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Paul Graham’s famous blog post, “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule”, highlights a fundamental concept for anyone striving to create something impactful. Graham discusses how makers (like developers and designers) need long, uninterrupted periods to work effectively, while managers can get by with segmented schedules filled with meetings. The lesson? If you want to make something great, you need to protect your time fiercely — because creativity doesn’t flourish in 30-minute windows.
Success in business is often portrayed as this glamorous, easy ride where founders stumble upon a brilliant idea, throw it into the world, and watch it explode into success. Reality? Much more gritty. The road to success is littered with mistakes, stress, and all sorts of headaches. But here’s the thing: the very struggles you face in the early days of a business are the same things that force you to refine your ideas and push you closer to that elusive product-market fit.
So, what separates those who crumble under the pressure from those who make it big? Spoiler: it’s not sheer genius or an endless budget. It’s perseverance, creativity, and a bit of good old-fashioned grit. Let’s dig into some early business lessons where failure wasn’t just a speed bump but the critical turning point.
