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I really don't like the message of this post. I think the arbitrary expectations people in the startup world place on themselves do a great deal of harm.

I actually regret being exposed to the startup world at such a young age of 17/18. I became totally obsessed with everything startups, especially the stories of newly christened millionaires at ages not much older than mine. I eventually began setting some ridiculously lofty goals for myself that I've failed to meet time and time again, and it's contributed heavily to my often feelings of failure and low self-worth.

So how about this: Instead of rushing to do something before a completely fabricated deadline, chase opportunities with the intent of trying your best and the understanding that no one event or missed deadline renders you a failure or means that you've missed out on life.

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I've written a lot about how one needs to be realistic in the entrepreneurial life. Here's just a few examples:

http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2012/05/entrepreneurial-success...

http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2010/07/entrepreneurship-is-abo...

If you define success as building a billion-dollar company, you'll almost certainly be disappointed. Billion-dollar startups usually come once every few years.

But I also want people to be aware that their time is shorter than they think.

OP may be right and all, but it's not actionable, so that's why I think his message is harmful. It's encouraging entrepreneurs to worry, rush, and stress about how they should've gotten things done yesterday. It doesn't help you towards your goals at all.

Ah, but it is actionable. Knowing when the tide is or isn't in your favor doesn't necessarily encourage you to worry, rush, and stress. It does encourage you keep the big picture of your career in mind.

Also, note that worry, rush, and stress could also be expressed as plan, move quickly, and focus. It's a matter of perspective.

The arbitrary, overly-specific, and gosh-darn unlikeliness of the goals expressed here remind me more of the sort of life plan you'd expect from a ten-year-old girl than from a full-grown man.

"OK, I'm going to meet my boyfriend at sixteen so we can be married by nineteen and then I'll have four kids in the next four years so I can be the world's greatest ballerina by the time I'm twenty-four and then I can start training ponies"

No matter how you spin it, we're all scared monkeys wearing blue jeans, trying to make sense of what's happening around us on this small piece of rock flying through space at ungodly speeds.

Full grown men aren't much wiser than 10 year old girls.

Holy cow, quote of the night

I was with you until the last sentence which seemed to be hanging beyond the edge of its support.

While at uni, I had a habit of attending classes with my friends, outside of my curriculum. I remember attending a lecture on hermeneutics once, by a law professor, versed in philosophy and such... and this must have been some closing lecture as he was talking a lot about his personal experience of failing to achieve any substantial understanding of what meaning was, how (his) mind worked, etc.

He was putting it as if it was like trying to insert your head into your... in a desperate hope of reaching some 'real' understanding. And after all those years of trying (it looked like he had been trying), he was left with empty hands. Not zen-style empty hands, just what-i-hoped-to-grasp-i-couldnt empty hands.

Its a feeling you can probably get investigating stuff like physics, math, meaning in linguistics, neuroscience or simply thinking things through as the years go by.

Maybe grand parent was relating to something like this.

Your time is limited. A was talking with a friend (who incidentally is a VC) over breakfast. He noted that he was 46, and was worried about how old he'd be when his future child (his wife is pregnant) went off to college.

People also don't like hearing that they need to get married before the age of 30 if they want to have kids at a younger age, but that doesn't make it untrue.

Except that having a child is a readily achievable goal that anyone can reach at any time they choose to. The decision to have a child, whether at a younger or older age, is almost entirely up to the two consenting adults.

Hoping to strike it rich before the age of 45 is pretty much the complete opposite.

Ah, the young. Find a couple in their 40s, and ask them if having a child is a readily achievable goal any time they choose.

Yes, and that time constraint is due to biological processes that can be planned for ahead of time.

Men can easily have childrens on their 40s (not recommended though, it's hard work) but women cannot. It's sad to see that most intelligent, talented woman fall in the trap of their careers and die childless. If you are an intelligent entrepeneur woman in their 20's, do yourself a favor, stop to have some childrens and then resume your career.

I think people should seriously consider that not all women want children.

Women aren't idiots. We think about the tradeoffs.

How can you know about the tradeoff? you remember your past lifes? nobody can, you will have to guess and often you will guess wrong. That's why very few people has great family planning skills at their 20's.

Female fertility starts declining from about 24 and starts dropping like a rock from about 35. Men have less to worry about but there are still declines.

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