Age?
I have always been curious and perhaps that is one of the multiple reasons for attempting to do as much as I can every day. My attitude is carpe diem. There is just so much I can do and learn every day!
Perhaps it is age, perhaps it is the desire to shift gears which I have done several times in my life or perhaps it just comes down to being curious for a new opportunity to dig in to and learn about.
I have acquired so much knowledge about building businesses, starting companies, working with founders, helping founders think differently about capital raises and cap tables. I have seen companies close and companies become huge. I have talked to so many entrepreneurs in multiple verticals. I want to share that but as my friend said the other night, “it is exhausting”. That exhaustion creeps up on you and it is harder with age whether you want to believe it or not.
Someone emailed me this week and posed the question “In what ways has saying no directly helped you professionally and personally”? Saying no more than yes has helped me set boundaries. It has given me my own space to explore new things. Space forces you to shift your thinking. More founders should do that.
I also told my friend that I used to read Zagats from cover to cover when it came out in the 80’s. I then became obsessed with Eater and any content in the restaurant world of NYC and the food places everywhere. The growth in BK right now is awesome. I have not kept up with it as much as I used to. He said the same thing to me about keeping up with all that info…”it is exhausting”. And perhaps I don’t need to know it all like I used to.
I don’t want to be exhausted. My cap of exhaustion is different than someone else’s but I like to think of it as I want to be more focused on less. After all, I can never stop being curious.
Comments (Archived):
I so get it. The downside of the Information tsunami that hits us daily. Remember when you used to look forward to the Friday restaurant review in The Times? One article once a week. You didn’t skim it, you savored it. I love Eater too. But it’s long and it comes in a lot. So I star it and often archive to get back to, yet don’t. So I know less than I once did or there is too much coming at me and it’s exhausting. Too many TV shows, too many podcasts, too much fashion, travel, news. You have to pick and choose. And often I end up trashing it all. I love Emily’s food blog and read it religiously and look forward to it as it’s unique and once a week.I don’t know if it’s age. I sometimes chalk it up to that. But I think our brains and the way we absorb information is so different than our kids. And there just wasn’t as much to know at one time. II know I don’t read magazines and I used to look forward to them so and read at least 10 cover to cover each month. I really think I knew much more then. And I acted on what I knew. I tore out articles and booked tables immediately and they booked months in advance then. It was all just easier in its simplicity. Good post.
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The question for a lot of folks our age is when do you “retire”. It means different things to different people when you are an independent worker. But, it will be interesting to see if our generation’s retirement is different than prior generations (who mostly moved to a warm climate and then just existed)
.Some people are old at 25 and some are young at 95. It is, literally, a state of mind.What life gives us is the ability to be intellectually curious while developing a discipline of critical thinking.Most people cannot even define what those two concepts really mean. Others have had it forced upon them by things they did as young persons.The day after I graduated college, I entered the Army which was at war. Nobody had any choice but to learn their craft because their lives would literally depend upon that mastery.http://themusingsofthebigre…Often when we fail to put a frame of critical thinking around things, we default to an emotional foundation. I do not say that as a criticism, but rather as a bit of knowledge we all must develop to see where our mind is at an instant in time.”How does that make you feel?” is not the same thing as “What does the data and your experience suggest is going to happen here?”The older one gets, the more their experiences are understood, the better they can look into the future.The more seasoned a person becomes in the ways of the world, business, politics — the easier it is to jettison those things you may “like” but are simply not going to happen.Intellectual curiosity — which I frankly believe very few people have or exercise at depth — is only useful when coupled with critical thinking.The other thing that I think is wholly underappreciated is the unique experience of child bearing and raising. There is no better preparation or training for life than dealing with toddlers. They can communicate their happiness or displeasure, but they cannot tell you why. Mothers develop an instinct that is unique. “That’s her wet diaper scream.”JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
‘more focused on less’ is how i approach stuff.hard at times.staying away from social channels does wonders for me.