ABOUT 1 MONTH AGO • 2 MIN READ

The Two Directions

profile

Cole Ryan

Writing insights on all things business, life, philosophy, and entrepreneurship.

There's this fundamental truth about human behavior that I keep observing: at any given moment, we're all either running toward something or running away from something.

Sometimes both at once.

I see this playing out everywhere. In business. In relationships. In personal choices. This constant dance between pursuit and escape shapes every decision we make, often without us realizing it.

Last week I was talking to a founder who just raised a massive round. On the surface, he was running toward growth, toward market dominance, toward his vision. But as we dug deeper, it became clear he was also running away - from the fear of competition catching up, from the possibility of failure, from his past struggles with scarcity.

The size of his raise wasn't just about what he needed. It was about what he feared.

This dynamic shows up in career choices constantly. I watch people take high-paying jobs they hate, telling themselves they're running toward financial freedom. But really, they're running away from the uncertainty of pursuing what they actually want to build.

The away runners are easy to spot once you know what to look for: They make decisions out of fear rather than vision They optimize for safety rather than potential They choose based on what they're trying to escape rather than what they're trying to create

The toward runners move differently: They're pulled by possibility rather than pushed by fear They make choices based on what they want to build They're more focused on potential than protection

But here's what's fascinating - most people are lying to themselves about which direction they're actually running.

I see this in my own patterns. Every major decision I make, I have to ask myself: Am I moving toward something meaningful, or am I just trying to escape something uncomfortable?

This shapes everything in business:

  • How you build products
  • How you make investments
  • How you hire talent
  • How you structure deals

An away-running company builds different products than a toward-running company. They solve different problems. They attract different talent. They make different bets.

The most successful people I know have mastered a crucial skill: they've learned to convert away energy into toward energy. They take their fears, their desires to escape, and transform them into fuel for forward motion.

This isn't just psychology. This is strategy.

Understanding whether you're running toward or away from something changes how you: Make decisions Evaluate opportunities Build relationships Deploy capital Spend time

The market can feel this energy too. It can tell the difference between companies running toward opportunity and those running away from obsolescence. Between leaders running toward vision and those running away from competition.

The really fascinating part? The direction you're running determines what you can see.

When you're running away, your vision is limited. You can only see what you're trying to escape. But when you're running toward something, your field of view expands. You start seeing opportunities you'd miss if you were focused on escape.

This hit me hard recently. I was making decisions about a new project, and I realized some of my choices were being driven by the fear of missing out rather than the clarity of vision. I was running away from potential regret instead of running toward potential impact.

Success leaves clues. And one of the biggest clues I've noticed is that the most successful people are almost always running toward something bigger than what they're running away from.

You win by converting escape energy into creation energy. Transforming away into toward.

Because in the end, the direction you're running shapes everything you build.

Choose your direction carefully. The view is better when you're running toward something worth building.

Cole Ryan

Writing insights on all things business, life, philosophy, and entrepreneurship.