Relax, Make a decision and stick with it

Although I have addressed what it takes for an discovering ideas for startup company in “Big Idea Opportunities.” I still had questions about my personal opportunities for learning and growth. I have some pretty good ideas and they could actually make some money. However, I’m not sure that doing something on my own right off the bat would be the best idea. I’m a college student with more year of school left. Sure I don’t have much to lose right now… but I have so much I could learn right now! My opportunity costs are huge. Almost everyone is willing to give a college student a shot! The difficulty becomes which opportunity do I pursue.

It was in the attitude I went and spoke with Gavin Christensen. He is a brilliant contributor to the Utah Valley startup ecosystem. Most recently he has helped build startups through his venture fund Kickstart. I wanted to meet with Gavin because he is young, motivated and surely full of insight as to making decisions when confronted with many opportunities. I was not disappointed.

We had a nice chat about what makes opportunities and people valuable. Opportunities are about growth. Each choice made personally or as a company is made to progress the entity in a certain direction. For me, opportunities are about gaining experience and skills that can be leveraged in my career. I don’t believe I am unique in the amount of weight and anxiety I feel when I consider how my choices each day further define my career opportunities, restricting my future freedom. Gavin empathized with my concerns.

With every opportunity that I told him about Gavin responded nearly the same way. “That sounds like a great opportunity.” My list of opportunities and his supportive responses were a very small portion of our conversation but I believe hidden there was one of the most powerful messages that he communicated that day, you can’t go wrong! There are so many different ways I can go, and they are all great! This realization changed the focus from how I could possibly choose the best opportunity to just choosing.

A coach from my high school football team would always teach that indecision is the worst decision. In football indecision effectively takes you out of the play, giving the other team one less person to worry about. A wrong decision would at least provide learning. In the world, when we remain uncommitted we can’t create positive change. Opportunities for good fly by and we keep ourselves and the world in a dull state of inactivity. 

Gavin taught me well that it’s important to relax, make a decision and stick with it.