It got me thinking.  If everything is strategic, what does that mean for the other 23 hours 59 minutes of the day.  What is strategic and what isn’t?

It was just “May the 4th be with you”.  And as a fellow Star Wars nerd, I thought I’d test out this question on the greatest science fiction story of all time.  So I asked myself, “What did the Emperor ask Darth Vader when he wanted to take over the Galactic Empire.”  Did he ask ol’ Darth to create a Star Wars Strategy and brief him with a powerpoint presentation?

More importantly, just in the middle between Galactic domination and the Rebel Alliance, how did Darth know if he was really being strategic?  After watching Star Wars 1,000 times, here’s what I believe was Darth’s 5 point checklist to ensure his pursuits were strategic.

Do you have to say No?
Being intentional requires a trade off.  You can’t be a Jedi Master and join the dark side too.  It’s not strategic unless it requires you to say No to something else.

Does it require secrecy?
If your plans end up on R2-D2, projected into a hollogram for the world to see, you’re in trouble.  People will either duplicate it or destroy it.

Do you have to create two or more of something?
For your strategy to work, you need a backup plan and a backup to the backup plan.  One Death Star is good, two Death Stars are essential in case Luke gets in a lucky shot.

Does it require a mass movement?
Getting 1,000,000 storm troopers to coordinate their wardrobe and march in line takes work.

Is it an ongoing effort?
The Death Star was a single step.  But keeping control of the Empire required adaptive and constant thinking.  Strategies don’t end, they evolve.

What are you doing with your day?  Are you blinded by the ambiguity of strategy?  Next time you’re asked to create a strategy, grab your light saber and develop a Star Wars strategy instead.

Creating a startup is hard work.   Much harder than I ever expected.  But hard work is no substitute for good habits.  The ripple effect of  good habits are proven to enhance your life and your livelihood.  Just read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg or try B.J. Fogg’s Tiny Habits course.  It’s free.

Real quick.  Here’s how Charles Duhigg defines a habit.  There is a cue that triggers a routine.  A reward reinforces the routine.  Repeat time and time again and you have a habit loop.  Much of our lives are made up of such Pavlovian moments.  From brushing our pearly whites, to spritzing Febreeze on our couches to the rat race of our careers.

My startup habits are no different.  I just didn’t realize I had them.

Kansas City is a wonderful place to raise a startup.  The only bad part is people are super nice.  Their feedback becomes a reward.  You’re asked how your business is going, you provide them your routine pitch and they shower you with attaboys.   And just in the middle of looping through this habit, you begin seeking validation at every turn for a solution you assume will make you millions.

I’ve listened to hundreds of pitches over the last year.  And many fail before they ever start.  They begin with the solution, a habit formed from countless attaboys before hand.  And when the reward is not at the end of the pitch, defense sets in and a once happy go lucky entrepreneur turns into Alcatraz, a steel cell, blocking out any impending criticism.  I was no different.

So how do you change your habit?  By replacing it.  And changing your pitch to begin with the problem.

And with the problem breaks the habit loop.  You stop looking for praise and instead for a different reward, critical feedback that helps you understand the problem more completely.   You seek disagreement.  Confrontation.  Opinions.  Judgement.  And you find that bad habits blinded you all along.

Creating a startup is hard work.  But creating good startup habits is even harder.  Graduating from anything makes you think.  Don’t wait to think about your habits.  Be honest with yourself and start changing some problem habits.

What was the event?  Match Day 2013.  An event for medical students across the country resembling one part Academy Awards, one part Hunger Games.  The rules are simple.  Work your butt off for four years.  Go interview across the country and pick your favorite hospital.  If they also pick you as their favorite, you work there for your residency.  If not, perhaps you will get your second choice.  Or your third.  Or your twentieth.

But the fun doesn’t stop there.  You only learn your match by opening a sealed envelope, and reciting your match in front of hundreds of people on stage.  And this repeats for each and every medical student.  I sat in awe, my eyes scanning the auditorium, looking for the next Katniss Everdeen.

Perhaps Katniss will get her top match.  She may cure cancer.  Or become a brain surgeon that invents some new revolutionary procedure that only her name could define.  The Everdeen technique.  Very doctor-esque.  Or maybe the match will be her last choice, tears forming as she reads the match aloud, the cold beer at home awaiting a celebratory evening suddenly becoming very warm and unwanted.

Why have I not experienced a match day of my own?  A single second of truth, built on a ton of hard work, that immediately puts you in your place in the world.  This moment seems so contrarian to a generation self entitled and focused on immediate gratification.  I’m totally convinced.  The world needs more match days.

Have you experienced a match day of your own?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last year, it’s that I’m not an entrepreneur – yet.   Even after 1,000 hours working in my basement huddled with my developer.  Most will don this title with their budding startup on LinkedIn, declaring their entrance into the startup scene and their membership into a sleep deprived, caffeine drunk group where only 1 of 10 will actually succeed.

The next time someone tells you they are an entrepreneur, remember this simple story from Henry Bloch.

It’s the end of the year.  Three stores sit next to each other in a crowded mall, each run by a store owner selling the same product to the same customer.  The store that is on the left has a sign sitting outside, “Going out of business sale.”  The store on the right has a different sign, “Year end sale.”

