Time > Money

After years - years - of dithering, I signed up for Fancy Hands sometime around midnight on the Tuesday of a week during which my calendar, my inbox and my immune system all seemed to be conspiring against me.

It was similar to the situation that prompted me to sign up for Task Rabbit last year: three months of being silently mocked by the bag of clothes I'd earmarked for charity and which I failed, every single day, to deliver to Goodwill.

I quipped then that as I've gotten older, I've become more willing to exchange money for time. This continues to be true.

In the 19 hours or so since I coughed up for their basic service, the virtual assistants at Fancy Hands have:

• scheduled five meetings for me (which involved creating calendar invitations and sending them to all participants - this service is free with their subscriptions)

• sorted out a fairly involved but entirely solvable with a lot of Googling type-query that I've been putting off for not quite three months, but close. This is what I emailed my 'virtual assistant', whom I've dubbed (at least for the purposes of my address book) Patrick G Jeeves, to figure out "restaurants eligible for DiningDough.com AND Either 3.5+ (preferable 4) stars or higher on Yelp OR higher than a 7.5 Explorer rating on FourSquare." I also asked that the list include the Yelp and/or 4SQ link.

90 minutes later, "Ana R." replied with this list:

-Walkers Restaurant 4 out 5 starts out of 161 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTYGp (yelp.com) Categories: American (New), American (Traditional) 16 N Moore St (between Hudson St & Varick St) New York, NY 10013 Neighborhood: TriBeCa (212) 941-0142 http://fncy.it/1611f24 (walkersnyc.com)

-Ecco 4 out 5 stars out of 42 reviews http://fncy.it/1611f25 (yelp.com) Category: Italian 124 Chambers St (between Church St & Broadway) New York, NY 10007 Neighborhood: TriBeCa (212) 227-7074 http://fncy.it/1611han (eccorestaurantny.com)

-Le Pescadeux 4 out 5 stars out of 111 review http://fncy.it/1611hqA (yelp.com) Categories: Seafood, French 90 Thompson St (between Spring St & Prince St) New York, NY 10012

-Giorgio's of Gramercy 4 out 5 stars out of 306 reviews http://fncy.it/1611hqC (yelp.com) Categories: Italian, American (New) 27 E 21st St New York, NY 10011 Neighborhood: Flatiron (212) 477-0007 http://fncy.it/YJTYGv (giorgiosofgramercy.com)

-Kellari Taverna 3.5 out 5 stars out of 180 reviews http://fncy.it/1611f2d (yelp.com) Categories: Greek, Mediterranean, Seafood 19 W 44th St (between Avenue Of The Americas & 5th Ave) New York, NY 10036 Neighborhood: Midtown West (212) 221-0144 http://fncy.it/YJTYGw (kellariny.com)

-L'YBane 3.5 out 5 stars out of 90 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTVuh (yelp.com) Categories: Mediterranean, French, Wine Bars 709 8th Ave (between 44th St & 45th St) New York, NY 10036 Neighborhoods: Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West, Theater District (212) 582-2012 http://fncy.it/1611hXE (lybane.com)

-Acappella 4 out 5 stars out of 63 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTYGE (yelp.com) Category: Italian 1 Hudson St New York, NY 10013 Neighborhood: TriBeCa (212) 240-0163 http://fncy.it/YJTYGF (acappella-restaurant.com)

-Blue Planet Grill 3.5 out 5 stars out of 99 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTVuj (yelp.com) Categories: American (Traditional), Bars 120 Greenwich St (between Albany St & Carlisle St) New York, NY 10006 Neighborhood: Financial District (212) 571-1700 http://fncy.it/YJTVuk (blueplanetgrillnyc.com)

-India Place 4 out 5 stars out of 84 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTYWU (yelp.com) Categories: Indian, Vegetarian 655 Vanderbilt Ave (between Prospect Pl & Sterling Pl) Brooklyn, NY 11238 Neighborhood: Prospect Heights (718) 398-7776

-Ethos Gallery 51 4 out 5 stars out of 85 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTYWV (yelp.com) Category: Greek 905 1st Ave (between 50th St & 51st St) New York, NY 10022 Neighborhood: Midtown East (212) 888-4060 http://fncy.it/1611hqT (ethosrestaurants.com)

