Memorial Day Resolutions

I have some resolutions to make, and I’m not going to wait until New Year’s. Memorial Day marks the start of the summer season in many places; in that spirit I am making Memorial Day resolutions.

1.   Exercise more. This shouldn’t be too hard since at present I don’t exercise at all. Summer in New York City is actually quite amazing. We’ve come a long way from the days that there was nothing to do but escape the city for the Hamptons. There are parks, biking, Governor’s Island, West Side Bike Trail, Coney Island Bike Trail etc. On weekends you can hop on Metro North to go hiking on Bear Mountain.

2.   Eat at regular times. It’s very tempting in the life of an entrepreneur to ignore regular cycles and feel that whatever you’re doing at the moment is so important that it has to be finished right away, but in reality it doesn’t. Life will be fine with an hour pause.

3.   Get regular sleep. See above. This is going to be an experiment since I don’t think I’ve done this since ... high school?

4.   Don’t check email at night or in the morning. I haven’t decided exactly when this will be. After reading “Programmer Interrupted” and “Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule”, I’ve decided to experiment with not checking or answering email at all after a certain hour. I haven’t decided what hour. It’ll be something like after 11pm and before 11 am. There will be emergencies, particularly close to product launches, etc., but for the most part things can wait. This will require planning in my personal life and building a culture of self-sufficiency and risk taking at Beer Dreamer. Scary.

5.   Be more open. Share. Accept people’s help. Relinquish control a little bit. Listen. I make decisions without having to control every step of the process.

A special thanks goes to Adee Telem. You have been my muse and my biggest supporter for the last six months that I have been trying to start this company. You are very special to me and your words of wisdom were the inspiration for this post