Run At What Scares You
Tucker and Matt: From running partners to creative collaborators and business partners.
When choosing my business partner for Creative Factor, I never looked at a single resume, and didn't tap my network or post a job. I chose my running partner.
Tucker Margulies and I have run together essentially every week since we met seven years ago. We usually start in darkness and run a big loop around Central Park. We have run through rain, snow, and even Covid-19. That last one was brutal, as we ran with cloth face masks. Nothing like running 10 miles with your mouth covered! One day it rained so much that the masks made breathing nearly nearly impossible. On that occasion, we took the risk and pulled them off. It was either that or suffocate.
Tucker is a good business partner because he often tells me to do the stuff I drag my feet on. We have a new paid product we are going to launch soon, and I've been pushing it back a bit, somewhat worried about what happens when you put a price on your work. (Will anyone buy it?!)
But Tucker called me out on that this week. "You have to run at the things that scare you," he said. That hit, in a good way. I grumbled a bit, as I always do, and then I changed course, doubled down on this new thing we're building, and pushed up the release timeline. As Tucker said, it is better to find out what you need to know sooner, rather than let things hang in the air and not know.
It's a scary time out there in the work world. ("I am absolutely shocked that Trump's second term has turned into a sh*t show," said no sane person ever.)
And things will only get worse, as companies flatten orgs and layoffs await. It might feel like there are fewer and fewer good paths forward. And the scary path might feel like the worst of all.
But now is the time to run at the thing that scares you, whether it's activating your network for new connections, reaching out to someone you admire about a collaboration, or launching that side business you've been thinking about for years.
The hard thing won't be easier next month, or the month after that, but at least you'll be moving forward on it. And, as the proverb goes, "the race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running."
Join more than 30 leaders from top organizations, including Spotify, Disney, Shake Shack, Target, NASA, Cannondale, Hearst, Flatiron Health, Roblox, Clay, Paramount, andThe Aspen Institute.
