The 4-letter words that define me

I want to be more deliberate about how I spend my time. I’ve lost months of my life focusing too deeply on any one activity, this is a list of activities I’d like to balance my time across. What am I missing?

code.

I like to interact with the strictly logical world of code, and it feels fun to have that immediate, tangible impact. A hard to trace bug is like being the protagonist in a mystery thriller. I can easily spend too much time here, but always want to spend some.

talk.

I love connecting with people, hearing their stories and telling my own. I love Listening (capital L) to pick up the need-behind-the-stated-need and patterns across different perspectives.

help.

It’s easy to take for granted what I’ve learned over the years. Sharing this with people earlier in their journey helps me appreciate what I’ve accomplished, and it feels good to make someone else feel better.

sell.

There’s something addictive about hustling, whether it’s pitching a new idea to a familiar face or spending 20 minutes crafting the perfect cold-call email to make it through someone’s noise filters.

draw.

Drawings of a complex idea might take 5 minutes, but they can generate years worth of direction for a project. The drawing becomes the reason to grow the team, to find faster ways to make it real.

plan.

Once oriented around a goal, I love breaking it down into logical steps and milestones. That blend of math, people, money and logistics fit together like a puzzle and it’s fun to move the pieces around until you see a version that looks plausible.

read.

I read a ton of sci-fi and fantasy. In part to turn my brain off at the end of the day, but I also see value in immersing myself in realistic visions of the future. I like orienting myself around what could be when so much of our default experience is what is.

play.

This has been the biggest challenge for me. I’ve gotten better at it the more I’ve seen that ephiphanies come when I look away from a problem I’m stuck on. Another 5 hours staring at it, or 5 months, isn’t always the fastest way to the solution.