Looks Like Work

Resilience Without Questions Can Turn on Your Values (with Chedva Ludmir)

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In this deeply personal solo episode, Chedva takes us through her 17-year entrepreneurial journey - from translator to blogger to design journalist to marketing agency owner to tech startup founder and back to founder mode with her new venture, Consider. After recent trips to New York and Greece for conferences, she reflects on the seductive pull of "founder mode" and how easily we can lose ourselves in the pursuit of our dreams. Drawing inspiration from seeing Audra McDonald in the Broadway musical "Gypsy," Chedva explores the dangerous intersection of resilience and ambition when they're not balanced with introspection and question-asking. She shares her own experiences of getting sucked into work identity and offers a powerful warning about how positive traits like determination can turn against our values when left unchecked.

Key Topics:

  • The evolution of a 17-year entrepreneurial journey across multiple industries
  • The seductive danger of "founder mode" and losing yourself in your work
  • How resilience without introspection can make you turn on your own values
  • The importance of maintaining identity and life outside of your business
  • Learning to integrate work and personal life rather than compartmentalizing
  • Growing up multicultural and the sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere
  • The challenge of sustaining passion projects without burning out
  • Using Broadway's "Gypsy" as a metaphor for entrepreneurial obsession
  • The necessity of regular check-ins with yourself and your values

    • Notable Quotes:

    • "Resilience without questions or introspection can quickly make you turn on yourself, on your loved ones, and on your values."
    • "When I don't regularly check in with myself and question my own automatic behavior... I can find myself alone, burnt out, and perhaps even worse, working towards something that is opposed to my values."
    • "I actually love my life and I wanna be part of it."
    • "I didn't really love my life back then... a lot of that time I didn't want to stay with my own questions."

      • Chedva's Powerful Question: "When do these positive, celebrated behaviors or values like resilience and being hardworking turn on us or make us help turn on ourselves? And how can we ask ourselves better questions when it comes to it?"

      Resources Mentioned:

      • Consider.club - Chedva's new venture focused on transformative question-asking
      • CuriosityGPT - AI tool for asking better questions
      • chedva.substack.com - Weekly newsletter with questions, musings, and thoughts and specifically this issue about integration
      • Broadway shows: "Gypsy" starring Audra McDonald, "Death Becomes Her"
      • Orca Global Network - Global network of Israeli business owners




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        Looks Like WorkBy Chedva Ludmir