Happy Sunday Friend!

Welcome back to another musing! I’m glad you’re here. I’ve spent the last four weeks thinking about my own systems and processes and not feeling like I’ve found a good process and format for my writings… like I’m just a little off.

Here’s a new swing at a format. 1-2-3-Q. The thought here is the following: 1 quote I’m musing, 2 Ideas, 3 of my favorite things from the week, and 1 question for you to think on and maybe throw back at me. I’d very much like to hear your thoughts on the change to the format and how to make it better. Ultimately, it’s just my thoughts, but if you find it useful, please feel free to forward this along to some friends or others!

One Quote I’m Musing

“Curb your desire‚ don't set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.”

-Epictetus

I’ve got the reins for my organization over the next few weeks. I always feel a bit of anxiety and excitement for two reasons. First, I know I’m going to learn something new (either about myself or my people). Second, it’s forced growth. Which is painful but also necessary.

Our whole leadership team loosely showed up within a couple months of each other. We have similar concepts of what needs to be done and have pushed hard. My boss proffered some things on his mind as he headed (abandoned me?) out for some much-deserved time off. None of the items were a surprise, but they were all things we had been talking about doing “sometime” but hadn’t actually done any of them.

I had to do some reflection on why we had this list of things we all know need to be done, but somehow haven’t; we’ve accomplished an astounding amount, just none of these. It was kind of surprising.

One of my buddies sent me a meme as we were texting about it:

That’s when it struck me. That was the problem…

Prioritization and Focus

It was like he threw my words and thoughts back at me all at once… and I knew both what to do, and how to start. It shocked me into action, I was again excited and invigorated. I spent two hours codifying, organizing, and prioritizing. I delegated the tasks to those best suited, told them they had a deadline to do the same, then we’d follow up the next day, or early next week (this week now) for anything they needed to be successful. Most already had a plan, as these things were already on their list and simply needed me to help prioritize.

Moral of the story?

I’m trying to do too much, to do it all myself, and not letting my people (who are better than me at pretty much everything) do what they do best. My desires should be scoped to what I can do to guide my leaders and teams, how I can best resource them, and cultivate their talents. Not how I can get all these things done for the organization. That comes from having motivated, resourced, and empowered teams.

Two Ideas

Josh Wolfe, Venture Capitalist and Investor - On the best advice he’d ever received:

“The best, most useful advice I ever got was from Jim Watson, [the scientist who discovered DNA], over tea at his New York apartment.3 words, 2 meanings.
Avoid boring people.”

Focus comes from practice. Every day presents a new challenge to vote yes to what matters and no to what does not.

Three Favorite Things

US National Spectrum Strategy - The Biden-Harris Administration has unveiled a National Spectrum Strategy, recognizing the pivotal role of spectrum—the frequencies behind wireless technologies—in America's economic, technological, and security landscape. The strategy comprises four pillars aimed at ensuring efficient spectrum use, fostering innovation, and maintaining U.S. leadership in wireless technology. | More
Local version of OpenAI’s Code Interpreter. Open Interpreter from Killian lets you run code from various languages directly in your terminal, using a ChatGPT-like interface, all on your local machine. | More
Master the Difficult Art of Receiving (and Giving) Feedback, Tim Ferris Podcast- Understanding where they’re coming (Looking back at what prompted it), or asking questions like “If I were to follow this advice, what would that look like?” (Forward-looking) are a couple of the myriad takeaways I had from this podcast session. Some great gems to help frame my perspective on how I can receive, but also how I can make sure there’s a vision on what or why I’m giving feedback. | More

One Question

Look at each item your to-do list and ask yourself, “Is this truly necessary?”

Shoot Me Your Feedback!

Which is your favorite? What else do you want to see or what should I eliminate? Any other suggestions? Just send a tweet to @erichaupt on Twitter and put #SundayMusings at the end so I can find it. Or, eric@erichaupt.com for long form email.

Have a wonderful week, I’ll see you Sunday.
-e