“aur kuch bhi mujhe darkaar nahin hai lekin, meri chaadar mere pairon ke baraabar kar de”– Urdu Poet, Shahid Meer
You can tell a lot about a person by the way she or he responds to constraints. Most of us get crestfallen and discouraged to pursue the path we are on after becoming aware of the constraints. Some of us do not just manage to continue our journeys but also take valuable direction from constraints. The difference is in understanding what a constraint really is.
Farmers in a place like India use yolks over their bullocks to ensure the land is tilled along the planned rows. Architects find it difficult to start a design without knowing the outer limits of the real estate and the building challenges it might pose. Yes, constraints inform creation. They are essential to start the process of creating.
When it comes to business or employment, we tend to cower away when faced with constraints. As a result, our ability to create becomes restricted. We fantasize about a time in the future when the constraints will be lifted and we will be free to create as we choose. This is a fallacy. A big one. We have heard so many startup CEOs say, we are bootstrapping this year, but next year we will rock-and-roll. Funding will take our startup into extended party mode. This is unfortunately true for so many businesses. Unfortunate because they have successfully removed the very constraints that informed and perhaps inspired them to create in the first place. It is one thing to get comfortable enough in your life to create more, it is quite another to obliterate all constraints and render yourselves incapable of any meaningful creation.
Bootstrapping is not a phase in a person’s life or a business’ life cycle. It is a state of being rational and frugal. Always. Not just as a policy, but also as an important source of information that forms the basis of what we create. Those who recognize its value, keep themselves at the edge of creativity, irrespective of the field of endeavor.
Embrace constraints. Bootstrap.
Authored by Thub Guest Bloggers
Satya Prakash — Founder QDE and David Jairaj — Head of Marketing and Communication — QDE
