Some clichés are clichés for a reason. For example, people say entrepreneurship is a lot like distance running because it is.
For a while I thought it was just a personal observation. Running and entrepreneurship have both meant a lot to me at different times in my life, so it was all too easy to draw parallels. Then at various events across Boston, I began meeting quite a few entrepreneur-runners and many entrepreneurs with a distance running past. If it wasn’t running, then it was a sport requiring the same commitment, endurance, confidence in one’s own individual abilities, and high tolerance for, let’s be honest — cold, hard pain.
Our shared traits as startupers and athletes became impossible not to notice.
To me, the most interesting aspect of the entrepreneurship/distance running metaphor isn’t the glory of achievement; it’s this bit about pain or discomfort and a willingness to wrestle with associated feelings of self-doubt. We don’t always like to talk about it, but building a successful business is often a long and difficult process with unforeseen, personally frustrating challenges along the way. (more…)
