Slowing Down

In addition to being full-time Mom, I’ve been spending my post-ClickEquations time:

• Advising Kerathin and PartySpace.com
• Serving on the Board of Directors at Monetate
• Consulting with London-based social analytics platform UberVU
• As Acting Executive Chairman Semprae Labs
• Talking with lots of entrepreneurs and companies
• Working with a team on a possible next venture (VERY exciting)

So it’s not like I’ve throttled back completely. But I am having to shift into a very different mode of operation.
Most importantly, my girls need time and space. On our almost-daily walks in the Wissahickon, for example, we stop and play in the creek for half, or even a full hour. 

When we had to figure out what time my 11 year old should get her ear drops (4 a day), it took over an hour of construction (she’s a Montessori kid and self-described “hands-on learner”), exploration, and confusion before the satisfying “Ahhh…. I get it!” came

At work, I no longer get a dozen emails in an hour, most of which can be dealt with in 20 seconds. Instead, I get a dozen emails a day, and almost all of them are about big issues - things that I have to think deeply about or that require a lot of work (What do you think about this business? Which market makes more sense to attack first? What do you think about this guy?) 
I am also lucky enough to be attending an Aspen Seminar in the fall, and have a scary bulkpack of classics to read, grasp, and digest. Slowly.
I find this shift, this pace enormously challenging. So I’m going to use it as an opportunity to learn to be slow and effective, on the bigger stuff. I still check email way too frequently, so I’m switching from push to checking every hour. I look at Twitter too often, so I’m taking a hiatus for the rest of the month. Facebook decided I wasn’t me and deactivated my account, removing that distraction. I’m going to check news just in the morning and at the end of the day.
I’ll be back at it full-tilt in mid-September, so I have to learn this quickly. And, BTW, if you want to connect on any of that work stuff - or join us for a walk in the woods - let me know.