I was talking to my older brother the other day, about startups, siblings, raising children, and he shocked me, right in the middle of an otherwise smooth conversation, with this: 

Now you’re guilty of one-size-life-thinking. You do that way too much. You want everybody to do things the way you did. 

That took me aback.  It sounded insulting. But (damn) it’s also true. 

What’s more important is how much writing on startups and entrepreneurship and business stories flows from that same basic premise: 

You should do what I did. It worked for me. It should work for you too. 

There are so many problems with that. They are too obvious to list, all about different times, different worlds, resources, goals, and so forth. 

Conclusion: beware of best practices, recipes, checklists, and anything a successful entrepreneur is too sure of. Trust uncertainty. Make your own way. 

photo credit: jenny downing via photopin cc