Week 34
Fall thoughts, Time Slicing and Blending, Neue Nationalgalerie
How was your week? Mine so far was pretty good. I have been working with Henric on some new ideas and had some very inspiring conversations and reads. Also, I attended/ hosted more meetups, events, gatherings this week than in the past 18 months: pretty much every day, there was an evening event I went to. Nice but also overwhelming. So many conversations and people I really enjoyed seeing again.
Is it Fall already?
The weather in Berlin these days feels like fall. There is still hope for some warmer days to come, but the mixed weather in August made me think about how much the weather influences my mood. I know that this should not be the case as it is possible to have a good time when it is raining, but I love sunshine more than rainy days.
I bought a new tent in spring because I wanted to spend some weekends in the Elbsandsteingebirge and the lakes around Berlin. Now it is suddenly September, and fall is coming closer. Maybe I should not wait for the good weather weekend and do an outdoor weekend on one of the next weekends. The large, old linden tree in front of me already has some yellow leaves.
Neue Nationalgalerie
I went to Neue Nationalgalerie on Friday last week and had one of the best “culture moments” of the last 18 months. It was amazing to enter the building after six years, and I very much enjoy how it has been redone, keeping as much of the substance as possible. This means that many things were not exchanged for new parts but were taken apart and restored. The glass is new, and it is built (single glass with an air curtain) is really cool.
The exhibition The Art of Society touched me at the core. I missed the works of Classical Modernism more than I thought. Next week I will take the twins. Very much looking forward.
Time Slicing and Blending
I guess you have all read Paul Graham’s post on the Makers Schedule from 2009. It is a great piece on organizing time and why some time slices can be hard to mix. For me, it is a constant struggle to combine different roles into my week:
Maker Time: Where I can create things. Like this blog post, the next version of our strategy, think about a decision I want to make and all the options around it, etc.
Manager Time: where I have transactional meetings, make fast or approve decisions, have 1on1s, group meetings, and check-ins
Learning Time: where I learn new things and sharpen my tools.
Coaching & Sharing Time: spending time with founders and colleagues and helping them to develop their full potential.
And then there are other slices of time as well. But they are for another post:
Social Time
Alone Time
Sport & Music Time and some more.
Each of these slices is important to me, and I love to spend time on them. I am organizing my life as a blend of all these time slices with the other roles (husband & father, sports, outdoors, reading science fiction, or the news). And I am also absolutely ok with these slices blending into each other. There are also some clear borders in combination with rules and exceptions. For the work-related slices and blends, I have “golden support” with Anne, who helps me stay on top of things and manage. The one thing I have not figured out yet is the inability to switch fast between the slices. It is super easy to switch from a 1on1 check-in to 30 minutes of working on my inbox, and it is super hard for me to come out of 2 hours of meetings and do one hour of deep maker time. I need blocks of maker time to be productive and get into a flow state. Any tips on how to optimize this?
What I read this week:
Rahul’s blog post about procrastination. I read it last weekend and discussed it with my sharpist coach on Monday. I have been trying to understand procrastination for a long time as I am also “suffering” from it sometimes. The idea to split it into active and passive procrastination resonates well with me for some time already: When you actively procrastinate, you focus your energy somewhere else and work on useful topics.
A post on Flash Loans, my friend Leah recommended.
Listened to Big Red Machines’ new album. And like it.
I watched a video on how to wash your jeans because it was time.
Now I will grab the twins head to Kreuzberg, eat something with them and then meet some friends at a party to celebrate one of my most inspiring friends.
Thank you for reading. I hope you found something meaningful and please share if you liked it. Like always: Feedback is very much welcome. As we all know: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” (Ken Blanchard) 😉
Best and have a great week
Joerg