Lost and Founder

In episode six, I share my distaste for planning and how I have been reframing planning in my head to encourage me to do more of it. Setting a deadline, and making myself accountable for what I am planning has been useful for showing an outcome to my thinking in the last week.

I've also been reading a helpful and practical book called Atomic Habits, by James Clear. It's all about improving your life by adopting positive, healthy habits, and trying to eliminate your bad habits.

I'm still reading it, but a rule I've already been finding helpful is the "two minute" rule – try adopting a new habit by breaking it down into the smallest possible task, something that can be done in just two minutes. If you can master that then you're laying the ground work for bigger things.

We'll check in next week to see how I'm doing – if you try it out, be sure to let me know!

Actions / take aways

• Set a deadline, a format, and find someone to hold you accountable to your planning.
• Try the 2 minute rule with habits – let me know what you can achieve and I’ll give a shout out next week to anyone who successfully starts adopting a new habit.

Links and further reading

• Atomic habits by James Clear: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
• If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/460142-if-you-fail-to-plan-you-are-planning-to-fail

Thanks, and see you next time!

P.S. I'm on Twitter https://twitter.com/jamesjgill

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye, provided by https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/yjub4r

In episode five I chose to focus on one topic that's been on my mind: spending my time in the best way possible as a founder, and as the CEO.

I'm sure many of the others founders listening along also started out as makers – either as programmers, designers, or perhaps another creative field.

But as you've grown your business and added people to your team, perhaps you've struggled with what I frequently come up against: prioritising time between actioning work "in" the business and working "on" the business.

In this episode I share a few of the ways I'm trying to keep myself on track.

Key highlights / actions this week:

• To be a better version of yourself, try to visualise that person and ask what they would do next time you're in a tricky situation.
• Box your time – either by hour or by day, to give you time for the important and the urgent tasks.
• Don't be too harsh on yourself or your team-mates: everyone in the world is tired and exhausted after over a year of the global pandemic. It's OK to not be your 100% self right now.

Thanks again to everyone who is tuning in – if you have any thoughts on this episode, let me know!

Links and further reading:

• Paul Graham's Maker vs manager essay: http://paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
• A post I wrote a while back on time boxing: https://www.jamesgill.co/time-boxing/

Thanks, and see you next time!

P.S. I'm on Twitter https://twitter.com/jamesjgill

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye, provided by https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/yjub4r/

LOTS of people reaching out after episode three either going through similar struggles or know people who are. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

In episode four I surface a few of the many things on my mind since last week – whether it's OK to be unclear on the vision of your business, why startups are so hard, how to balance realism vs optimism, and how to be more helpful with your team.

Key highlights / actions this week:

• Vision is good, but a business is better (in my opinion) – ideally you want both!
• Maintain a healthy optimism when building a business – start with yes to avoid shutting ideas down too early.
• Don’t ask “How can I help?” – try to be more helpful than that by offering suggestions.

Links and further reading

• Link to the tweet thread I mention in this episode: "How can I help?" https://twitter.com/jamesjgill/status/1416335928336031745
• A blog post I wrote on starting with yes: https://www.jamesgill.co/start-with-yes/
• Shout out to Liam for putting this diagram together to visualise some of the thinking in episode three: https://twitter.com/liammday/status/1417130852560117760

Thanks again to everyone who is tuning in – if you have any thoughts on this episode, let me know!

Thanks for listening, and see you next time!

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye, provided by https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/yjub4r/

Episode 3 is here and I am so grateful to everyone who's been tuning in so far. I've been hearing many lovely stories, and helpful feedback to make this podcast better. Thank you.

This week, it's been a tough week. I started this podcast as a way to speak some of my thoughts out loud, and I said I'd be as open and transparent as I possibly can be. This week you'll see that I wasn't lying.

This episode runs a little longer than previous episodes, but the thoughts were flowing and I kept recording. Hope you can forgive me.

Here's what I cover:
* How I find positives from my anxiety and stress.
* How I overcome feeling physically sick with worry.
* The importance of exercise, habits, and a healthy routine.
* How transparent should you be with your team?
* Why making the wrong decision today can be better than no decision at all.
* The importance of having clear goals and a timeline to achieve them.

It's a packed episode. It's full of rambling. But it's honest to its core. I hope you find value in the show, and I look forward to sharing more updates as we move together on this journey.

Thanks, and see you next time.

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye, provided by https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/yjub4r/

Thank you so much to everyone who tuned in for episode 1 last week!

This week I wanted to follow on from some of the topics we touched on last week – particularly around starting a new quarter, and the need to define strategy without a crystal ball to see what works.

I also touch on when to use data vs your gut and why sometimes gut is under-rated (and how it's not something many want to admit to using these days).

As a second part of today's episode, I talk about forming habits – why I bought a skipping rope at the weekend, and how you can grow as an individual and as a company by building small, healthy habits.

Why this all belongs together in one show? It's all on my mind – and Good Strategy + Healthy Habits I think can lead to great success.

I truly hope you enjoy episode two, and please let me know on Twitter if you want to hear about another topic next time!

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye, provided by https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/yjub4r/

In the first (and hopefully not only) episode of Lost and Founder, hear how a new quarter is causing some anxiety for me, and what to do when everyone looks to you for answers.

This episode, because we're talking about a new quarter, naturally goes into discussion about OKRs and how to set goals for the team. We can go deeper on all these topics in the future, but the primary goal of this episode was to share what's on my mind right now and get a show out there.

I hope you enjoy the show, the format, and the idea – and if you have suggestions, questions, or feedback, let me know on Twitter!

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye, provided by https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/yjub4r/