-Benito One The Original 4 out 5 stars out of 55 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTVuo (yelp.com) Category: Italian 174 Mulberry St (between Broome St & Grand St) New York, NY 10013 Neighborhood: Little Italy (212) 226-9171 http://fncy.it/YJTVuq (benitoone.com)

-Cafe Espanol 3.5 out 5 stars out of 105 reviews http://fncy.it/1611hHc (yelp.com) Categories: Spanish, Basque 78 Carmine St (between S 7th Ave & Bleecker St) New York, NY 10014 Neighborhood: West Village (212) 675-3312 http://fncy.it/1611hXR (ordercafeespanol.com)

-Cercle Rouge 3.5 out 5 stars out of 113 reviews http://fncy.it/YJTVuu (yelp.com) Categories: French, American (Traditional) 241 W Broadway (between Beach St & Moore St) New York, NY 10013 Neighborhood: TriBeCa (212) 226-6252 http://fncy.it/YJTYXa (cerclerougeresto.com)

Brilliant. Next step, reservations.

With all due intent...

Don't join a gym this January. Seriously. Gyms aren't so much about helping you get fitter as they are about raking in profits by maximizing their total membership, and minimizing their active base.

And I say this as a hard-core gym-goer who's spent many thousands of dollars/euros/pounds on personal training and gym memberships over the years.

Take a yoga class. Try a self-defense course. Start running. Take the stairs. Get off one stop early. Buy some weights or a suspension system. Attempt the 100 push-up challenge. Try bodyweight exercises or P90X.

Any one of those options will set you back less than the cost of a one-month gym membership. And your sunk costs will be considerably lower if you flake out by February.

But whatever you decide, you might want to wait before you tell anyone lest the Gollowitzer principle undermine your very best intentions. There's a very watchable TED talk by Derek Siverson the subject, if you're so inclined.

Writing goals down, though. That's cool. If somewhat unscientific. Writing your goals down in a Moleskine probably wouldn't help you get them done any faster, though. Or if pen-on-paper isn't your thing, or you prefer recording achievements (ahem, Gollwitzer) iDoneThis might be of interest. And if even email is too old school, Streaks.

May you achieve at least 50% of your resolutions, etc.

This post first appeared, with links and other content not included here, in the Galavant Times on Jan 5 2012.

And after egg nog and Taboo, everyone signed up for a half-marathon

These are things that happen when your friends and neighbours are open-minded, broadly athletic and generally fun.

You agree, over Christmas dinner and drinks and cake and games of Taboo and charades, because of a chance 'how about we', to run a half-marathon in 2013.

This leads to a discussion of training regimes and running clubs.

Which reminds you that there are two 30-40 mile bike rides you want to do next year.

So here's what 2013 looks like, from a 'this seemed like such a good idea at the time' perspective:

Run

2 runs/week with Woodside-Sunnyside Running Club

5K by March

10K by June

Half-marathon by December

Bike

TD Five Boro Bike Tour - May 5

Ride to Montauk - May 18

Yoga

Yoga (asana practice) every day in January

Start Ashtanga practice - Feb 1

Start Iyengar practice - Mar 1

Updates as they happen.

You have done nothing with your life

It's TED season. The interwebs are afire with links to and discussions of slickly-produced inspirational vidoes, each delivered by Someone Who Is More Accomplished Than You Will Ever Be (But That's Ok).

I have a love-hate relationship with TED (which stands for 'Technology, Entertainment and Design'). I confess to having sent Sheryl Sandberg's TED talk to many a high-achieving female friend, for instance. And I'd recommend the TED talk by Daniel Kahneman on experience vs memory; Benjamin Zander on music and passion; Rory Sutherland on advertising.

But here's the things about TED (ok, a few things) that make me uneasy.

One, while its marketing machine is slicker than most, it does not have a monopology on interestingness-and-inspiration-caputured-on-well-produced-video. Into design? There's Build. Future of education? Learning without frontiers. Pop and intellecutal zeitgiest (as defined by Google)? Google Talks.

