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at my first startup job i had no idea what i was doing i came in with no relevant internship experience and frankly just didn't even know what i was getting myself
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what i was doing i came in with
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no relevant internship experience and
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frankly just didn't even know what i was
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getting myself
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Music into and fast forward many years later i'm currently working at notion i joined as an early employee a few years ago so i've learned a lot of things along the way and looking back there are just so many things that i wish i knew earlier on in my journey
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and fast forward many years later i'm
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currently working at notion i joined as
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an early employee a few years ago
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so i've learned a lot of things along
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the way and looking back there are just
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so many things that i wish i knew
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earlier on in my journey
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so this is for those of you who are thinking about joining a startup or those of you who are in your first or second startup and wondering like what am i doing and is this still the right place for me so for this video i wanted to share a couple mindsets
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thinking about joining a startup
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or those of you who are in your first or
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second startup and wondering like
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what am i doing and is this still the
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right place for me
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so for this video i wanted to share a
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couple mindsets
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that i really wish i adopted earlier on by framing it off of hermann's whole brain thinking model which basically goes over different thinking styles that we tend to adopt so hopefully one of these mindsets resonate and is applicable to your journey the yellow quadrant represents the imaginative side of you that's full of
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by framing it off of
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hermann's whole brain thinking model
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which basically goes over different
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thinking styles that we tend to adopt
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so hopefully one of these mindsets
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resonate and
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is applicable to your journey
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the yellow quadrant represents the
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imaginative side of you that's full of
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imaginative side of you that's full of ideas and i would say early on in my 20s i definitely subscribe to the whole like i need to find my passion i need to find that one thing that will make me feel fulfilled and honestly that statement that i just said right there is pretty problematic and i realized
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and i would say early on in my 20s i
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definitely subscribe to the whole like i
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need to find my passion i need to find
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that one
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thing that will make me feel fulfilled
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and honestly that statement that i just
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said right there
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is pretty problematic and i realized
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is pretty problematic and i realized that it was just so harmful for my mental health because i felt like i was chasing after this like unicorn so now the mindset i try to adopt and need be i still fall into like the whole passion thing is to treat myself like an experiment
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it was just so harmful for my mental
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health because i felt like i was chasing
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after this like unicorn
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so now the mindset i try to adopt
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and need be i still fall into like the
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whole passion thing
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is to treat myself like an experiment
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and what i love about this mindset is that it introduces so much play in the process where it takes away that whole pressure like oh if this isn't it then like what is but rather you're just trying things out and like following your curiosities you're like what excites you and from there taking a more deductive
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that it introduces
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so much play in the process where it
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takes away that whole pressure like oh
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if this isn't it
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then like what is but rather you're just
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trying things out and like following
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your curiosities you're like what
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excites you
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and from there taking a more deductive
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and from there taking a more deductive approach where it's a trial of elimination and startups are great for that because again you jump in and you can go really again you jump in and you can go really broad and it gives you a lot of leeway to try a lot of different things so i would
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where it's a trial of elimination and
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startups are great for that because
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again you jump in and you can go really
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again you jump in and you can go really broad
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and it gives you a lot of leeway to try
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a lot of different things so i would
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definitely take advantage of that especially when you're earlier on in your career however the last thing i want to mention is that this shouldn't be limited to just your job and i'm not saying that you need to get like a side hustle or anything but just to dedicate other areas of your life to pursue
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especially when you're earlier on in
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your career however
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the last thing i want to mention is that
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this shouldn't be
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limited to just your job and i'm not
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saying that you need to get like a side
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hustle or anything
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but just to dedicate other areas of your
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life to pursue
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whatever curiosities and who knows maybe something will happen there or maybe you'll just find a really cool hobby and have fun there is no failure here it's really a matter of gathering more data so that you can make a more informed decision so this blue quadrant represents the rational side of us where logic trumps intuition and the
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something will happen there or maybe
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you'll just find a really cool hobby
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and have fun there is no failure here
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it's really a matter of
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gathering more data so that you can make
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a more informed decision
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so this blue quadrant represents the
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rational side of us
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where logic trumps intuition and the
