting real, and fast.

“What if I don’t hit these numbers?”

“What if these assumptions are wrong?”

“What if I fail?”

Welcome… to the valley… of the real.

These are the questions that seperate amateurs from professionals. These are the best questions to ask and the more you ask, the better your answers, the better you will do. However, you should be…