Two, TED is the very definition of elites networking with and talking to other elites - access to the main conference (as distinct from the TEDx offshoots) costs $6,000 and is invite-only. If you haven't been invited (or don't have $6,000) but still want to see the talks in real time, a "TED Live" subscription will set you back at least $995. And TED does not post all of its videos online, only those that get high audience ratings. So: if you're not invited or don't pay for TED Live, only those vidoes that the self-selecting TED elite liked will be made available to the masses. Given that the TED slogan is "ideas worth spreading", this fact ought to give one pause. The groupthink goes on.

Three, partly because if its exclusivity, TED creates a pretty toxic mythology for a conference that wants to change the world: the idea that being invited to TED as a speaker to deliver a headline talk represents the very pinnacle of achievement. A pinnacle that is unattainable for most, and one that necessarily privileges gifted orators over less impressive speakers. I call this the "You have done nothing with your life" fallacy.

Four, most TED talks fit into a pretty well-defined template.

Five, TED pays lipservice to creativity and free thinking, but the organisation itself punishes dissent, as Sarah Silverman learnt to her cost.

TED receives much less mainstream criticism than say, Davos. But the events (and the people who attend them) are more similar than the organisers of either might necessarily acknowledge. But we all should.

The full version of this post - with links, references and additional paragraphs not included here - first appeared in the Galavant Times on March 5 2012.

What I'm reading: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

It's been a while since I've been properly delighted by a book.

The author, Robin Sloan, described Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore as "a novel about books and technology, cryptography and conspiracy, friendship and love".

I'd first encountered Sloan's work via Fish, 'an interesting mix of app and essay', an interactive experience I enjoyed.

But I read Penumbra in old-school text-on-a-page format (thanks to James Gross' support of the Percolate library); appropriately, perhaps, given that so much of Penumbra is about printed books.

There's so much about this book I loved: wonky discussions of typography; characters so vividly sketched I could easily imagine having them over for coffee and spirited conversation; a reference to a secret passageway that delighted my inner fantasy-epic-devouring-fourteen-year-old. HackerNews makes an appearance, as does the Googleplex.

I'll cite one of the book's closing epigrams here, because it gives a sense of the life-affirming nature of the work:

“There is no immortality that is not built on friendship and work done with care.”

Go read it. And get it in print. Not just because the cover glows in the dark.

The Amazon link is an affiliate link, which means that if you click through and purchase the book, I'll get a tiny percentage of what you spent - at no cost to you - which I will inevitably use to buy more books.

If I am too busy for yoga, I am too busy

I need to run more, so today I added a new habit to my Lift profile.

But before I added the habit, I had to decide on what I wanted to pursue:

Initial goal: daily 5k. Immediate mental pushback: seriously, when are you going to fit that in? 3 miles? Are you sure? Do you really have the time to commit to that every day? Also, it's getting cold and Blink is packed on evenings. How early do you want to wake up, seriously?  
Revised to: 30 minute run. Monologue: Hmm, maybe, but still a tricky one to fit in - not easy to do a lunchtime run and still be back in an hour.
End result: 20 minute run. Monologue: Okay, this isn't wildly ambitious. This could work. Let's do that.

There were other thoughts. Like: you haven't run a decent 5k in weeks! Months, even! Why not start smaller? 

Which was, for me, an interesting departure from my usual approach - go big, all-in, buy all the gear. book all the classes, DO ALL THE THINGS.

Because I've come to realize that I don't want to do all the things, and crucially, I no longer care about maintaining the appearance thereof.

But I do want to meditate. I want to practice yoga every day. I want to spend more time with friends and family. I want to get through that pile of books and magazines and articles to which I add almost daily. I want to write more. I want to fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing on tropical beaches. I want to make contributions that are bigger than me.

And when I look at my schedule and I can't fit in a yoga practice because I've scheduled a 7.30am breakfast meeting and am attending an 8pm Skillshare session, I realize I am doing it wrong. 

Do less, do better. Be better.

#riptilt

One year ago I lost my team. A team that had built an ambitious project in record time with limited resources and unending reserves of wit, humour, intelligence and perseverance. 

I learnt more about management and building a product from those frantic, stressful, delightful, intense, rewarding, frustrating few months I spent working with Alex, Alastair, Denise, Hannah, Rina, Sid, Tom and Vivianne and Ranjan than in all the years I spent at the FT prior. 

