start again today no. 84: the flow of a year 🌊

a template for energy mgmt, outlive, whitespace, Damodaran, American Dynamism

I’m not great at sequencing things. I think that’s why I’m drawn to yoga. There’s a sequence to the class and each movement.

One of my favorite teachers reminds us at the beginning of each vinyasa:

Look forward

Find your feet

Come up to stand

Head comes up last

There’s a set process, but you still have to find your own way.

Last year, I set out to answer one question:

What is the flow of a year?

As an operator, go mode was the default setting. And in the blur of 2020-2022, I lost my sense of rhythm. So at the end of 2022 I activated hibernation mode, gave into rest, silenced my social media notifications, and curled up in bed with a stack of books for the better part of 10 days.

I spent 2023 going with the flow and observing/considering:

• Pushing, resting, writing, reading, being heads down, socializing…what happens/should happen when?

• What preparation and follow up do different activities take?

• What gives me energy? What takes it away?

• Thinking longterm, what is a good use of time?

I used those questions to map out v1 of a visual flow of the year.

1. determine amount of available energy

In my case I assumed 8 hours of sleep per night (🤞🏽😴) and that every week of the year is fair game.

2. create units of energy

This is the first year I kept it simple with one unit equal to eight hours. It lacks nuance but I will refine in years ahead.

3. list priorities

Before the break, a new friend shared that he ends each year by listing out what gives him energy, and what takes it away.

I thought about priorities across self, family, craft, learning and community and made an overly simplified short list of what energizes me, force-ranked it by priority, and set a goal for each item on the list. v2 is (probably) layering in more detail.

4. fill in peak moments

I listed out every week of the year, and started to fill in energy allocation for the big weeks: 8yo’s birthday week, sprints at work for LP meetings, conferences, major deadlines.

I kept the constraint of the available hours of energy each week in mind, and thought about what balance I want to achieve to be able to give my best (and hopefully enjoy!) those peak moments.

5. add buffer weeks

After filling in big weeks that will require 100% energy, I added buffer weeks where I may need to balance by shifting focus to a different priority (eg blocking a day to prep for deep work) or get more rest. I also added in admin time at the beginning of each quarter in part to reflect on the 3 months behind/ahead. I borrowed this idea from 10x is greater than 2x which highlights the importance of a balance of performance days, practice/rehearsal days and rejuvenation days.

6. (optional) create a mantra

I’m bringing fearless energy into 2024, and wanted to constant reminder 😊

7. wait

Let sit for 3-5 days then review, refine, and transfer to goal tracker + calendar.

My yoga ritual I started during the pandemic. For months, the owner would tape outlines for mats on the floor to enforce social distancing, limiting classes to 6 people at a time. At the beginning of each class he’d say:

Start slow, we’ll build a flow.

190 classes in I’ve grown, and so has the studio. As the world reopened, they gradually added more mats in the room, classes to the schedule and teachers to the rotation.

Today, they’re in a new space, with 30 classes a week, running and book clubs, monthly clinics on everything from handstands to mental health, a product mix that boasts power yoga, yin, pilates and sound bath, and devout followers.

They’ve rebuilt patiently, simply, 1% progress each day/week.

I’m excited to do the same in the year ahead.

What I read this week

outlive - Peter Attia

Longevity has two components. The first is how long you live, your chronological lifespan, but the second and equally important part is how well you live-the quality of your years. This is called healthspan.

100 pieces of advice from 10 years of first round review - Steve El Hage, founder of DROP on first time founder lessons

Founders need to take responsibility for their own burnout and make sure it’s actively managed, like a KPI of the company — and try to do the same for their team.

whitespace for building a marketplace - Sarah Tavel, GP, Benchmark

White space is all around us. We just aren’t taught to go looking for it within the marketplaces we think have “already done it.”

Damodaran on valuation - Aswath Damodaran, NYU

There are three ways in which our views on a company (and the biases we have) can manifest themselves in value. The first is in the inputs we use in the valuation. The path we choose will reflect our prior biases. The second is post-valuation tinkering, where analysts revisit assumptions after a valuation in an attempt to get a value closer to what they have expected to obtain starting off. The third is to leave the value as is but attribute the difference between the value we think is the right one to a qualitative factor such as synergy or strategic considerations.

BLCK VC community spotlight - Nasir Qadree, GP & Founder, Zeal Capital

We are in a renaissance era for aspiring and current black fund managers.

Anduril, SpaceX and the American Dynamism GTM playbook - Sacra

See you in the flow,

H

cowork | cycle tue/thu

flow notes

1. I realize that nothing goes to plan, which is part of the reason I wanted to create a zoomed out, less task oriented view of the year.

2. Lots of my goals support each other. Reading/writing complements work, family, and exercise. Work is social and social is often work. Etc.

3. I took inspiration from a lot of stuff I’ve read recently, including

   1. 10x is easier than 2x (#83)

   2. how many vacation days does it take to change a lightbulb (#81)

   3. yoga (#76)

   4. eating frogs - flow.club

4. Before I created this, I…

   1. did a detailed breakdown of key results for work that ladder up to the higher level goal

   2. evaluated what 20% of activities would be highest impact to achieve 80% of that goal

   3. estimated how much time each of those goals would take on a weekly basis eg

Just a v1, would love thoughts/reactions!