There are so many startup blogs now–founders blogging about founding, investors blogging about startups and investing, companies blogging about products and customers.
And there’s some great stuff in there. Steve Blank’s blog is helpful. Fred Wilson‘s is good too, and there’s great action in the comments. Chris Dixon‘s blog is pretty good.
I find myself reading a lot of stuff. From Techcrunch to Om to AVC to SAI. It’s enriching. Keeps me up to date. Ahead of the game.
Except enrichment doesn’t get new users on board. Or product out the door. Or money in the door.
We’re launching the closed beta this week, slowly. So I’ve made a mid-year resolution: less reading, more doing. And more blogging, not less. Writing helps me clarify my thoughts.
Not all founders are alike, but I know a number who suffer from the same syndrome as I do: doing too much of the wrong stuff. Now, if you’re about to invest in Jawaya, don’t fear that statement. This is about personal time management, not about launching a startup, which I’m very focused on.
The point is this: news, new insights–all the noise out there–none of that moves you forward during your day. Commitment to vision, customers, model, team–that’s what moves your forward.
The noise just lengthens your day.
Which means it gets in the way of your personal life. Your health. Your freshness of mind.
So coming out of the long pre-beta cycle, I’m making some adjustments. Less reading, more exercise. Saturday mornings and evenings off, Sunday off.
Crank during the week, but get adequate sleep. Define that; for me it’s 6 hours, which means 11:30 lights out.
If you cut out the noise, you create space for yourself to breathe, to be fully human, to refresh, to live outside of your own echo chamber.
I’ve got a full day ahead, and looking forward to unveiling Jawaya this week–hope to see you there.