This is my one-hundred-fifty-first weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Context switching – A founder this week reminded me how hard it is to switch between thinking high level and being in the weeds of an early-stage company. I remember those days but haven’t lived them from a founder perspective in years. I found success using lunch as a natural mental break. It can be tempting to skip the high-level thinking when there are constant fire drills, but I learned the hard way that that’s a mistake. Consistently making time to think high level is something exceptional founders and people who achieve outsize outcomes do well.
• Gratitude – There’s always something that isn’t going right or could be better. Conversely, something’s always going right or could be worse. Continual improvement is important, but it isn’t my sole focus anymore. Practicing gratitude and being thankful have helped give me a more balanced perspective.
• Failed goal – Years ago, I set a goal. This week, I officially didn’t achieve it. Looking back, I realize why I didn’t. I should have spent more time sharing my goal. I should have spent more time learning about how others had accomplished similar goals. I should have focused on the habits required to achieve the goal. I learned a lot from this miss, so it wasn’t a failure. Just a painful learning experience. Today I set a new goal that’s bigger than the one I failed to accomplish.

Week one hundred fifty-one was a great week. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-fiftieth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Truth tellers – Some people tell it like it is. They don’t sugarcoat things. They candidly share what they see and think about situations. People like this are valuable because they’ll say what others are often thinking but won’t say.
• Emerging markets – I had a great chat with two emerging venture capital fund managers investing in emerging markets—specifically, LATAM and Africa. I was intrigued and now want to learn more about early-stage entrepreneurship in these markets.
• Outsiders – There’s something to be said for people who’ve accomplished greatness after starting as outsiders. They tend to have fought their way into the position they’re in. They’ve traveled further than others. Their ability to learn faster than other people has usually been key to their outsize success.

Week one hundred fifty was a positive week. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-forty-ninth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Ideas aren’t original – Ideas aren’t usually new. Others have had your idea before, and someone may even have tried to execute on it. It’s always worth finding out whether that’s happened and, if so, what caused them to succeed or fail.
• Team – When you’re trying to do something difficult, you often can’t do it by yourself. You need others, but finding people who are the right fit isn’t easy. This week was a reminder of that.    

Week one hundred forty-nine was a good week. Looking forward to next week!

I’m a fan of continual improvement, and I’m always looking for techniques to make it happen. I enjoy reading about ways for individuals and teams (e.g., a company) to optimize performance. Lately, I’ve been reading about individual optimization—sleep, diet, exercise, and cognitive performance. I made some notes:

• Things that move the needle the most on personal optimization aren’t the most appealing options (sometimes you dread them). And doing them can be an unpleasant experience. But when you finish and are on the other side of your decision, you feel great and happy you did whatever it was. Examples include big things like a grueling physical workout. But they also include little things like cutting a TV show short to go to bed early.
• The things that slow or even prevent personal optimization are often attractive options that feel great in the moment. But you don’t feel great, or you have regret, when you’re on the other side of the decision. I’m thinking of things like excessive alcohol consumption (i.e., a hangover), an unhealthy meal, or even staying up late to watch a movie. All of them feel good in the moment, but later that day or the next day when they negatively affect your performance—not so much.

Sometimes I focus on the desirability of an activity—how I’ll feel as I do it. If I dread it, think it will be unpleasant, or just don’t want to do it, sometimes I opt out. That’s the wrong approach. Given my desire to optimize my performance, I want to change the criteria I use to make these decisions. I want to focus on how the activity will make me feel afterward. Said differently, I’ll ask myself “Will this make me feel better or improve me?” If the answer is yes, I should do it. If the answer is no, I should say no (though there will always be exceptions).

Asking myself this question is a simple mental hack to make better decisions that optimize my performance.

