Right-Size Your Environment to Fit Your Soul

It rained last night for the first time in a while. It's November. The rain is welcome.

Beyond our backyard is a small green space nestled within the surrounding neighborhoods. A breeding pair of hawks often screech overhead during the day, while a pair of owls coo to each other at night (which has to be one of the most calming and comforting sounds on earth.)

With the overnight rain, we woke up early this morning to a soft cacophony of frogs. Rain means water. Water means frog eggs. And croaking is how frogs attract mates.

The conditions were right last night for frogs to be frogs. And croak they did.

The immediacy of the change is remarkable. It's been quiet all summer. The frogs must be out there, but they are not seen nor heard. One decent rain, and it's as if they appear instantly and out of nowhere by the thousands. 

With the rains, their environment becomes right for them to perform, and perform at their best. Of course they don't shriek, or coo. They croak. 

Environment matters when it comes to performance. The frogs sounded...well...happy.

I've been fortunate to have had three or four periods of truly fantastic professional development in my career, where I was challenged, fulfilled, and, yes, happy.

They had these things in common:

• They were all with early stage companies
• They each had a product or service in the market for more than a year
• They sold more than a quarter million but less than one million dollars worth of that product or service the previous year
• They had the potential for growth and needed help managing it

The other thing they had in common, for me at least, is that they all ended with disastrous personal burnout, frustration, and dread.

It took me a little while to realize from a practical standpoint that like people, like everything, companies change. I was contributing to that change. I was watching it and participating in it and rewarded for it. I was enjoying it. 

But over time, the change takes on a different characteristic. It requires different things. The small company needs a different sort of care and attention than the large corporation.  In Silicon Valley, small companies can become big corporations fast. 

There's probably a tipping point when the change starts to accelerate and it becomes clear that a transformation underway, but there is no distinct or obvious breakpoint.  It's easy to find yourself out at sea well after the shore has disappeared from sight.

Like the frog that slowly cooks to death as the water goes from room temperature to boiling, the day-to-day change was imperceptible to me, and by the time I realized the environment no longer fit me, it was too late.

I loved what I was doing at these companies. I was good at it. What I did mattered. I made a difference. I helped build these businesses and helped my peers gain experience and confidence.

But my environment changed enough where my satisfaction and sense of self-worth began to suffer. Yet, when I got to the next company, starting again at the smaller organization on the rise, I was myself again. I was engaged again.

If you find yourself in a situation where you're not getting out of things what you used to, and you're confused as to what might be wrong...where things "should" be okay, but they're not. Maybe take a look around a bit. Get an outside perspective.  Take some measurements and do some evaluating.  Make sure the temperature is what you think it is. It might be time to find a place to cool off a bit.