Resistance

Grow, bit by bit

There are systems and then there are systems. There’s very little room for change and risk in a big organization. Every process is structured and systematized to be repeatable and function at scale.

Piece by piece. Involving thousands of people and companies. Improvements large and small (mostly small), in every part.

And every change was met with resistance. Every new creative idea met a wall, the naysayers and skeptics.

Yet that’s how the world changes. Through constant ebb and flow. Bold, spontaneous, growth.

Some will try to go with the grain, yet that turns out to be more dangerous in the long run. When cutting against the grain, we know what to expect and won’t get surprised by the resistance, a convergence of thoughts to spark innovation.

We have a choice. Watch life wave by, or be the verb towards something different.

Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.

Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever bailed on a call to embark on a spiritual practice, to dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, to commit your life to the service of others? Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, to crusade for the planet, to campaign for world peace or to preserve the environment? Late at night, have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.

[…] But there never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny…This second, we can sit down and do our work.

— Steven Pressfield, ‘The War of Art’

Steven A. Rodríguez is the Techstars Startup Programs Regional Manager for the U.S./Canada, Founder & Board of SUEGO™ and Chief Culture Officer at BloomShift™. He co-leads various entrepreneurship programs through his non-profit InnovateCoalition™; is a Startup Advisor for SEED SPOT, 1863 Ventures, Founders institute and Entrepreneurship World Cup.

More details can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenarodriguez