Conviction takes time
Hey there,
It's too early for irony, but this took time a long time to write — since Jun 16 to be exact. I thought about this idea in the midst of fundraising for Blnk, my new startup. Three months ago, I learned about the Socratic Dialogue — a form of mutual argument between individuals based on questions to stimulate critical thinking and ideas.
I learned about this concept while reading on Cartesian Doubt — also called "methodological skepticism." It is the idea that it is necessary to doubt all things, no exceptions. It is the philosophy that led to the popular Descartes quote, "Cogito, ergo sum", loosely translated as "I think, therefore I am." His method led him to a singular truth, that the only thing he couldn't doubt was his doubting, and that meant his ability to think confirms his existence.
The first time I attempted this was 6 years ago when I read Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich." He called it the "Invisible Council." He asked you to consider a maximum of 5 people, living or dead, that you admire and respect for their wisdom and experience; visualize meetings with them in your head discussing your challenges and listening to their advice; and use this imagined advice to inform your decisions and actions.
So when I co-founded Blnk in March 2024, all that mattered to me was that I had something new to work on — something fresh! I remember the first time I saw Blnk, it was amazing at first glance. And the first time I found the words to describe it, I called it "an amazing feat of engineering." When it became a startup, a lot of wheels started turning. First, it became real and the product was just one part of the pie. Being an amazing feat of engineering wasn't the complete recipe anymore.
They say the best founders are completely infatuated by their vision that nothing else makes sense to them. And I agree. What they miss however is that this infatuation doesn't just happen overnight. The tunnel-visioned, visionary founder didn't happen in one day. True convictions are not the absence of doubts; they convert doubts into answers. And the more answers you find (no matter how imperfect), the more convicted you become.
My conviction about Blnk wasn't truly tested until the first VC call I had. For the next 3 weeks after that, it was a very loud Invisible Council. I believed in the logic of the product and its idea, but it wasn't enough for me. Every time I told someone about Blnk, there was a war going on in my head. The premise of the war was "is this company really going to work out?", and more importantly "can you make it work out?"
My mistake was to draw conclusions instead of ask questions. Conclusions don't create answers; and in moments of doubt, you need a bridge, not a wall. A big flex I've got is my co-founder who has had 2+ years building and obsessing over this idea. So while I had to figure myself out, I could ride on his wings.
Very early on, we asked a lot of questions. Everything we cared and worried about was turned into a question that we always took time to discuss at length about. And I promise you, there were a lot of things we worried (and still worry about). The more questions we found answers too, the more entrenched we were in Blnk. For every answer we got based on what we knew at the time, we got greater clarity.
And that's when it hit me!
The only ingredient for conviction is clarity. The best founders are not tunnel-visioned or stubborn. They are really just clear on what they want to build. What they know might be incommunicable to the world because the world is not just there yet, but it is clear to them. And it is that clarity that converts a simple "what if" idea into a religion leading to billions of dollars in value.
To truly believe in something is to give yourself time to gain clarity on it. You believe in your friends because there are specific things that you are clear on about them. When you rob yourself of the time and patience that conviction requires, you risk acute cognitive dissonance (CA). This is when your brain struggles to reconcile your decisions/conclusions with your actions/reactions.
And you really can apply it to any form of conviction. When you have doubts, seek a bridge, not a wall. Ask questions with the intent of finding answers to them. Stay away from conclusions. Doubt all inferences until you come up with one of your own. Consider all of the evidence and non-evidence. Lay out the risks and rewards.
To be unsure is to be human. To stay uncertain, however, is not the design. Each answer that you find is a step closer to clarity and a foot deeper in conviction. And this world is driven by people with crazy convictions. People who believed that the apartheid could be stopped; that computers could drive cars; that humans could visit space; that technology is for everyone; that their idea of the world makes the world better.
My favourite episode of Doctor Who is the Van Gogh episode. Van Gogh, arguably the greatest artist of all time, died penniless and considered his art worthless in his time. His derivative about his art however was just that, a derivative. Van Gogh described his mind as being able to see and hear colours, spot them at wavelength level, and speak with his thoughts as he paints.
When the Doctor took him to the future where he experienced the eventual destination of his dream, he cried. He didn't need to see the future to dream, but it was worth it.
You don't have the Doctor, unfortunately. So you never know if your conviction pays off in the end yet, but you should know one thing — that it is worth getting up from bed in the morning. It is a conviction when it becomes a reason to not die and wither (and I don't mean a permanent relocation to the afterlife).
There's one other mistake I made.
I thought my ability to explain Blnk had a direct cause/effect to my conviction. If I was completely infatuated about it, I shouldn't have a problem explaining it. That was the thought, and it was so wrong.
I think if you are truly infatuated about something, if you truly love and believe in something, if you've gained conviction, it is impossible to explain it to someone else as is in your mind. The best you can settle for is a version, a very small version. The only way to communicate conviction is by showing, not telling, so that people can form their own convictions about it based off images/snapshots of yours.
If you are struggling with uncertainty about a person, thing, or religion, spend more time asking questions instead of making conclusions. Then, commit to finding answers to these questions. It won't take away the uncertainty. Unfortunately, more knowledge means less knowledge. But what it does is it shifts the uncertainty or completely changes what you are uncertain about, and completely influences your belief in said thing.
For example, if Joe felt uncertain about Christianity specifically around if it mattered. With questions and answers that he finds, this uncertainty can shift into a new space like "am I praying enough?"
I'd like to close this letter with how to ask questions. I learned it from my friend. Doubt your doubt. Query your feelings, and ask yourself:
- Why do I feel this way? Is it something I did or read, or is it something someone else said?
- What could go wrong if this does or doesn't happen?
- Why does everyone else think this way? What are they seeing/experiencing that I don't?
- What am I confused about? And why does it scare me? It's usually a cool place to start.
Happy weekends!
Cheers.
Praise.