It’s the one in the middle that is the entrepreneur.  This store has a sign outside that says, “Entrance here.”

So you are an entrepreneur entering the startup scene?  Are you building a startup like Henry Bloch, or are you really building nothing but an entrance for someone else?

Parades and powerpoints.  Somewhere along the line, both killed the art of storytelling.

SXSW in Austin, drinks with colleagues and a Kansas City developer’s conference.  These were all things I was just in the middle of that taught me some very important lessons about storytelling.  And it turns out the lessons are relevant to both communicators and coders.  To talkers and tech geeks.  The art of storytelling may finally provide a common language between the two.

Lyn Graft, chief storyteller and founder of LG Pictures, shared his knowledge at SXSW during Storytelling for Entrepreneurs & Startups.  Turns out effective stories have followed a three act pattern since the days of Aristotle.  A beginning, middle and end.  Through Lyn’s analysis of some of the most dynamic entrepreneurial speakers, he transformed these three acts into a simple storytelling schema.

The setup comes first, typically a problem or opportunity, shaping the story.  When contrasted with the solution and result, an opportunity emerges before the audience, pulling them into conversation.

Software developers have long had a problem with storytelling.  We’ve failed to have meaningful conversations with our customers.  We ask for an onslaught of linear technical requirements.  And then we wonder why we get blank stares of uninspired confusion with our parade of geek speak.

Software developers are just now learning the lessons of Aristotle.  Enter the “User Story” stage left.  A way for tech geeks to have a conversation with talkers to unlock opportunities for their business.  And low and behold, “User Stories” come in three acts.

It looks familiar, right?  Today’s developers and customers are beginning to share this storytelling syntax for software solutions.

Great, so there is a process for storytelling.  Now, what is the secret to making a story truly epic?  Nancy Duarte spent time analyzing some of the best talks in our history from Martin Luther King to Steve Jobs.  Turns out, great stories all come in sets of three.

I’m seeing a common theme here.  But what is the key?

The secret is the gap, the separation from “What Could Be” and “What Is” — the stark dissonance and vast difference that exposes the opportunity in between.  That gap engages the audience in the story and the conversation.

If the science of programming is following the art of storytelling, perhaps there is something new we can learn.

We spend so much time and energy focusing on the “What Could Be”, defining those individual “User Stories” that lead to software change.  We focus on prioritizing those stories, analyzing their size and delivering each to the customer.  But great software delivery doesn’t end the story there.  It constantly addresses the gap — the vast divide between “What Is” that continues to drive the conversation.  It also focuses on the bliss at the end, leaving a vision for the software to come.

Are you looking to put a sharper point on that presentation?  Or are you getting ready to parade some new software ideas around?  Just remember that storytelling can help whether you are a talker or a tech geek.

You should also watch …

• Nancy Duarte “The Secret Structure of Great Talks”
• Howard Schultz “The Walk Segment”
• Lyn Graft Videos on Blip.tv

I’ve always been amazed with those that start their own businesses.  How do they do it?  Is there a secret recipe?  So I signed up for  Startup Weekend Kansas City to find out.  A mass collage of talent, grouping around startup ideas to team up on the pitch they are most passionate about, donating 54 hours of tireless energy to compete for the title of “best startup” through sugar overdoses, caffeine highs and sleep deprivation.  Some people like to sleep in and mow yards on their weekends off.  Not this weekend.

Just in the middle of Startup Weekend, that Little Engine that Could popped back into my head.  To be more precise,  it was at 4:21am Sunday morning.  Turns out I should have been paying more attention to that little blue train during story time at home.  Let me explain.

We had an inspired team of 10 people.  A great idea called TutHopper.  And a diverse team all passionate about the idea.  But that wasn’t what struck me.  Instead, it was an ability to keep chugging along.  To keep moving.  To focus even when we knew only minutes would pass before we’d have to wake up and start the day over again.

What was the secret?  The minimally viable product or MVP – the shortest train track to deliver a compelling product in a weekend.  I can’t count how many times our ideas evolved, people began losing focus or the direction began to change.  But somehow, everyone always snapped back onto the primary track and kept moving forward.

The Little Engine that Could.  I’ve always focused on the words.  I think I can.  And sometimes pure determination is enough.  But the forgotten part of the story is not about attitude, desire or work ethic.  It’s about the track.  The straight and steady rail to the top of the mountain.  We all lose focus on our minimally viable products at some point.  We get stuck in endless meetings.  We debate with each other over trivial points.  Our inner ADHD selves chase after shiny pennies.  And then something bad happens, our train tracks get all mixed up and we stop moving forward.

Thank you @kcsw and Startup Weekend Kansas City.  You awarded our little blue train “best startup”.  But you provided a much more important experience about starting up great things – success comes not from thinking you can, but by moving together on the shortest track that leads to the top.

You Should Also Read …

• Silicon Prairie News:  With programming games for kids, TutHopper tops Startup Weekend KC
• SF Gate:  TutHopper Walks Away with Startup Weekend Kansas City Grand Prize
• Think Big Partners:  Congratulations to Kansas City Startup Weekend Winners