By Martin Zwilling
Most of the young entrepreneurs I know are classic proof of the old adage that people tend to overestimate what they can do in a short period, and underestimate what they can do over a long period. They become frustrated when they are unable to build their startup in a weekend, and give up way too soon when the path to real success seems to be interminable.
Both problems can be mitigated by learning the power of frequency, as defined in the classic book by Jocelyn K. Glei, “Manage Your Day-to-Day,” which asserts that working consistently and frequently on something makes it possible to accomplish more, with greater originality, than spasmodic bursts of effort. A successful startup needs to be a daily task, with consistent focus.
I suggest that the following key reasons from Glei for how the habit of frequency fosters both productivity and innovation in general, apply especially well to an entrepreneur starting a new business:
Frequency makes starting easier. Getting started is always a challenge. It’s hard to convert an idea into a business, and it’s also hard to get back into the groove with all the distractions of other activities and your “real job.” If you block out time every day to focus on your startup, you keep your momentum going, and start seeing long-term progress.
Frequency keeps insights current. You’re much more likely to spot opportunities for innovation and to see new trends in the marketplace, if your mind is constantly humming with issues related to the startup. Frequent discussions with peers and customers on open questions will keep you from being led astray by your own biases.
Frequency keeps the pressure off. If you’re producing just one page, one blog post, or one sketch a week, you expect it to be good and final, and you start to worry about quality. It’s better to write 100 lines of new code every day, recognizing that you will have to iterate to perfection, rather than expecting a week of work to happen all in one night.
Frequency sparks creativity. You might be thinking, “Having to work frequently, whether or not I feel inspired, will force me to lower my standards.” In my experience, the effect is just the opposite. Creativity arises from a constant churn of ideas, and one of the easiest ways to get results is to keep your mind engaged with your project.
Frequency nurtures frequency. If you develop the habit of working frequently, it becomes much easier to sit down and get something done even when you don’t have a big block of time; you don’t have to take time to acclimate yourself. The real enemy of progress is the procrastination habit, which should be replaced with the frequency habit.
Frequency fosters productivity. It’s no surprise that you’re likely to get more accomplished if you work daily. The very fact of each day’s accomplishment helps the next day’s work come more smoothly and pleasantly. By writing just 500 words a day in a blog, I suddenly realized that I had enough for a book in just a few months.
Frequency is a realistic approach. Frequency is helpful when you’re working on a startup idea on the side, with pressing obligations from a job or your family. It’s easier to carve out an hour a day, than to set all else aside for a week in the early stages of your startup.
Don’t be like many of the people that we all know who feel like they are working at a breakneck pace all day, every day, but have very few tangible results to show for their efforts. Every entrepreneur needs to build a proactive daily routine, while being able to field a barrage of messages, and still carve out the time to do the work that matters.
Another enemy of progress in startups is the curse of perfectionism. Some entrepreneurs never start, waiting for that ideal moment, when there are no distractions. Some are lost in the middle, obsessing over every step, and some never finish, always refining and adding, rather than learning from a minimum viable product. Thus the need to combine frequency with pragmatics.
If you can manage your day-to-day routine with frequency, rather than let reactive chaos manage you, you will find that your creative mind is sharpened, and your focus on the new venture will generate the “change the world” results that attracted you to this lifestyle in the first place.
The Writer is a veteran startup mentor, executive, blogger, author, tech professional, and Angel investor. Published on Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc.