This post is being drafted from beautiful Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Since we’re on vacation it’s much shorter than usual, but I was going to post this to LinkedIn last night and I realized that it was more or less a micro-update. I hope everyone has a great Spring Break! 

Today I did a hard (for me) thing. I don’t have great balance on the whole. I have wide feet with high arches. 

This makes skiiing a tough choice for me. Rental gear rarely fits well, and by well I mean it rarely produces anything less than excruciating pain. I’m clumsy on ice and fall a lot. It just doesn’t come naturally to me (and snowboarding isn’t much better.) 

But as the bruises and aches can attest I did ski today. I learned, I improved, and I survived. I even had fun. Sure, I’d love to keep up with my family but that’s a lot more lessons and practice away. For now, I’m happy to have taken the challenge and learned to (somewhat) enjoy something my family enjoys very much. 

So let me encourage you with two things today: 

1. Take the challenge! Try something new and push yourself. Let me know what you do! 

2. For those with a family or a partner, find something they enjoy and make it something you can enjoy (even just a little) too.

​​

Fun

With two startups trying to launch and one trying to raise a round of funding, things are hectic right now for a team of one. In a typical year, I’d be volunteering as an election clerk, happy to take calls with new startups that are looking for a user experience interview, and volunteering with my kids’ various activities. When I was a Senior Director running an 80-person engineering organization, my calendar was often booked completely solid from the start of business to the end of the workday, and at least one day a week booked again from the kids’ bedtime to my bedtime with Tokyo meetings. It was standing room only in my calendar.

One of the biggest realizations I had over the last few years is that managers and executives need maker time, too. Scheduling my time to work on proposals, budgets, performance reviews, and more was a requirement. I had to actively manage my calendar, not allow it to manage me. I’d take a stab at how long a particular task would take, block out time on my calendar to accomplish it, and invariably move that around as meetings came onto my calendar. The great thing about seeing it visibly on the calendar as I rearranged things to accommodate people was that I could visually (and viscerally) know I was delaying my deliverables and work. 

Now that I’m solo and working with several startups, having ChatGPT and CoPilot has made me much more productive, but I still have to pay attention to my daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals. I’d be lost entirely without those goal trackers and a to-do list. Occasionally, I’ll get away from tracking and prioritizing things and find myself just flailing from one urgent item to the next with loads of anxiety. Sitting down, writing everything down, prioritizing, delegating, dropping, and executing on items always gives me more peace, and things get back on track quickly.

Slipping Into a Traumaversary

As we approach the one-year mark since the Indeed layoff, I want to warn about the concept of the “traumaversary.” It’s a well-documented (even if not wholly provable) phenomenon in raising adopted children and others who experience significant traumas. Many situations can trigger feelings of loss, anger, sadness, and more throughout the year. I’ve seen birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, and so much more trigger those feelings. So, as the first anniversary approaches, plan to do something for yourself. 

Slip or Slide?

One of the startups I’m working with has offered me the full-time CTO role starting at the end of my current contract. Having contracted for almost six months, I’m debating whether to remain a fractional CTO or dive head-first into a dedicated role. I love the team. I’m enjoying the product. We have funding and will be on track to secure more this summer. All signs point to joining. I could just slide right into that team quite easily.

But being a fractional CTO has a few perks. The cash compensation is better (if I can continue to secure enough contracts). I have more control over when and how much I work. I also get to work with several teams at the same time. 

I’m torn between the two opportunities. So, it’s time to consult my “personal board of directors.” I have a few close friends I regularly meet with when I have big decisions. We catch up other times to hang out and chat about other stuff, too, but occasionally, I will ask them for lunch, beer, or coffee with a clear agenda. My board of directors comprises several people from different perspectives, and each plays a slightly different mix of roles in my decision-making process.

A few are close friends with a similar spiritual background, and they help me consider how my relationship with Christ may guide my decision. A few others know the business and technology scene inside and out and can help me guess the challenges I’m likely to face and my chances of success. Last, but certainly not least, a few others give me guidance on choosing well with regard to my family and obligations to my children. 

