The Beauty of Offlining
First off, thanks to everyone for your comments and thoughts and for dealing with one of those annoying cranky creative types. You’re all wonderful people, and I’m sorry if I came off as ungrateful, etc. You’re wonderful types, are the best thing in my day (after my wife and kids), and are the reason I get up and feel engaged and amazed every day. Thanks. We’re cool. Right?
The Beauty of Offlining
I turned off all technology last night around 9PM. I shut off my phone even earlier. My wife and I spent some time together, hanging out, reconnecting, really enjoying each other’s presence. And then when she went off to bed, I didn’t hop on the computer. I thought about things. I put stuff together in my head and brainstormed, and took a step back to look at everything going on.
When you grind, you forget to work smart.
Grinding is exciting, and it feels like you’re making progress, and you get all excited about getting something out there, but of course, it takes up all kinds of time that you don’t have. Entrepreneurs don’t have time. Even when I don’t have money, what I have least is time. I’d pay money for time, and I do. And when I can’t afford to pay money, I try to think up ways to share value back to people. So, I came up with ideas around that.
I wrote a post on Lifehack about mini process flows, and when I was done, I thought, “Well, that’s what’s missing at GNM.
Do you know that when I put out the call to arms back in my post, REVELATION, 40 of you got in touch. 40. Isn’t that just mental? But I wasn’t exactly ready with a plan in hand. I just knew that I wanted you to work with me. I’d experienced your enthusiasm, and I wanted to spin stuff towards you.
Based on last night’s thinking and all my brainstorming, I’ve realized what I think has to be next steps to make Grasshopper New Media something more than an interesting thing for you to read about in my blog.
On tap for the next day or two:
- Nail Down the Launch Properties- I thought I needed executive producers for each channel first, but I don’t. I want those. I want people to say, “I’m your go-to guy!” (girl), but what I need to do is show you the shows, and let you sign on. If you see one you like, you can pick it and commit some of your time to helping make it real. If you don’t see anything you like, recommend a show. If you just want to watch, watch.
- Write the flows- Without process flows to share with people, it takes tons more communication to share the vision. If I show you a process flow that demonstrates the start and finish of each process required to be helpful to GNM, then you’re smart enough to talk with me, improve the flow, agree upon the flow, and figure out what you might want to do.
Oh, and *I* need the flows for me. I am burning time.
- Restructure my evenings- I’m all over the place, as I need to be. I’ve got Wordpress chores, recording chores, sound and video editing chores, and all kinds of other things I’m not really thinking through right now.
- Backchannel Some Thoughts- I’ve got too many things on the go. My advisor warned me about this, but I’m the way I am. I have to throw a lot of things up and manage them. I’ll keep doing that, but NEW ideas have to hit the backchannel for now.
You’re all swell people. I want to promote your efforts so much more. Think of ways that I can help you with that. Let me know. Assume nothing.
That’s a huge thing with me. Assume nothing. I’m not always perceptive. Part of it is the lack of sleep, but even at my brightest, I miss internet-filtered queues to whether or not I’m messing up our friendships or what-not. Just out and out tell me your wants and needs, okay?
I’m back in the game. My date with my wife, going offline, sleeping really well, and having a great shower this morning have fired me back up. Now, let’s get to work.
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Comments
Chris:
Fascinating to see you thinking parts of the GMN out loud.
And perspective is so important, isn’t it? I also have the tendency to be thinking a thousand different things at once, and trying to sort out ways to deal with all of them. You can’t. Saying STOP for a bit, and then taking a couple of steps back for perspective can make all the difference. Try to take at least one day/evening every week where you do just that!
I hate to say “I told you so”, but I told you that I’d be oeverwhelmed by the firehose of creativity in the morning. The point of lifehacks is to make life more worth living…and you are living out that philosphy with passion. Welcome back to 30,000 feet for a moment.