Those months taught me about design, development, pricing, customer relations, corporate politics, HR, tax laws around the world, media, publishing, the power and value of imagination, hiring, firing, internal and external communications, the absolute imperative of honesty and transparency and good faith in dealing with your team and your colleagues, human nature, and - of course - failure.

I learnt never to take loyalty - Darcy, Garcia, McDermott - for granted, because there are colleagues who will happily leak the news that your project was getting shut down before you even had a chance to brief your team. I learnt that people you've never met or worked with will defend and fight for you while others who you helped and supported will grinfuck and undermine you at every turn.

I learnt that what matters most at the end is the enduring friendships.

Tilt is dead. Long live the Tilt alumni.

An improbable number of Tilt alumni meeting for brunch in NYC. Also present but not represented in the pic: Rina. 

Nothing routine about it

Lavender incense. Ravi Shankar's Chants of India on surround sound. Ambient lighting. Tea. I could scarce be more relaxed.

And I wonder, why don't I do this more often? Where this = downtime. Chill out time. Only-one-browser-tab-open-and-it's-the-one-I'm--composing-this-post-in time. 

I get busy. I get caught up. I get sucked into the clicking and the scrolling and the emailing and the constant monitoring of Asana and the checking of and for replies, mentions, reblogs, retweets. Those little hits of dopamine. Those bursts of activity that are more appearance of busy than real productivity.

I have to step out of the busy to get into the zone. Flow requires a presence of mind and an intentionality, a focus, that I cannot attain unless I take a deep breath, don some headphones and turn up some Damian (when deadlines loom) or some Shankar or whatever ambient action Songza serves up. 

Flow requires rest. Downtime. Critical and emotional distance. None of which I sufficiently prioritize.

But sometimes I come home and take a deep breath or five and break out the sitar music and the lavender incense and the jasmine silver needle tea. And I remember, again, that balance is about opposition, too.

A life in beta., continued.

Inbox zero and other stories

I've been using Lift - think of it as a foursquare for habits - since its public launch about two weeks ago: 

(Some of) my lift habits

If nothing else it's reinforced how competitive I am - and that the person I compete with (or against) most is myself. (One of my goals is 'write blog post', and I want to get this post in before midnight to I can check it off in Lift...)

It's also a daily indicator of how I am, or am not, prioritizing. Yoga: winning. Meditate: not so much. Some irony in that one of the habits for which I have zero checkins so far is "prioritize my day".

I am also crushing inbox zero for both my work and main personal inbox. But am still months behind on emails, because I don't include - or regularly check - the two other accounts to which most of my friends-and-family emails go. Which is (another) clear priority fail.

And there are the things I haven't put on the list: run; bike to work; write down one thing every day for which I am grateful (working on just saying this aloud, daily). Read a book every week. 

In this vein I tried the 3 Tiny Habits course by Dr BJ Fogg, with mixed results. My intended habits were (are):

After I wake up, I will not pick up my phone until I meditate for three breaths.
After every email I send, I will take a deep breath and relax.
Before I go to sleep, I will write down one thing I'm grateful for today.

And because I belong to the throw-a-book-at-the-problem school, I bought Eknath Easwaran's text on passage meditation. Which I have started reading. But not finished. Or using. Yet.

(I realize and acknowledge  I sometimes buy books with the same motivations for which I use time-shifting apps like Instapaper.)

I don't want to add too many goals to Lift; or at least, I don't want to add more goals to Lift before the ones currently there become habits.

Like this 'write blog post' situation.

Bigger than this

I think a lot about scale.

How do you make a contribution that outlasts your presence in the room or your tenure at a given organization? Contributions that are bigger than yourself?

How do you build systems that work for teams of 8 or 80? How do you ensure  there is no single point of failure? That no one person is mission-critical? That everyone on the team feels empowered to achieve his goals, that no one feels micromanaged? 

What's the relationship between scale and impact?

I say this a lot and I continue to find it to be true: people don't scale but processes do.

People can make a difference - they can confound stereotypes, for instance - but it takes changes in process to ensure that the next batch of hires is more diverse.

I've been thinking about this more and more as I get older, which has correlated positively with the number and complexity of the management and leadership roles I've held.

And I think a lot about the importance of media and message to achieving scale  - this, I believe, is the nexus of scale and impact.

Word. Sound. Power.