I’ve had this kitchen cabinet for years now, and they’ve helped me through a lot of hard decisions. I highly recommend the process, and if I can be this sort of mirror for any of you please reach out.

Fun

Indeed grew their headcount by 750% over my seven years there. We interviewed tens of thousands of people across hundreds of roles. Hiring was vital to the engineering leadership role when we were in hypergrowth from 2016 to 2020. I interviewed hundreds, maybe even a thousand people, but ultimately, hiring wasn’t personal. It was a part of building teams, finding the talent we needed, and unlocking new possibilities for the company. It’s just business.

Now that I’m working with early-stage startups, hiring is incredibly personal. These teams are going from founders to hiring their first employees. One of the startups I’m partnering with has hired a Lead UX Designer and a Head of Product and is actively recruiting a Founding Engineer and a few engineering contractors. We’re building the minimal product at the same time that we create the minimal team. 

Joining an early-stage startup is an entirely different proposition from joining a multi-billion dollar, profitable, established company. Convincing engineers and others to jump ship from the (relative) safety of a prominent organization in this climate has been challenging (to say the least.) The good news is that there continue to be people who want to test their mettle by jumping into the startup world. 

Get in the arena

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

This quote was something we used as a badge of honor for leaders of projects in the Indeed Incubator. It’s a good reminder, no matter what challenge you are facing, to face it head-on. I know startups are not for everyone, and that’s fine. But everyone has a challenge in front of them: personal, professional, or something else entirely. Challenging yourself and overcoming or learning from that challenge is what matters. 

Each one mentors one

Interviewing is time-consuming. A friend just mentioned getting 700 applicants for an unposted software opening. There’s a lot of work to go through 700 applicants, even if you don’t personally interview each one. One of the best techniques for scaling your recruiting efforts (in addition to many other areas of your business) is to have “each one teach one.” 

Implementing a mentorship program (apprenticeship, shadows, succession planning, all just different flavors of the same ice cream) is an incredible tool for providing growth, resiliency, and continued alignment within your organization. Hiring is a beneficial area for mentorship because it will give you two sets of eyes on key interviews and candidates. Often a second person in the room comes away with very different perception on the strengths, weaknesses, or biases of the candidate.

The key to any good mentorship program is to have clear goals and measures so that you know when the mentorship is complete (and to move in that direction with clarity and purpose.) For example, getting interviewers to a place where they can confidently lead interviews and evaluate talent is an excellent unlock to doubling your interview capacity. 

Fun

I never wanted to be fully remote. As an engineer, I recognized that the ability to work from home was there once the high-speed internet became ubiquitous and most company services were accessible via VPN. Going heads down for most of the day on challenging code was incredible. However, I needed the in-person interaction to get code reviews, feedback on designs, and to stay connected to my team. “Maker time” (dedicated time to focus and stay in a flow state) was key.

After I moved into management, I had less interest in being remote. My ability to quickly connect with my team members and peers, get everyone in a room and discuss issues, and connect easily trumped my desire to avoid the commute. Plus, I didn’t need “maker time” nearly as much anymore; “manager time” (collaboration and discussion primarily) worked great at the office. 

I interviewed for a fully remote role in 2015 but didn’t want to be a manager and only see my team face-to-face a handful of times each year. And then 2020 came around. By then, I had been managing teams in Tokyo and Seattle and only seeing them a few times per year (although I had leaders in each location who saw them much more often, of course.) Like everyone else, I was thrown into fully remote management. I still think it’s less ideal for managers and a boon for engineers, which is why I particularly like a version of hybrid that allows everyone flexibility to come in when it’s convenient for them. However, we’re all still figuring this out and probably will be for another decade.

In-person collaboration

As we get closer to launching the stealth startup, the team has been increasing the face-to-face time. Even working side by side for half the day the other day, I realized several topics I hadn’t discussed with the team. A few minutes later, those were put to bed. It was a good reminder that the speed & seriousness of conversation should be directly proportional to the fidelity of the conversation. 

