Crisis of startup concepts and faith in the native moon. Slow development as an alternative
Everything that is written below is a subjective experience, passed through the prism of a series of life situations. Slow development as a concept is a controversial subject, but not without meaning. I recommend considering it as a tool for maintaining flexibility and consistency. Especially in the context of historical events through which humanity has been struggling for the last five years.
In 2008, the world experienced bitter disappointment from the native, who instantly turned into a steep dive. Over time, the concept of startups began to gain popularity, and the ideals of Silicon Valley excited minds. In 2016-2017, the world learned the miracle of cryptocurrencies when Bitcoin made X’s. And then he repeated the result in 2020, along with the NFT avalanche that began. But the question arises: to what extent have all these technologies become integrated into life? The question is rhetorical, but if you know projects that have taken off and are bringing benefit/profit today, please write in the comments.
What is slow development and what underlies it?
I’m not saying that startups and the belief in exponential growth have come to an end, no. This is a tool that works in certain cases when a series of events and prerequisites come together. But we can only hope for explosive growth, be it the next leap in progress in the field of neural networks, cryptography, computing architectures and bionic processors – recklessly. The counterpoint to the belief in fast growth is slow development. His ideology is built around a systems approach, the concept of minimalism and the philosophy of stoicism. Instead of faith in a sharp takeoff.
Tuzemoon, startups and what’s going on with it all?
The main advantage of digital technologies is that they are easy to scale and fill a niche almost instantly. Services, applications, literally everything that runs on code can be copied, expanded and modified.
As a result, almost any startup, with a small share of success and cash injections, very easily recovers costs and makes a profit. But how can you convince a person that the project has potential? First sales, audience growth, KPI, statistics. All this works like a well-oiled mechanism, built on consistency and patience.
But just a year ago, the world of startups faced challenges in the form of an economic collapse, bank closures, and storms caused by geopolitics. You can see how the crypto candles went out in 2020, how the wave of NFTs settled, how revolutionary projects were slowly lost. But what else do we see?
The field of startups and crypto itself has not disappeared. There is development and movement in it, but talk about rapid development does not sound so loud and is associated with infogypsies. Adding to the problems is the rise of the neural network crisis in the context of false media reports, pure postmodernism, as it is. Is there a solution?
Response to the crisis
Dreams and expectations of rapid growth can easily be leveled out and fade into oblivion. Promises of big profits later, in exchange for some money, but now, become a symbol of a soap bubble. It is easy to grow with the growth of the market, but it will be difficult to sustain during a decline.
This is where the first shoots of what will be called the concept of slow development emerge. Its essence comes down to performing small actions every day, which over a long time will bring a finished product or a finished project. There’s not even faith in this placebo effectbut rather the cumulative effect of small changes.
This approach does not promise profit, but focuses on mind-blowing results in the future on real changes today. This approach makes it easy to freeze a project during a crisis, or to maintain it on the principle of minimal effort, adding small portions of fuel, just so that the flame does not go out.
How to introduce the concept of slow development into life and projects?
Moving away from business and startups, you can turn your attention to everyday projects. Learn a new language, do some renovations, write a book, exercise, or regularly spend time with your family. All these actions are quite large-scale. And they can be reduced to small amounts of work, but every day. And in a year you will get a fairly solid result, albeit not so explosive and mind-blowing.
Basic principles of slow development
In essence, everything is simple: moving towards a goal consists of regular and small approaches to work that are present every day. But how to force yourself to follow regularity? Where to look for motivation? And here we return to stoicism, minimalism and a systematic approach:
While startups and idea successful success centered around excess profits, when “investments will make Xs,” Stoicism suggests taking the focus away from passion. Passion, like obsession, is a bug, an obstacle, a stick in the wheel. One obsessed with the passion to scale may go bankrupt, and one obsessed with the passion for super-profits will not be able to develop without seeing prospects.
Minimalism just helps to keep the line of gradual changes. The point is that with slow development, you consciously tell yourself: “I will do this a little bit at a time, and I’m ready to get the first results in three years.”
The systematic approach is the same routine. The boring, unpleasant, monotonous part of the job. 10 push-ups morning/afternoon/evening. 3 foreign words a day. 1 page per day. 1 full post in 2 days.
At first, the results will be negligible if you compare yourself with others. And this is the main mistake. You have no other opponent than you yesterday. This applies to development in everything. An independent pet project, moving up the career ladder, bodybuilding, drawing… All this can be passed through the principles of slow development and the postulate: I am doing the best I can do today. With an eye to the fact that tomorrow I can repeat it. Even if it doesn’t work out completely reboot in sleep.
Frequent mistakes and failures
Of course, when the first successes come, it is very easy to lose your head. There is a temptation to put the pedal to the metal and do even more, and more, and more… But if today you give 100%, then what will happen tomorrow? Apathy, fatigue, and thoughts: “since I worked yesterday, I’ll forget about everything today.” So no days off? Every day working?
Slow development indicates that the amount of work you do every day is insignificant. Optimally, a new habit or procedure takes no more than one hour. Or one unit of continuous operation. A page of text in English, a full workout in the gym, a fully designed and published post.
In the process of following slow development, each task acquires 3 facets of implementation. Optimal – done as it should be. Ideal – spent a little more time and effort to fine-tune the factors of self-development. Minimum load, for cases when you are sick or tired. This was done purely to technically close the issue.
Missing a day is not a big deal. We all have illnesses, emergencies and loss of strength. But you can’t miss more than two days in a row. You had 48 hours to complete a task that took 30 minutes. Do it, even with minimal effort.
That is, the main obstacle to slow development is again personal qualities. There is no external enemy, no external dictate or dogmatic system of rules. There is only an inner desire to be better, and consistent actions that you yourself decide to take every day to achieve perfection.
Personal experience, or what is the concept of slow development worth?
Of course, this article is written through the prism of subjective experience. However, this is exactly the principle that works in writing articles, content strategies and developing online communities. You cannot create a mega-popular community or YouTube/Telegram channel all at once, without a budget and connections.
But to achieve results, it is worth abandoning the idea of getting rich quick and quick results here and now. Instead, you should refocus on the long-term goal and stick to it. Make it a part of your life, part of the meaning of life. And after that, move forward.
