Upon Reflection

My two favorite words. Before I dive in, let me share my method. It works for me, it may not be for you, but I suggest you find a method to implement a point of reflection.

Every morning, with my first cup of coffee or on my morning walk, I take a few minutes and scan my calendar for the previous day. I reflect upon a few things.
⁃ What did I learn?
⁃ What did I teach?
⁃ Did I spend enough time with certain people and not enough time with others?
Maybe it’s my age, but to understand whether another day off the lasting days was meaningful is more important than whether it was productive.

Once a week, along with writing this newsletter, I reflect upon how the previous week went and how did it contribute to a compounding effect of the life I want vs the life I am living. Just like money in a savings account, your weeks can have a compounding effect. I am currently coaching a few friends on making some life changes, and I teach them how to did with ease. A few weeks in, they experience the compounding effects.

A few tips here-
1. Writing 250 words per day. These are not for publication, but really just a method to reflect. However, the habit can lead to publishing if you wish.
2. 1 healthy thing. Fasting, drinking enough water, working out. Whatever. For a year I did 100 pushups every day. (Not a once..)
3. Write an email/text to someone that has helped you in the past. Simple message of gratitude and reminiscence.
4. Spend 15 minutes thinking about a member of your team and how you contributed to their career that may manifest in 5 years. Likely, long after they are in your career orbit.
5. Butterfly effect. What did you do that could have had an ongoing effect to others? I try to imagine how a conversation I had could have taken flight.

For my founders, I would like you to do the following exercise.

Dig up your very first pitch deck, before you raised any money. Try to visualize and feel what it was like before you took OPM or hired a single employee. Meaning, the simpler time when you had the passion and enthusiasm around an idea and how it would impact the world without the obligations of investor returns, raising the next round or making payroll. Try to recall all the details of all the conversations and meetings you had back then. Sit in this space for a minute, then write 3 words that describe how you felt. Write those on a post-it note, stick on your laptop, add it as your background on your phone etc. Somewhere, where you see it everyday.

Do you still feel this way about your startup? Maybe it’s been 2 months, 2 years or 5 years even since you “FOUNDED” your company. In a lot of cases, it may have been a long road with pivots and potholes along the way. If not, it may be time to shut it down and move on to what makes you feel that way. The opportunity cost of staying in any relationship due to obligation could be the most expensive decision you make. I’m not saying to just pack up your stuff and disappear, build an exit strategy to leave where you are an plot a path to where you want to go.

This is why reflection is so important. Without finding your own points of reflection, you may get stuck in the Mud Puddle longer than you need to be.

A friend told me that they were unsure about bringing a kid into the world we live in. I said, well what are you doing to change the world. Upon reflection, that sounds arrogant as hell. However, if you are reading this newsletter and are part of my community, then part of your mission is to change the world.

I would love to hear how some of you have found the task of reflection beneficial or your tactics. I’m always looking for more methods.

We have received a lot of referral applications to join our Catalyst Network and our Mastermind Community. Keep telling your friends, we want to keep growing but only with people that are aligned with our mission.