• If you want to go fast, get the smallest group of people necessary into a synchronous conversation on the topic.
• A face-to-face conversation is best if the material you’re discussing is sensitive (performance management, for example).
• Email can be an excellent medium if you can wait more than a day for the answer.
• If you are blocked by something and need a reply today but not immediately, instant messaging/Slack/SMS works well.

Work → Social

Concerning work-from-home, the cat is out of the bag in the long term. Aside from highly regulated industries (security, finance, etc.), for those of us in tech, we will have some work-from-home component to our jobs for the foreseeable future. And honestly, it’s good. The balance of picking up my kids from school, enjoying lunch with my wife, and (thinking about) working out has generally been a good addition. 

While I enjoyed the work relationships I built over the last 20 years, ultimately, we were never much more than “work friends” in most cases. I knew about their kids, birthdays (sometimes), and vacations, but for most of them, the main thing that brought us together was work. Occasionally, I’d make a longer-term friendship around another shared interest (Broadway, baseball, board games, our kids/spouses, etc.). But that was rare.

Since COVID sent us all to work from home in 2020, I’ve leaned more toward my “non-work friends.” We already had friends in our neighborhood, through our church, and through shared activities (primarily kids’ sports). It’s been challenging to make this transition, but the reward of having friends who supported me in the layoff and transition to a fractional CTO has been incredible.

Fun

Last week, I explained my role as a CTO/lead developer on HeatCheck and as a Tech Executive Coach. In addition, I’ve also been working with a startup still in stealth mode, and a property tech company that had almost no technology team before I joined. Each of these companies needs something slightly different from me. For HeatCheck, I’m setting technical direction and implementing solutions in green field space. For the Tech Exec Accelerator, I’m writing training and coaching leaders. For the stealth-mode startup, I’ve been their product lead, and now I’m recruiting (more on that in a moment.) For the property tech company, I’m providing technical direction across an existing (albeit fledgling) business.

It struck me tonight that the sum of these parts was the best part of my last job. Setting product and technical direction, recruiting teams, and coaching individuals. I get to do that with a lot less email, meetings, and commute these days. Of course, none of these projects stays the same very long. They start with product leadership, merge into recruiting, and very soon if all goes well, I’ll be leading a team of engineers and designers to build and launch a new application. Let’s talk about recruiting for a minute.

Stealthy Recruiting

Stealth-mode startups are a funny thing. You’re constantly in this limbo between sharing too little to garner interest and divulging too much that scares people off. This is a startup, after all, and by definition, “startups are bad businesses.” They aren’t suitable for everyone. Even if you are right for a startup, sometimes the timing is off. I had a two-month-old when I joined Bazaarvoice nearly 17 years ago. My wife did not understand. Thankfully, I had good counsel, and that turned out for the better.

Now, I’m the engineering leader, pulling in the initial critical roles to “prime the pump” on this team. We’re trying to fill the key roles of a contract product UX designer and a founding engineer. I’ve had to break my days/work up into smaller compartments to keep track of all of the candidates, interviews, and emails necessary to do this. (I had gotten very spoiled by the support of great Talent Acquisition partners over the last few decades.)

Wall Time vs Company Time

One of the most unexpected observations came when I started working with the property tech startup at a quarter-time rate. They needed technical guidance, but due to budgets (both theirs and also in my capacity), we could only align on a quarter-time contract. That means, each week, I get approximately 8-10 hours of work on their project. So, over the last two months, I’ve logged approximately 8-10 days’ worth of work for them. Meanwhile, they’ve moved the entire company forward by two months. The impedance mismatch between those has led me to do things differently:

1. I didn’t go through as much rigor in the product definition and feature set analysis as I usually would have to validate the needs and designs.
2. I am ruthlessly prioritizing work and using automated tools like ChatGPT liberally to speed up my development, writing, and more.
3. I’m careful to remind myself that I’m quarter-time, and I’m still finishing “week two” on this project, not week nine like my mind wants to believe.

Trying to keep up with the rest of the team and company is a fun challenge. To keep pushing to do the engineering work faster, more efficiently, cheaper, etc., is a skill not practiced in a long time in software engineering (for the most part), but that’s a topic for another day.

