FIT (हैं) TO (तो) HIT (हैं) : Part 1

BLUME DAY circa 2020

“But let’s just imagine, that when we finish, I’m going to let each one of you pick out the car of your choice. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Pick it out, any color, you name it, it will be tied up with a bow, and it’ll be at your house tomorrow. And you say, Well, what’s the catch? And the catch is, that it’s the only car you’re going to get in your lifetime. Now, what are you going to do knowing that that’s the only car you’re ever going to have and you love that car? You’re going to take care of it like you cannot believe. Now what I’d like to suggest is you’re not going to get only one car in your lifetime. But you’re going to get one body and one mind, and that’s all you’re going to get and that body and mind feels terrific now but it has to last you a lifetime.” – Warren Buffet, talking to students in the documentary “Becoming Warren Buffet” [2017]

In the startup world, there has been a lot of recent discourse and awareness about mental wellness, physical fitness and fiscal health. While these aren’t special features of the startup space, the severity of managing them in a fast-paced, frenzied environment of startups cannot be over-emphasized. Everyone’s expectations of startups are almost unreal in many aspects – the pace of growth of customers, team members and operational or technological complexity are mind-boggling. The toughness and emotional maturity of the mind and the preparedness of the body for physical limits of travel, work hours, and the inevitable stresses of operations and fundraising, have become inevitable talking points between our founders and us. Ultimately though, founders also must realize that a startup is an exciting idea but stays that for just a short burst of time, before the expectations of a large and scalable as well as a profitable and sustainable enterprise are thrust on these young companies. 

To play for the long haul, all three dimensions of health – mental, physical and fiscal – have to become a daily habit in the lives of the founders of startups. Inevitably, this trifecta of health – mental, physical, fiscal – has to be the founder’s new dharma! They have to then percolate downward as core culture across the org, creating individuals and ultimately a team where you aren’t optimizing for business growth at the cost of fiscal sanity or physical wellness.

20/20 Vision: The Blume Day message is the tee shirt and the tee shirt is the message. Celebrating 6 years of the Blume tee!

F I T     हैं

T O [तो]              

H I T    हैं

Agar fit hai – mental, physical and fiscal – toh hi hit hai!