479: my startup postmortem, one month of funemployment, and mapping friendships
I published our post mortem of my last startup Reciprocity. TLDR: Build what your users display a need for, not what you or they say they want.
Now I just have to pay the last taxes and all the loose ends will be tied up.
Here’s a one-month-into-funemployment dispatch to all you employed suckers. :)
I’ve invested greatly in hobbies and reading and and exercise, which feels really good! Before, I was always in a hurry, for I felt like I needed to do more job things. And while I still have plenty of things to do, now they’re things I choose to do. So the biggest welcome change has been the feeling of spaciousness, of being able to say yes to things that pop up.
It’s hard to see others achieving in their career on social media. David Spinks strongly cautioned against exactly this in his great sabbatical post. I need to swim in my own lane and find my own yardstick for how I spend my time.
Which I haven’t found yet, thank you very much, no matter how much the world tries to shoehorn me into one. Funny how strangers asking ‘what do you do?’ in the first two minutes becomes an exercise in existentialism. Nobody accepts the answer of ‘I don’t know, and I’m taking my time figuring that out.’
There is a tendency to make a funemployment bucket list that I am denying. Instead I have a list of intentions, and use them to decide how to spend my time how I want. Maybe the same thing, but it’s not a type A orientation towards them as goals. Most of them are publishing pieces of writing, and hobbies.
A second party view would see my life with no change - I’m still at the same office on my computer for most of the working hours. I just spend that screen time doing personal projects now. I am slightly restless with this fact, but after years of remote work I know that travel is not what I want right now, so I am embodying the abundant spirit of manifesting whatever I think I need from elsewhere into my present reality. The bay area is good for this. :)
I changed my iPhone to grayscale in Accessibility, which makes me spend less time on it. I’m surprised how well it works, and how pretty grayscale is.
I have been skipping breakfast to intermittently fast. Before, I’d get too hungry to focus at work so it was a nonstarter. Now I read and write in the mornings and start my day around noon, which makes fasting easier. Also - sprinkling salt in your mouth makes the hunger go away for an hour or two which is helpful. My body feels really good skipping breakfast!
I’ve been investing more in my Twitter profile by cross posting this content and posting more random thoughts there. I know what you’re thinking about the platform, but it’s where many folks I respect meet other folks they respect, and I’d like to exist in that world. We’ll see where it goes.
Tech
I’ve linked to Andrew Dunn’s conscious capitalist work here before - but I’m unsure if I have linked his magnum opus master post tying a lot of his thoughts on ethical business together. It came up again in the post mortem so may as well share just in case.
Browserbear (and others, I’m sure) provide an easy way for nontechnical folks to automate repetitive browser work in virtual machines. Good step to do before hiring an EA.
My comedian friend wrote an entire fake site for a tech company that encompasses the worst of the industry, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
Lifehacks
My buddy Joshua mapped out his friendships including where he met them and who they introed him to and found some intriguing correlations as to where one finds the people who become old friends.
Can’t wait to map my own friendships too!
I have a new favorite Youtuber - PhilosophyTube. She’s been putting out ‘theater kid explains philosophy concepts’ content for years, and recently transitioned to female - announced in a video, no less! Fantastic first person narration of the shift too.
So far I’ve seen and recommend the episodes on effective altruism and work. Interesting how many successful trans female Youtubers there are - ContraPoints, this one, Jimquisition - the list goes on. I wonder if there’s a correlation there.
Fun
This longread about Brandon Sanderson’s middling yet prolific fantasy genre and the man behind it was a great read.
Ohio police raided rapper Afroman’s home, caused damage, and found nothing, so he used his security camera footage to make a rap song about them, and pretended to hide in all the ridiculous places they searched.
Now they’re suing for defamation. What a world we live in.