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mindset that i would say here is to see things for what they are and not how it's presented to you and i say that because at startups we all know there's just a lot of kool-aid going on right like the perks and the benefits and like the social clout and it's very shiny so after you kind of
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is to see things for what they are and
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not how it's presented to you
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and i say that because at startups we
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all know there's just a lot of kool-aid
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going on right
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like the perks and the benefits and like
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the social clout
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and it's very shiny so after you kind of
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peel away all of the layers that don't really matter some of the questions that you can ask yourself is number one how is the business doing and do you genuinely believe in the vision and mission of the company and think that it will succeed because keep in mind startups are volatile around 90
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all of the layers that don't really
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matter some of the questions that you
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can ask yourself
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is number one how is the business doing
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and do you genuinely believe in the
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vision and mission of the company and
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think that it will succeed
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because keep in mind startups are
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volatile around 90
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of startups fail and you really only have three outcomes for any given startup you either go public you get acquired or you die so you want to make sure you choose wisely and the second question i would ask is do you respect and believe in the leaders of the company because if you don't respect them
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have three outcomes
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for any given startup you either go
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public you get acquired
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or you die so you want to make sure you
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choose wisely
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and the second question i would ask is
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do you respect and believe
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in the leaders of the company because if
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you don't respect them
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or if their values don't align with some of yours then you probably don't believe in the success of the company and the people that you work for you and the people that you work for you will unintentionally or intentionally adopt their working and like leadership styles so i just think it's really important to
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of yours
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then you probably don't believe in the
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success of the company
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and the people that you work for you
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and the people that you work for you will
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unintentionally or intentionally adopt
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their working and like leadership styles
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so i just think it's really important to
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make sure that there are leaders that you look up to and emulate the type of person that you strive to become in your career and the last question i would say is are you learning and are you being supported in your role the company might be doing great the leaders might be awesome but you might
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you look
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up to and emulate the type of person
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that you strive to become
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in your career and the last question i
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would say is are you
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learning and are you being supported in
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your role
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the company might be doing great the
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leaders might be awesome but you might
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not be feeling like you're growing and learning and i think this one's really learning and i think this one's really hard because sometimes there are just phases where you go through periods of rapid growth and sometimes you feel like you're just flopping around make sure that you have a conversation with your manager earlier than later
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learning and i think this one's really
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learning and i think this one's really hard
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because sometimes there are just phases
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where you go through periods of rapid
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growth and sometimes you feel like
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you're just
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flopping around make sure that you have
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a conversation with your manager earlier
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than later
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and talk through if they have a plan for you and communicate what you hope that plan to be emotional side of us and i really think that emotions at work shouldn't be so taboo because at the end of the day like yes it's a business but humans are running the business and humans are full of emotions
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you and communicate what you hope that
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plan to be
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emotional side of us
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and i really think that emotions at work
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shouldn't be so taboo
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because at the end of the day like yes
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it's a business but
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humans are running the business and
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humans are full of emotions
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and i think one mistake that i made especially during the growing pains notion is riding the highs and lows too notion is riding the highs and lows too much and i realized that it was just too and i realized that it was just too volatile for me and ended up like consuming me which is not very healthy
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especially during the growing pains
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notion is riding the highs and lows too
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notion is riding the highs and lows too much
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and i realized that it was just too
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and i realized that it was just too volatile
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for me and ended up like consuming me
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which is not very healthy
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so the mindset i would say here is to first of all normalize the emotions that you are normalize the emotions that you are feeling and don't let it consume you i did a video previously about the typical journey of an early employee and the ups and downs that you may encounter and my manager
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first of all
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normalize the emotions that you are
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normalize the emotions that you are feeling
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and don't let it consume you i did a
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video previously about
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the typical journey of an early employee
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and the ups and downs that
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you may encounter and my manager
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gave me really great advice that even though like the company is like this like you want to be like this and i would say i'm so much better at that now and it's been very beneficial for my mental health and i think it comes from first normalizing that the emotions that you're feeling like probably most of
