Life is made up of chapters.
When one chapter ends, a new one starts.
Chapters are finite. And so is a book that is made up of chapters.
Human life works in that way.
We can view life as chapters of a book we are writing.
We are the authors of our own book, and thus our life.
I realized this applies also broadly to how I think about leading a company or team.
Everyone should be hyper conscious of the chapter they are currently living. And get intentional about what this chapter means for them in their life.
The way I approach it is by writing out the ideal ending of my current chapter. And then reverse engineering the steps I need to take to get to that ending.
The best duration I found for this is 6-12 months. It's hard to predict the exact time you hit an ambitious goal. But it is easy to predict how you have a good chance of hitting it.
My chapter right now is building the foundation for my new company Acta. The end goal I want to reach is having built three products that capture 100k a month of the value they create. And to find a structure that allows us to do our best work, and enable everyone on the team to grow into the person they are meant to become.
This chapter will be finished at some point. And then, it's time for me to get clear on what I want the ending of my next chapter to be.
Things might go differently than I'd like. But that's okay. This is what makes the story interesting. The unpredictable nature of life. The uncertainty. The surprise. It's part of the chapter. And it's up to me to decide how long this chapter goes, the qualities I bring out to the world, and whether it has an unexpected ending or not.
I am the author of my own life.
And this is what I want to try with the team. Helping everyone get conscious on what the current chapter is for them. And what they want the ideal ending to be. And helping them as much as I can to reach the ending they want.
I think this may be the key to help us move with more resilience, harmony, clarity, and alignment as a company.
When I think of this, I get more patient with the results. While remaining impatient with action.
I want to show up with the qualities that I care about in my current life chapter. Speed. Urgency. Quality in craft. Devotion. Courage. Peace. Resilience.
And I want to find a way to reach my ideal ending. While knowing that many things are not in my control. While also knowing the things that are.
Everyday, I return to this simple question: what can I do today to get closer to the ideal ending of my current life chapter?
And then, go do that thing to the best of my abilities.
Maybe, that's the whole secret around living the life you want to live.