Ellen Donnelly

When I tell my clients, most of whom are entrepreneurs running multimillion dollar businesses, that I think they are an “underserved population,” I get an interestingly intense reaction: a mix of surprise at hearing me say it, and equally strong surprise at how much it resonates.

Why do I think they’re underserved? Because they’re striving to do... See more

The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.

Martin’s comedy career is an excellent example of the Goldilocks Rule in practice. Each year, he expanded his comedy routine—but only by a minute or two. He was always... See more

A lot of people put in 10,000 hours. Very few people put in 10,000 hours of revision. The only way to do that is to stay on the bus.

To continue the bus metaphor, the photographers who get off the bus after a few stops and then hop on a new bus line are still doing work the whole time. They are putting in their 10,000 hours. What they are not doing, however, is re-work. They are so busy jumping from line to line in the hopes of finding a route nobody has ridden before that they... See more

Your Shadow is the source of your procrastination, but also of profound creativity. It contains immense energy, wisdom, and the raw material for your most authentic work.

The real journey isn't about finding a cleaner path, but about learning to navigate your own.

The work isn't to avoid the mess, but to transform it.

Build a business so deeply aligned with who you are that the work itself becomes the reward.

That’s a game you can’t lose.

Your only sustainable competitive advantage is your own sovereign self. Your unique blend of experiences, insights, and obsessions creates a perspective that cannot be replicated. AI cannot fake your lived wisdom. Trend chasers cannot mimic your genuine conviction.

So when you feel like you're shouting into the void, you are. When you feel like you're spending more time promoting than creating, you are. You aren't just fighting for attention. You're fighting a system designed to concentrate it at the top.

However, the joke of “adding AI to your deck” and immediately increasing your valuation by 10x is valid for a reason. The incentives created by both the demand side (capital) and supply side (startups) of the venture marketplace mean that the music chair will continue until something breaks.

As a founder or an investor, times like these present... See more