I’ve been eating a lot lately.
Pizza. Tapas. Hackney Gelato. All the patatas bravas I could get my hands on when I was in Sevilla.
Everyone acknowledges that excess food physically affects you with weight gain, health etc. But here's the problem - there’s more to it.
That is - the short term psychological side that affects discipline. After I’ve over-eaten, I’m lethargic. I’m lazy. I’m more inclined to do the bare minimum of whatever my task is thereafter. If I have the option of either writing a blog post or watching a movie, I would choose the latter every day of the week. Starting a no-code online course, or starting rewatching The Office for the 785th time? Give me Dwight Schrute.
It takes a significant amount of discipline and mental energy to overcome the mental malaise from being full and lethargic.
That’s an issue.
The phrase “to be hungry” is not just a trope.
It applies on an individual level and on a company level.
As Roelof Botha famously said, “more startups die of indigestion than from hunger”.
Being scrappy and lean on resource is a gift, and possibly a superpower.
Being bloated with excess resource leads to sloppiness, inefficient use of resource.
This is one of the major problems of the recent bull market. Companies were bloated. There was indigestion. Lazy allocation of resource. Attempts to grow in markets that were luxury / not core to business.
Hunger is a powerful motivator.
To be content is dangerous.
And to have indigestion is the biggest trap of all.
As a society, in this market, we will all eat less.
Doing more with less. Raising less capital. Less disposable income. Time to be scrappy.
Those who thrive will be the ones who see it as an opportunity.
