Calm Times
Nowadays, I enjoy calm moments. I can think and come up with ideas. I can work and execute.
When I was a politician, I had many people who had to be around me. I had attorneys researching and drafting documents and staff writing correspondence and doing errands for me.
I had many people who wanted to be around me. I was invited to events, parties, award ceremonies, golf tournaments, dinners, and more. Everyday I was running around from hearings to meetings to events to meals with people who wanted something from me.
It was chaotic.
The only time, I could work and develop myself was late at night. My learning slowed. Other people were doing the heavy learning for me. I like learning and building new skills. That is the core of a builder entrepreneur and artist in the startup realms. You become a polymath if you want to build the whole system in addition to the product.
The business partners who don’t build the product and system won’t entirely understand what is being built. These are your sales entrepreneurs.
My business partner, Mihye tells me I need to delegate. Eventually, I will. It is the only way I can scale. But this next time around, I will delegate the technical, noncreative work that I know how to do or the 1% to 20% of the work I need an expert to help. I still have to do all of the creative work because it exists only in my brain.
With calm time, I practice mindfulness and self-reflection. They ease my anxiety of the unknown. For instance, am I heading in the right direction burning all this time, effort, and money?
Calm time is extremely valuable. It is more valuable than anything.
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 