Continuous improvement on the down cycle

Continuous improvement is easy on the upcycle, when things are going great and you feel energized by the success. You want it to compound, so you continue to put in the effort needed to improve. It’s much harder on the down cycle, when things are dropping and you don’t exactly know why (hint: nobody ever knows exactly why).

It’s a painful existence, you put in effort, then more effort, then more effort, only to see numbers continue to decline. It seems like you’re throwing effort into a black hole of effort where it just disappears from existence, breaking the conservation of energy law, wherein it seems like energy is being destroyed. But I don’t believe that anymore, not after several up and down cycles.

I now believe that everything you do during a down cycle turns into potential energy, which rebounds and catapults you higher when the upcycle starts again. Only problem is you don’t know when the down cycle turns to the up cycle and therein lies the crux of entrepreneurship. Can you see past the down cycle to keep your continuous improvement going during the down cycle in order to store up potential energy so you catapult when the up cycle begins again?

I would argue that if you can, you will succeed as an entrepreneur. If you cannot, then do not be an entrepreneur.