Fun

I had a hard time processing the video shared by Brittany Pietsch this week, and it pushed me to think more about my layoff. I had generally reached the “acceptance stage” (Kubler-Ross stages of grief model: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) for the layoff, but that video pulled me back into the anger range again briefly. Thankfully, I’m now 9+ months removed from the layoff, and those feelings didn’t last too long. Afterward, I had a (somewhat) new revelation: Indeed’s layoff pushed me to do something I would probably have never done on my own, even though I had considered it for a long time. Starting my own company and contracting with several different companies (simultaneously, no less) has been one of the most growth-inducing moves in my career. 

This week and next, I wanted to share about the projects I’ve been working on the last few months. I’ve alluded to them previously, and at least one is still in stealth mode, but the fractional CTO/consulting world is a new one for me so hopefully sharing learnings from this will help others decide when/if to make the jump that I should have more seriously considered years ago. 

The truth is that this work is not that different than my last role at Indeed. There I was leading between seven and 15 teams working on early stage new product innovation. I helped coordinate staffing, budgets, roadmaps, architecture, alignment, and much more. The biggest difference now is that I don’t have a support staff to help me do all of this. I always ran a lean organization, but I also preached as often as I could that “a team of one was no team at all.” But that’s where I am right now. Let’s start back in April of 2023 with the first post-Indeed project I took up.

Commiseration & Encouragement

The day I was laid off, I reached out to two good friends. One invited me out for a beer that afternoon/evening, and the other said “let’s grab coffee in the morning.” Both were exactly what I needed. A chance to vent, commiserate, and complain in a safe space, and then quickly a place to move into brainstorming what’s next and action. In fact, over coffee the friend explained that he had started HeatCheck just a few months before and had been building the MVP with WordPress and ChatGPT. I took a few weeks to think things over and since I had no serious job prospects, figured that sharpening my development skills by rebuilding his application on a more scalable, flexible platform would be a good challenge. Over the course of about a month of work I was able to build the application (including all of the Stripe integration and Progressive Web App hooks.) Not too bad for a rusty old programmer with a fair amount of support from Github’s Copilot. 

I took a break from building this to take the family on vacation, and when I came back finished off the mobile applications (iOS & Android) and started preparing for a more public launch. As we speak we’re preparing the last bits of data for several more sports (Baseball, Softball and more), and working on a Gmail integration for emails & notifications. This project has been a great push to get my hands on code, deployments, monitoring, and all of the nuts and bolts of shipping software that I had gotten so far removed from.

I <3 Coaching

I started my career teaching due to the Dot-Com Crash in the early 2000’s right as I was graduating with a Computer Science degree, specializing in web development. That meant there were little to no web development jobs, and post 9/11 most of the software jobs I was seeing were in Defense related companies that I had no interest in joining. I got the chance to teach Visual Basic and Java over the next year and a half while working on my Masters degree in Information Science & Technology (effectively Applied Computer Science & Management combined). I really enjoyed teaching and always thought that it might be interesting to go back to that space again another time. 

In August I was approached by Emergent Execs (an executive coaching firm here in Austin I had used previously to help train new managers) to help develop a Technical Executive Accellerator curriculum. Over the next few months I wrote a synopsis of the course, dug through existing executive coaching materials, and consulted friends to see what topics I had to include in this training. We’re now thick into the sales and marketing phase of the program launch. Meeting with prospective attendees to see if they are a good fit, would be interested, and have budget for such a program.

I’m excited to share my experiences and materials with managers, directors, VPs, and CTOs in product, engineering, and UX over the next six months. I really want the course to be an accellerant for people’s careers and a meaningful improvement to the teams’ they lead. More than anything, I’m excited to be coaching individuals one-on-one again, as that’s one of the things I miss most post-Indeed.

Fun

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024. It’s time to start a new journal. I’ve kept journals for over 10 years and have notes from my time at Bazaarvoice in 2010, maybe even earlier if I look hard enough. They’re helpful for reflection, and occasionally, there’s something I did previously that I cannot find in my brain but still exists on paper in a journal somewhere. Thanks to Bullet journaling, I have an index and page numbers, and the whole journal is more or less chronological, so finding something I’m interested in is generally possible.

