“Animal migration is a phenomenon far grander and more patterned than animal movement.  It represents collective travel with long-deferred rewards. It suggests pre-meditation and epic willfulness, codified as inherited instinct.  They are prolonged movements that carry animals outside familiar habitats; they tend to be linear, not zigzaggy; they involve special behaviors of preparation (such as overfeeding) and arrival; they demand special allocations of energy.  And one more: Migrating animals maintain a fervent attentiveness to the greater mission, which keeps them undistracted by temptations and undeterred by challenges that would turn other animals aside.” – National Geographic – November 2010

Sounds like a startup.

This show tries to define our generation. College educated young adults.  Non-descript white-collar careers.  A good group of friends having fun and figuring out life through mildly entertaining situations.  Meeting for happy hour (seemingly every day) to catch up.

There’s a sentiment among young adults today that they are entitled to this lifestyle.

Except it’s not true.  Nobody deserves to meet their friends for happy hour every day.  A lot of young adults can’t afford it yet it’s justified as a necessary expense (and debt piles up).  Not to mention that a lot of jobs won’t accommodate it.

Secondly, if it were true, this idea lacks any ambition or inspiration.  The biggest problem the characters face is finding someone to date or figuring out what to do on the weekend.  Nobody cares to change the world.  Nobody wants the responsibility of starting a new company, or inventing something or even excelling at their career.  It’s a passive, lazy, mediocre attitude towards life.

Contrast this to the HBO series “How to Make it in America“.  This show is about two friends living in New York trying to start a new denim brand.

There is nothing given to them.  There is no stability in their lives.  They don’t always know how they’re going to pay rent.  But they are ambitious.  They aren’t content to work 9-5 jobs and hangout at happy hour every day.  They want to start something new.  There is no separation between personal and business life (or personal and business profiles). It’s inspiring to see these guys work to create new opportunities for themselves.

For the cultural and economic benefit of our generation, I wish there were more shows like How to Make It – and less like How I Met Your Mother.  I wish more people in my generation were inspired to create something new rather than just working for a pay check.

Then read the deck as if it was someone else’s and critique it as if you were evaluating an employee or doing diligence on a deal.  What makes sense?  Where are the holes?  What are the first questions you would ask?  Why don’t you have the answers?  Then redo the deck until it makes sense from both points of view.  Usually several obvious things pop out that you’ve been ignoring or missing.

It’s common for smart people to get hung up on stupid things -and I think this exercise forces you to be accountable to yourself and really apply your problem solving skills to the problems you’re facing.

Essentially, the idea is to be your own boss/mentor/critic, so that nobody else has to.