Making lists
It’s 1 day after our superconnectors event in Barcelona, and I’m sitting with Rebeka (the awesome intern) in a small cafe in Barcelona waiting for our lunch appointment.
The event of last night went very well and we got a request already to do it again next year. However there is no time to bask in the succes of last night, as we need to keep focus on our event for SXSW in Austin and Startsummit in St. Gallen which are just weeks away.
So we take the 30 minutes we have to make lists of actions that need to be taken:
I say:
“Ok, I think it’s best we divide and conquer, I will focus on the last items for our event in the US and you focus on the last things for the event in Switzerland.”
Rebeka:
“But whats do we do with all the other stuff? Like the website rebranding and making the new materials to help onboarding of startups?”
I say: “we can do that when we come back, but right now the upcoming events are more important”
For a moment we look at the schedule, I pause, and say: “now we are at maximum speed. But this is not the way it should stay.”
Taking a step back
Things are becoming real, and all the realities of a startup are creeping in.
One of those being: how do you keep the right overview between the short term, where speed and quality matters, and the long term, where building a slow and considerate foundation matters.
It’s been a fun but also very intense time. We are sprinting through our days, and making huge steps forward in the process.
At the same time by the end of the week, I manage to take a step back and reconsider what work is actually worth it to stress about, and what isn’t. Some items get postponed, for others we look for help.
A good night sleep
By the time it’s Thursday I actually manage to get a good night worth of sleep.
I cancel a couple early morning meetings and take the time to walk my son to my moms place.
I feel sharp and focused and the rest of this day I blow my way through a whole list of items that have been stacking up on my backlog.
By 18.30 I close my laptop and can go pick up my son from my moms place.
At the end of the day, I think to myself: 24 year old Alex would not have cancelled morning meetings to make space in his head, he would have powered through till 4am.
I am now 24/7 only 80% of the time, but then again, I am not 24 year old Alex, I’m 34 year old Alex.
34 year old Alex works 20% smarter.