However, in the last few years, I have moved away from pen and paper for my daily journals. I still love the tactile feel of a good journal and a great pen, but the simplicity of the Remarkable for me to be able to have all of my journals (personal, work, 1:1s, church, and more) at my fingertips at any time is too much to ignore. I switched to the Remarkable when I got mine back in late 2021 and never looked back (except for travel journaling, but that’s different.) 

Anyway, I digress. I wanted to tell the story of how vital writing has been to processing all of the changes that 2023 brought. This weekly journal has been an outlet for how things are going, a way to keep up with those going through it alongside me, and simultaneously a way to connect with others beyond my immediate network. Journaling has been incredibly important as 2024 came around, and every contact I have went into hyperdrive (recharged after the holidays, or ambitious to get stuff done early in 2024…who can say.) So, today’s focus is handling the full steam ahead of the New Year charge.

Acknowledgment

Like clockwork, every year in January, the gyms are packed. Recruiting (usually) kicks into high gear as new annual budgets open up and everyone returns from the holiday break. And those returning to the office have a renewed vigor to dive back into work. It all culminates in a lot of action, but what progress? 

Some people set annual goals before the New Year celebration, while others wait until after, but no matter when you set the goal, the question is how you will track and obtain those goals. Many frameworks exist – OKRs, KPIs, MBOs, BHAGs, etc. Ultimately, they are all just tools. The question is how to communicate those goals so that they’re understood clearly and how will you track the progress to know if things are working.

I know this will ruffle some feathers, but I believe OKRs are the worst form of goal tracking – except for all the others I’ve tried. I appreciate OKRs for their inclusiveness when you take the time to communicate high-level objectives and listen as the objectives and key results (the O & KRs) trickle back up. It takes time to get them right, which takes planning and preparation. But, if you 1) avoid setting overly aggressive Key Results (realistic goals work fine, and you can even recognize overachieving), 2) allow your team to adjust OKRs (within reason) when appropriate, and 3) don’t abuse OKRs by driving them to the individual level or use them for individual performance management, I believe you’ll get a lot of mileage out of OKRs. Here’s a good tip (5m read) for teams trying to improve their OKR game.

Mistakes were made

Mistake #41 is missing week 41. Due to the aforementioned busyness of the New Year, the week just flew by, and I didn’t get a newsletter published. 

More mistakes were made

For week #42, I wanted to discuss something personal. My wife and I have been married for over 20 years, but only in the last year (since the layoff, really), have we taken the time to collaborate deliberately. In the hecticness of raising four kids (yes, really) between the ages of 8 and 16, we had gotten into a routine of drive-by co-parenting. What I mean by that is that we were just rapidly throwing out items for discussion/planning/execution as we thought of them, rather than being intentional about how we planned our lives. Starting last year we moved to a model where we have a weekly meeting to discuss how things are going, and I borrowed heavily from a structure we refined for team meetings. It looks a bit like this:

Agenda

Agenda items that we have not yet scheduled, discussed or returned to. Copied to the Notes section each meeting as the start of the agenda for that meeting. This can be sorted, or sorted at the start of each meeting.

• Item A
• Item B
• Etc.

Action Items

Updated each week with the set of action items that are still remaining, due dates, assignees, etc.

Mine

• Item 1 (Jan 15)
• Item 2 (Jan 31)

Hers

• Item 3 (Jan 16)
• Item 4 (Feb 1)

Notes

Running history of meeting notes. Dated. Completed action items since last meeting are copied here.

Jan 10, 2024

• Item A
  • Notes from our discussion of Item A
• Item B
  • Notes from our discussion of Item B
  • Decisions are noted. Action items are too, and then put in the lists above.
• Completed action items (items completed since the last meeting, or in this meeting.)
  • Item 5 (Jan 1)

This structure was excellent for team leadership meetings, 1:1s, and other meetings. The only thing not covered here is “quick discussions” and “longer topics.” Pulling quick discussion to the top, and more extended topics get a scheduled date for discussion (along with assigning pre-work if needed to attendees,) makes sure that there is dedicated time for discussions that might otherwise always get pushed out.

