So I managed to find work — hooray! I’m a Customer Success Manager at a construction tech start up based in Melbourne. It’s my first experience working in a proper start up.

I’ve always found start ups fascinating, not just for sheer potential for upside if you’re in the right place at the right time, but how the decisions that are made on a daily basis can literally be the life or death of the business.

In a few words, it’s been chaotic, hectic and busy. Nothing I didn’t expect, to be honest. I also don’t mean those in a negative way either. By their nature, there’s a lot happening in start ups and not enough resources to cover all your bases. Trade offs have to be made to keep the business growing.

That’s the best part too: the trade offs are also at the micro level, done by every employee. In a healthy tech start up, there are going to be too many bugs to fix, too many feature requests, too many customers pulling you in different directions. As much as you want to do it all, you can’t. Decision making has never been more important.

Being part of such has made me realise that people in of themselves are like start ups: not really sure what we’re meant to be doing on this earth, but trying to figure it out along the way, not having enough resources to do everything we want to do and ultimately making decisions that shape who we become.

Making sense out of chaos was originally published in 100 Naked Words on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’re always in the process of learning more about ourselves. Some people ignore the little voice urging them to try new things, instead letting themselves be comfortable in what they know. Then there are those who embrace their gut and lean into their discomfort.

What does that feel like exactly? It’s the point when you start questioning yourself, when you consider turning around or quitting altogether. It’s also when you most think about why you’re doing something. Your drive gives you the power to push against the barrier and the limits you have put around yourself.

And when that does happen, you wonder why you were so afraid of it all along.

Creating yourself was originally published in 100 Naked Words on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.