Whatever you’re doing this Friday, I invite you to take a sabbatical. Pause, and check in with yourself. Notice your thoughts, your feelings, and the sensations of the world around you. And this time, look specifically to notice the space around them. The space in which all that--life--occurs.

Here are five things that stuck with me this week:

1. From a founder's perspective, what is life like in state government? Slow, tedious, bureaucratic, right? If you were asked to take part in a government task force to battle COVID in your state, given your background starting and building companies, you'd absolutely crush it, right? Show those bureaucrats something about the pace needed to get shit done. <= what I figured.

Matt Blumberg, founder & CEO of return path, was asked to do just that, and published his notes of the experience. Here's the retrospective, but it's worth reading the other 6 chapters as well. It's fascinating. Short version, he had something to contribute, but it wasn't pace. (he said he'd never worked harder to keep up with everyone)

2. Speaking of working harder than everyone, let's talk about America. Does it surprise you to learn that while we sit locked in our houses, many of us unable to work, laid off, or with little of impact to do since nobody is buying anything, we're still working harder and longer than anyone else in the world? If we were to just decide to take a 60 day vacation out of the blue on top of all this, we'd still outwork Germany on average.

This is in no way wrong, as we get a lot for how hard we work. More billionaires, sure, but also a standard of living that radically outperforms most of the world. But if you found yourself doing anything that much more than everyone else around you, you'd at least stop to question why. It's ok to be an outlier, to sacrifice part of life to have another part of life, but if so we should at least do that consciously. It's not quite as admirable to work yourself to death simply because it feels normal -- that's what they call the unexamined life.

3. It's still not the norm, but some people have done this examination, and are confronting this Faustian bargain head on. I recently stumbled upon the Happy Startup School, an organization which helps entrepreneurs channel their relentless drive into building organizations that produce happiness, in addition to simply making money. Then there's B-Lab, Conscious Capitalism, and a few more big ones. If you're taking this opportunity to evaluate how you're spending your life, first off good for you, and second off it's worth checking these out if only to see first hand that there is an alternative to simply busting your ass for success and fame. Not everyone is making that trade. And, if you think slowing down is for those other suckers, but you've got shit to do, consider that one of the top VCs in the world is saying the same thing.

4. I stumbled upon Some Good News with John Krasinski this week, which probably makes me late to the party. But I'm paying attention now. My heart was completely filled watching this video, starting at about the 9m mark. If you've seen Hamilton, or want to, this is for you.

5. I read a question this week which stuck with me:

You are back in 2010. You have 30 seconds to write a note to yourself. Given your current knowledge and wisdom, what advice do you give?

My 2010s were a blur of achievement, building VNN with a team of amazing people. It was truly a remarkable experience, and I wouldn't trade it. But I think I would tell my 2010 self to consider his motivations.

What about you?

As always, please let me know what you think, or if you stumble upon something excellent I should be aware of let me know that as well.