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though like the company is like this
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like you want to be like this and i
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would say i'm so much better at that now
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and it's been very beneficial for my
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mental health
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and i think it comes from first
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normalizing that the emotions that
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you're feeling like probably most of
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your colleagues are feeling too so let's just get it out in the open so don't think that anything is wrong with don't think that anything is wrong with you and it's not even something specific to your company like almost all startup companies that go through a hyper growth phase because there are growing pains in
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so let's just get it out in the open so
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don't think that anything is wrong with
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don't think that anything is wrong with you
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and it's not even something specific to
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your company
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like almost all startup companies that
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go through a hyper growth phase because
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there are growing pains in
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any startup company that you go through and it's just really normal so the green quadrant represents the planner side of us that always wants to planner side of us that always wants to know what's next and this is definitely one of my more dominant thinking styles and something that i really had to learn to
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and it's just really normal
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so the green quadrant represents the
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planner side of us that always wants to
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planner side of us that always wants to know
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what's next and this is definitely one
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of my more dominant thinking styles and
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something that i really had to learn to
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something that i really had to learn to rein in especially when working at super early startups so the key mindset i would say is to embrace and be comfortable with the ambiguity because there is going to be a lot of that and i think this is the case for most of us in our early 20s where we're
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in especially when working at super
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early startups
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so the key mindset i would say is to
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embrace and be
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comfortable with the ambiguity because
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there is going to be a lot
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of that and i think this is the case for
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most of us in our early 20s where we're
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still figuring things out and don't know what we want but i would say especially at startups it is pretty tough because there is no career trajectory there is little to no mentorship and it's really hard to know where you will be at in the next year or two because it really depends on the success of the company
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what we want
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but i would say especially at startups
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it is pretty tough
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because there is no career trajectory
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there is little to no mentorship and
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it's really hard to know
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where you will be at in the next year or
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two because it really depends on the
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success of the company
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so you end up putting the company first and then you second and i'm not saying that's all bad either because with that ambiguity you have that much more freedom and flexibility to go wide in your career and really figure out what you like and enjoy and before you tell yourself like
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and then you second
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and i'm not saying that's all bad either
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because with that ambiguity
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you have that much more freedom and
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flexibility to
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go wide in your career
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and really figure out what you like and
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enjoy and before you tell yourself like
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nope that's not for me i hate ambiguity i would encourage you to challenge i would encourage you to challenge yourself during my undergrad was pursuing medical school and as you all know it's a very rigid and as you all know it's a very rigid and predictable path where you know exactly what is required of you
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i would encourage you to challenge
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i would encourage you to challenge yourself
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during my undergrad was pursuing medical
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school and
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as you all know it's a very rigid and
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as you all know it's a very rigid and predictable
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path where you know exactly what is
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required of you
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i've always thought i needed that that i needed that rigidity and that structure for me to succeed but when i joined my first startup job and again i had no idea what i was getting myself into fortunately i realized i really liked the ambiguity but had i not put myself unknowingly in that situation i would have never
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needed that rigidity and that structure
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for me to succeed
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but when i joined my first startup job
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and again i had no idea what i was
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getting myself into
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fortunately i realized i really liked
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the ambiguity
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but had i not put myself unknowingly
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in that situation i would have never
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known that about myself so that really taught me to not box myself so much because i realized that myself so much because i realized that doesn't factor in my ability to grow and change as a person so all that to say those are the four mindsets that i wish i knew
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so that really taught me to not box
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myself so much because i realized that
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myself so much because i realized that doesn't
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factor in my ability to grow and change
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as a person so all that to say those are
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the four mindsets that i wish i knew
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the four mindsets that i wish i knew earlier but hopefully by sharing it with you it saves you a lot of stress and gives some mental clarity and if there's any other topics that you want me to cover just let me know down in the comments and thank you so much for watching bye
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but hopefully by sharing it with you it
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saves you a lot of stress and gives some
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mental clarity
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and if there's any other topics that you
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want me to cover just let me know down
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in the comments
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and thank you so much for watching bye