This is my one-hundred-forty-eighth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Missing piece – I spent time this week with a rising entrepreneur. He shared what’s holding back his business, and it’s something I’ve heard from other entrepreneurs. He's able to find attractive deals but doesn't know how to structure deals to attract investor capital. I think there’s an opportunity to provide it to him and other founders to help unlock more value.
• Sentiment – I chatted with investors and entrepreneurs in various sectors (not just tech) this month. There’s a noticeable, albeit slight, uptick in investor and entrepreneur sentiment this month. Tuesday marks the end of the month. I’m curious to see if this slightly positive sentiment continues in February.  
• I still get things wrong – I made a decision that didn’t pan out the way I planned. It was a mistake. This week was a reminder of a couple of things: (1) I still make mistakes regularly, and (2) I should spend time reflecting on what I learned from a mistake, not dwelling on the fact that I made one.  
  

Week one hundred forty-eight was a great week. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-forty-seventh weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Tech Layoffs – This week Google announced a 12,000 headcount reduction. Earlier this week Microsoft announced a 10,000 headcount reduction. The layoffs are terrible for those impacted. I believe we’ll see a material uptick in entrepreneurship and more of these people migrating to lower-cost cities like Atlanta.
• Focus on Simple Ideas – I’ve been thinking about this all week. Outsized success is the result of intensity applied to simple ideas.  
• History Lesson – I had a long conversation with an elder about historical events I wasn’t familiar with that shaped the world in ways I wasn’t aware of. I’ve been thinking about this conversation and learning more about the events he shared with me. I want to start digging into history more to better understand the events that led to today’s society.  

Week one hundred forty-seven was a steady week. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-forty-sixth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Fundraising season – I talked to several founders this week, asking for feedback on fundraising materials. Some attempted to raise last year, but market conditions were too bad. Some simply delayed raising. I suspect that starting around February a significant number of companies will kick off fundraising.
• Wise people – I researched Charlie Munger and noted some of his lessons learned. He’s got almost 100 years of wisdom. Seeking out the wisdom of highly successful people has such a high ROI. With platforms such as YouTube, podcasts, and good old books that are available online, their wisdom is more accessible than it’s ever been. I wonder if people realize its value.
• Multipliers – Founders who have this mindset are on a different level than other founders. The potential reward of multiplying is worth the risk of betting it all (or most of it), in their mind. I like this mindset, and I’m thinking about ways to identify the multiplier trait when founders are first starting out.

Week one hundred forty-six was a solid week. Looking forward to next week!

A friend shared a quote from Charlie Munger with me:

I think people that multitask pay a huge price. They think they’re being extra productive, and I think they’re [out of their mind].

I think when you multi-task so much, you don’t have time to think about anything deeply. You’re giving the world an advantage you shouldn’t do. Practically everybody is drifting into that mistake.

Concentrating hard on something that is important is . . . I can’t succeed at all without doing it. I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span.

It’s telling that Charlie attributes his success to concentration, not intelligence.

I was chatting with a very successful person, and he shared with me that he blocks out time to think. He said he’s disciplined about when he checks text messages, email, etc. so he isn’t in a reactionary state. And he’s intentional about making time to focus on important topics.

These days, more distractions than ever are making it harder for people to know how to focus. This person and Charlie are both super successful, and both make a point of setting aside time to concentrate. That isn’t a coincidence.

I’m intentional about making time to think regularly, but not on the level of these two. In 2023, I want to look for ways to multitask less and lengthen my attention span.

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Today marks the end of my one-hundred-forty-fifth week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week one hundred forty-five:

• New year – The new year is here. It’s a fresh start. I’m really excited about what’s in store in 2023.
• Personal velocity – I’ve been thinking about this concept more as it applies to evaluation of individuals. I’ve also started to think about the personal velocity of people in my circle.
• High gear – The most successful people have a hidden gear, an extra one they don’t use all the time. They shift into high gear when they’re trying to create something new or take something to the next level. I feel like 2023 will be the year that many will kick into high gear.
• Layoffs – More layoffs are hitting the news, specifically in tech. Given the macro environment, some of these people will pursue entrepreneurship; it’s likely one of their best options now.

Week one hundred forty-five was short. Looking forward to next week!

I hope the new year is off to a great start for everyone!