Week 19: Lunches, London, and walks
This email is a "done is better than perfect" newsletter from a coffe-shop in London.
I worked out of London this week. We had some investor meetings and met with some of our UK-based portfolio founders. And I met some friends I had not seen in years.
As much as I like being here, I noticed how little I enjoy the waiting elements of traveling—going to the airport, cueing at security, and then going from the airport into the city. I will need to figure out how I can do this more efficiently in the future. Unfortunately, taking the train to London was not an option from Berlin.
It was great meeting the founders and other people in person. And I enjoyed walking around the city from meeting to meeting with my colleagues and discussing topics in detail that otherwise are either asynchronous or do not get enough time in our regular agendas.
We had a break at Tate Modern and got a tour of Photo London. I saw a piece I immediately fell in love with, and I will share a photo once it has moved in with me.
Let’s have lunch in July?
I love meeting people over lunch. We have a great restaurant inside our office and very nice restaurants are located around our office. Everything from a quick bite opportunity to a multi-course option is available within walking distance. I am a huge fan of the “never eat alone” concept, and I usually have lunch meetings. It used to be a well-working process with Anne (my assistant) to tell someone, “let’s have lunch together,” and then see each other in a few days. This does not work anymore. Last week Anne and I talked in our twice per week “Lage Meeting,” where we align and make decisions, about the situation that my next free lunch spot is in July. (Most likely August when this Newsletter is in your inbox.)
Over the past few weeks, I have started to go to the office two or three days per week. And I also began to meet with people for breakfast and lunch again. I have figured out that Home office, traveling, and office days. We have a team lunch every Thursday, which gives me two open slots per week. I am not complaining about this situation; it is just another manifestation of the changes that remote first and mixed work locations bring to planning and organizing my work.
This is not a time management topic but rather a “What kind of meeting” topic. Lunches are usually an excellent opportunity to talk to each other, have a social element to what you are doing, and have some transactional aspects to the conversation. They also have something very human and social.
With a few days in the office, the opportunities to meet per week/ month are not many, and this leads to a situation where the usually easy-to-find lunch slots are not that easy to find anymore. I will rethink my calendar organization and the different types of meetings I organize to get enough time in “half transactional” meetings like lunches.
What I watched and read:
A sifted article on the impact of the stock market crash on startups.
This newsletter about how to do hard things I recommended last week already. I reread it, and I started to dig deeper into the topic of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This already has an impact on me as ACT resonates with me.
I rediscovered my Holstee account as I discussed the Holstee manifesto with a friend.
I watched some youtube videos on adventure motorbikes as I had my yearly attack of desire to have a motorbike. It was beneficial that I had to go to London, so I could not go to the local dealer in Berlin. This might have led to an impulse purchase. (not a good idea when it comes to adventure motorbikes).
I also started to research what kind of car I want in the future. Right now, I am thinking about:
no car at all and bike/ public transport/ cab and uber and occasionally a rental car
An electric car. It is way more difficult for me to figure out how much a charging station in our garage will be than I initially thought.
Thank you for reading my weekly email, and I hope you found something meaningful. Have a good week!
Cheers
Joerg