Uncommon Sense Principles from a Startup School Founder

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Laurence McCahill, one of the founders of The Happy Startup School about doing things differently and challenging convention.

Laurence and his team work with thousands of thought leaders, changemakers, hungry entrepreneurs and idea shepherds to redefine how they look at life and work. Their programs take leaders on an immersive journey and drill deep into their desire to start something new. The result is a global grassroots movement of likeminded people who believe in their ethos.

The power of peoples’ stories
Laurence is incredibly inspiring, as are the people he has the opportunity to surround himself with. He embraces each story he hears, incorporating them into learning lessons he applies to life and business.

“It’s the people we meet every day that are doing great work that inspire me—and a lot of them are under the radar, quietly doing their thing. For example, Tim Holtam (who in September will be speaking at their Happy Startup Summercamp) [is] the driving force behind a seemingly run-of-the-mill table tennis club that’s changing lives in a profound way as a sanctuary for refugees, cancer sufferers and disadvantaged local youth.”

Uncommon Sense defined
Laurence defines Uncommon Sense as doing things differently and challenging convention—being true to what you believe in. He pointed out that this principle is often hard in business because of trends, conventions and norms, but he’s a firm believer that if things are going one way, go the opposite. Be ahead of the curve.

He’s chock-full of Uncommon Sense, so we asked him to delve into the three Uncommon Sense principles he lives by personally and professionally.

1) Make it fun. Inject fun into everything you do. If it’s not fun, don’t do it. Fun can be challenging but can create balance along the startup journey.

2) Lose the shoulds. Do what feels right, not what others think you should do. “When we do what feels right, it is right.”  

3) Less is better. Ask yourself, “How can I do less work, but better?” Be really careful not to fall into the busy trap. Balance your 8-10 hour day with a long mountain hike. Make impact. Be in tune.

We encourage you to adopt these principles into your daily routine. Adopting a new mindset can develop fundamental skills that can help you to be a better person and perhaps, it may even help you discover things about yourself that you never would have noticed before. These new discoveries open the mind and lead to great conversations and fresh new ideas.

Photo: Happy Startup School