Fun

This week’s post will be extra short. It’s late, and we’ve been busy celebrating Christmas and trekking all over the United States to see family. I just didn’t want the streak to be broken, and we’re at 40 weeks now, which is no small thing. I hope everyone who had a joyful Christmas (if you celebrate.) And for those celebrating other holidays this time of year (Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or something I’ve missed,) I hope you enjoy a wonderful time of food, friends, family, and fun. As we wind down 2023 and look forward to 2024, I hope you look on with excitement for good things to come.

Encouragement

I have no idea what 2024 holds. I’m not one for resolutions or predictions. Here’s what I am hoping for, though:

1. A return to a more normal tech industry (reasonable hiring and growth.)
2. A gentle recession (if any) that doesn’t cut too deeply, given how many are already hurting.
3. Incredible new opportunities for everyone who was laid off that perfectly utilize their skills.

Mistakes were made

People keep asking whether I’m enjoying the contracting work, but one area I’ll need to better plan for if I’m gong to do this long term (e.g. beyond 2024,) is planning for holidays. I’m unsure whether I should plan my holidays and announce them to my clients ahead of time (with a commensurate rate cut that period,) or just get extra work done ahead of time and/or afterward to address the downtime, or something else. Whatever it is, I know that I need that downtime and I have to plan for it. This week has been a much lighter week on the whole—lots of family meals, gift exchanges, and travel, which ate into the time for work. I am looking forward to getting back into the deep work the New Year inevitably brings.

Fun

Happy New Year everyone!

It’s one week until Christmas (Merry Christmas!), and the last week of Advent is focused on love. The thing that comes to mind is how much I had a job I loved for nearly seven years at Indeed. It was one of the most significant losses I experienced when Indeed did its layoff. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to find another role like it. I interviewed for some good companies and exciting roles, but ultimately none of them panned out, and none had the breadth of innovation I was hoping for. I’m sure I could have fallen in love with them had I gotten the offer and taken up the opportunity, but they didn’t look exactly right (at least from the outside). 

Contracting as a fractional CTO has been a steep learning curve, which I enjoy immensely. It has also come with challenges. Most notably, I miss working with my fantastic team from Indeed. We hired incredible people and gave them a lot of opportunities to lead how they saw fit, and it (generally) worked out well. Having the support of people who challenged, complemented, and questioned you makes for better products and a great workplace. I have good partners for my current contracts, but there’s something about it being temporary that has me wondering if they’re holding back.

Love Encouragement

I’ll start with a caveat. What little I know about dating is so outdated as to be useless. My wife and I met in High School, where we started dating, and we’ve been married for 22 years. So, this will not (intentionally) be dating advice, YMMV. That said, after countless books on love, marriage, raising kids, and more, the clear and consistent theme is that you don’t “find love” or “fall in love.” Even if you did, it’d be just as easy to “lose it” or “fall out of love.” You see, in the long term, love isn’t a feeling or a thing that happens; it’s a commitment, a decision.

This post in PyschCentral (6m read)talks about the four essential components of enduring relationships, which every job seeker (and many dating relationships) is looking for—attraction, connection, trust, and respect. I can see how, in my history of falling in love with companies and roles, I moved through each of those stages, and I can also see, in most cases, where those relationships eventually broke down.

I hope you find (or have already found) a company and role you love.

Loving too much

Sometimes, you drink too much of the Kool-Aid. I’ve been guilty of this. Having so much loyalty to the company and mission that you turn a blind eye to the changing culture and team around you. Every company evolves as it grows from zero to one, one to a million, a million to a billion. Any company that fails to evolve during that time would fail to succeed at the next level. Unfortunately, it’s like the adage about a frog in a pot of water. You either slowly boil, or you must stay awake to the temperature changes and decide when to get out.

