One of the most basic requirements for success is also one of the most difficult to get right

Published on 2023-05-25.

Throughout my life I have been involved in many different projects and exciting endeavors, not only computer or technology related, but also within other "spheres of life". Often a project has many different requirements for success, but one thing is almost a universal constant, you have to surround yourself with the right people.

If you haven't got the right people to work with within your network, whether it's friends, family or someone else, you are doomed to failure unless the project you work on is so dead simple that you can do all of it by yourself.

It's so clear, because if you need to do sales, marketing, finance or something else, and you're not good at it, or haven't got the time to do it, obviously you need to find someone else who can do it for you. Yet, despite how clear that is, it's also at the same time really difficult to find people who are serious, responsible, skilled and hard working (as in not lazy, wasting huge amounts of time watching movies or playing computer games, etc.) The result is that we often ignore this problem and partner up with useless people.

In my experience, this problem has been, without exception, the number one reason for most project failures. Not finance, not marketing, not sales, etc. per say. No. Rather, people who are all about the talk, but not the walk.

This is even true on a more personal level too.

If you're working hard on really complicated and important stuff, stuff that require that your brain is "on" in an almost endless stream of thought, such that you cannot take a shower, or a walk, or even go to the toilet without thinking about some of the problems you're trying to solve, you cannot at the same time be bothered with all the "tiny trifles" of life. It's not that all the "tiny trifles" aren't important too, it's just that you cannot do both.

Either you're busy, trying to solve difficult and important problems, and someone else helps you with all the "tiny trifles", or you deal with all the trifles yourself, but then you simply cannot, no matter how much you wish you could, deal with brain twisting work.

You need to surround yourself with the right people, whether it's a business partner, or a spouse, or someone else. If each person is not carrying their part of the load, even if it's something as simple as cooking dinner, then the project is doomed to failure.

If you know for a fact that you're missing the right people in your life in order to do an important project, or a startup, or something else, then don't try to "patch" the situation with inadequate people. They will eventually only wear you down.