Lessons on Redesigning the (your) Future
Reflections on life changes (with lessons that may Venn across types of change).
Since 2020, I have been redesigning my life.
For context, I LOVED legos growing up, so this was really me playing with a huge box of “life” pieces, like I used to before getting ready for school as a young child.
What was my redesign foci?
Less actual stuff. More sustainable practice. Less consuming, more growing. Less predictable, more risk. Less emphasis on the result, more trust in the process…even (especially) when the process required opening deep personal chasms and missing badly on trusting people. Did a lot of both :)
The underlying superpower I chose to chase in this reinvention? Teleportation! Or rather, the ability to be anywhere at any time. Let’s call it “geo-calendar flexibility” (GCF) for those minds that enjoy abstracting to an acronym.
One lesson I learned quite over and again: maximizing flexibility (teleportation) can erode the feeling of being “grounded” - too much time without feet firmly planted in the familiar can stoke disassociation, which I felt when essentially living out of a car and on couches.
A second lesson that might be useful: manifesting a future is very similar to eating an elephant. One small bite after another, and not so suddenly (though time does have a way of compressing and snapping), the legos of that future snap into place.
And now, literally, I find myself at Dulles IAD, waiting to board a flight to Amsterdam, the home base location of my next project and whatever adventures will surely appear for someone hell-bent on a colorful life. Neither my sense nor my prioritization of adventuring this world have waned since childhood - one blessed with travel and exposure to my family culture and the broader world. So here we are, taking another startup turn in a new world with new people and a new vigor.
Yalla!
In the meantime, a few (more) things I learned the last few years while traipsing about the earth and making this Euro move reality:
Don’t trade options to fund a pre-seed stage startup. We had fun with that once, until it didn’t work and my personal finances went…backwards. Please don’t do this unless you are already rich, in which case definitely do NOT do this.
You might lose the map, the compass, your crew, and your boat….but as long as you have enough energy to float, you have a chance to find land again. Sometimes, just by floating, you find the land that suits you best.
It takes all seven highly effective habits to own your odds. I am woefully horrible at being all seven consistently, but I know people who are excellent at all seven, and those people create a magnificent volume of opportunities.
If you find the right door, but the key won’t turn, don’t abandon the door: just go find the right key.
The OODA loop is such a simple, sound concept for achieving your own version of clairvoyance. Practice until you can predict!
Being humble and hungry are much more powerful advantages with cash on hand; don’t burn your cash unless you want to be humbled, hungry, and broke :)
Betting on people is a great way to win even if the game you’re playing now isn’t the one you started back then. This is fundamentally why I love investing at early stages - bet on the jockey!
If you cannot create new resource memories - and I urge everyone to do so as a priority to mental health - lean on old ones during tough stretches.
Do NOT yell at yourself: plenty of others that will do so very willingly! Instead, give yourself a high-five…because you are killing it, all things considered.
Be generous with your time. It’s an investment in basic courtesy to others and a great way to build both trust and unexpected reciprocation (which doubles as a positive resource memory).
Almost time to fly again…