Week 19 of 2019 was like no other week, something changed.
Every year we have 52 weeks. That’s fifty-two equal blocks that a year is split into. So why not 365 days? or 12 months? or 4 quarters? Why 52 weeks make a difference.
Majority of people I come across fall into two categories, ones who live by days and plan everything by each day. And then there are those who plan by the month! I am not even sure if that’s a plan or just a bet. How do you decide in Jan 2019, something will be done in 8 months? And how do you break down a plan in sufficient enough detail to be scrutinised?
So what’s so magical about counting in weeks?
I have come to realise that we severely underestimate what can be achieved in the long term, and grossly overestimate what can be achieved in the short term. There’s a quote by Bill Gates,
Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
Counting in weeks is best for me. It gives me the pace I want and yet doesn’t skew me towards short term behaviour.
By splitting my plans and outlook in weeks I realise I have 52 weeks in a year and there’s more than half of the allocated time in a year available to achieve my goals.
Anyways, here’s what I came across in Week 19
Read: Blitzscaling, Snailscaling or Mindful Scaling?
Well written by Alex Kaschuta on Medium. I was surprised to see the article as only recently Sabrina, a colleague of mine, recommended the book Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman.
I like the Mindful Scaling term and although the companies used as an example are not unicorns, it’s equally important to understand that some startups end up being a small business forever.
Read: The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship
By Jessica Bruder for Inc.com. In the article Jessica shares stories on founders who secretly pay the price of entrepreneurship. With their mental health.
I particularly found this paragraph, something I agree with word for word:
Gartner theorizes that there are so many hypomanics–and so many entrepreneurs–in the U.S. because our country’s national character rose on waves of immigration. “We’re a self-selected population,” he says. “Immigrants have unusual ambition, energy, drive, and risk tolerance, which lets them take a chance on moving for a better opportunity. These are biologically based temperament traits. If you seed an entire continent with them, you’re going to get a nation of entrepreneurs.”
I will hopefully soon find the space to put my thoughts on why immigrants make excellent entrepreneurs. Not now.
Currently reading: Crossing the chasm
I am only 25 pages in and finally starting to understand how or why high tech products or labs in established organisations are placed under Strategic Marketing. It’s a good book to pick up!
Story of the week – Meeting a great founder in the last-mile logistics optimisation
I met this wonderful founder in London and we had a great chat about religion, culture, his product, my work, and on the explainability aspect of A.I.
His startup is growing 30% month on month since September 2018 and I can only see it growing further. I meet a lot of founders and CEOs of startup companies, and most of them are jerks. Brilliant jerks, don’t get me wrong. But jerks none the less. However, this particular founder was different.
He could empathise. and empathy is critical when building a customer-facing business. he knew his strengths and pointed out the challenge that he is facing. And he wasn’t fazed to admit that he will need help to overcome that challenge.
I am not mentioning his name (I never do that in stories) or the name of his startup, however, if you are a VC / investor that is interested reach out to me and I will be happy to make an intro.
That’s all folks
If you are wondering what changed in week 19 for me. Well, that’s a surprise. It’s a deeper thought and realisation that I will share some other day when time is right.
Not Today.
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