Ben Horowitz on The Struggle, Jocko Willink on the dichotomies of a good leader, and Benjamin Franklin's daily routine

Welcome back to the Z Fellows newsletter! Every Monday we share 3 ideas - to help you build companies, ship products, and create your life's work.

1: Ben Horowitz on how The Struggle leads to greatness

“The Struggle is when you wonder why you started the company in the first place.
The Struggle is when food loses its taste.
The Struggle is where self-doubt becomes self-hatred.
The Struggle is when you are having a conversation with someone and you can’t hear a word that they are saying because all you can hear is the Struggle.
The Struggle is when you want the pain to stop.
The Struggle is unhappiness.
The Struggle is when you go on vacation to feel better and you feel worse.
The Struggle is when you are surrounded by people and you are all alone.
The Struggle has no mercy. The Struggle is the land of broken promises and crushed dreams. 

The Struggle is not failure, but it causes failure. Especially if you are weak. Always if you are weak. Most people are not strong enough. Every great entrepreneur from Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg went through the Struggle and struggle they did, so you are not alone. But that does not mean that you will make it. You may not make it. That is why it is the Struggle. The Struggle is where greatness comes from.”

Source: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

2: Jocko Willink on the dichotomies of leadership

“A good leader must be:

• confident but not cocky;

• courageous but not foolhardy;

• competitive but a gracious loser;

• attentive to details but not obsessed by them;

• strong but have endurance;

• a leader and follower;

• humble not passive;

• aggressive not overbearing;

• quiet not silent;

• calm but not robotic;

• logical but not devoid of emotions;

• close with the troops but not so close that one becomes more important than another or more important than the good of the team; not so close that they forget who is in charge.”

Source: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink

3: Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Routine

Best of The Week

See you next Monday,

- The Z Fellows Team

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