The market is abnormal right now, so leaving is incredibly challenging for many people because it’s taking far longer to find their next role, but being ready to leave and leaving are two different things. Being ready to leave means you know it’s time, you’re extracting the last bits of learning, network, and expertise you can from that role before moving on. It’s all about making a plan, not just for where you’re going next, but for what you want to (legally) take with you.

A few quick tips on measuring the temperature of an organization and knowing when it’s time to leave. Ultimately, these are a gauge of the autonomy, mastery, and purpose that Daniel Pink points to in Drive:

1. If you find yourself less effective – you push for change but are nearly always met by more pushback than you can overcome.
2. You’re burning out – you put in more and more hours, but for little to no additional marginal gain.
3. You’re not gaining new skills – you’re always doing the same things and never learning new skills.
4. You’re no longer aligned with or believe in the purpose – you’ve lost your passion for your work.

Of course, plenty of other reasons go unstated here: you’re grossly underpaid, the work environment is toxic and much more. Depending on the severity, they might be reasons to leave immediately. Taking a regular assessment once or twice a year of how things are going is a simple temperature check. Having outside mentors and advisors you can connect with is another excellent way to look in the mirror and see what is happening.

Fun

Week three of the Advent season is a focus on joy. I know that when you’ve been laid off, that joy can be in particularly short supply. That’s a large part of why I include the “fun” section at the end of each post. I found during COVID that ending each day with a few /aww moments helped me sleep better and feel more content overall. Certainly, it was better than ending the day with more doomscrolling.

The truth is that joy runs much deeper than just a simple cute kitten or funny animal video. Joy is a deeper version of happiness or pleasure. It’s something you can experience even in tough times. Greg Anderson, a cancer survivor and prolific author, sums it up well 

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” 

While we focus on getting new jobs, starting new jobs, and running our business successfully, we have the opportunity to manufacture joy. Joy for others and ourselves. Taking time to be thankful for all the things we have can help us enjoy them all that much more. May you have a joyful Christmas and a wonderful holiday season.

Encouragement For the Newly Laid Off

Companies are continuing to layoff workers, even in December, in contrast to last year where layoffs dropped by 80% from November to December. The layoffs are also continuing to affect other areas beyond technology companies. For those who are experiencing this for the first time, or are newly laid off again, you’re not alone. Many people experience a layoff sometime in their career. There is a wealth of writing out there to support you in your personal growth, reflection, job search, and more that comes. Find support in your friends and your community. Start something new right away and stick with it. Hopefully you’ll be re-employed in no time, and you’ll have added a new skill.

There is the old adage that if you just get 1% better each day you’ll be 37X better after 365 days. And while that’s solid math, the truth is that humans don’t grow linearly, let alone exponentially. This article gives some much more practical advice (12m read) on improving yourself: pick something to dramatically improve, something to care less about, and something to improve somewhat. Reinforce your work with tracking, baselines for your efforts, and incremental improvements to your process/goals. It’s almost New Year’s resolution time, there’s a lot of great inspiration in here for 2024. 

All Work And No Joy Makes Jack a Dull Boy

Last week was brutal. We were double or triple booked nearly every night and had three(!) sports tournaments (for two kids no less) on the weekend. But that week is behind us. On to the next. 

Not so fast. I got up Monday morning and hit an absolute brick wall of “nope.” I had no motivation. I had no energy. I had no creativity. No patience. You get it. I needed rest. 

I didn’t take the whole day off, but I did take a much needed coffee break to catch up with my wife. I was in bed on time Sunday and Monday nights to recharge my body. I enjoyed a slow meal at home, as opposed to eating another meal in my car. I sat and enjoyed chatting with my kids and tucking in the little ones. I’m not fully recharged, but my motivation and energy are returning.

I can see in hindsight that I was burning out. I’ve seen this in employees, peers, and myself previously. This time of year can be very stressful: planning 2024 goals, reviewing 2023 performance, juggling time off for yourself and others, not to mention all the family commitments, holiday parties, Christmas concerts, and so many more things. Recovering from burnout can take a while (12m read, but I skimmed TBH), but with active effort and support the timeline for recovery should be manageable.

Fun