Endless Work

One of the hardest parts about working on a startup is that there is no end to the list of things that have to be done.

My father reminded me of this recently when I was back home to see my family, but actually working all the time.

Because there is no clear start or end to the day, it is possible to forget to create time for anything else in your life.

At Pareto, we are building several companies at once, and also investing, so my to-do list tends to growth every day no matter how furiously I cross things off.

This on top of meetings and other already scheduled events makes it hard to make time for other priorities like fitness, experiences with close ones, reading, writing, and all of the other pleasures of life. It also makes it hard to make sense of what is important in the day to day work.

Startups by definition involve imbalance in your day, and life. They require an all-in mentality similar to that of being a professional athlete.

There are many challenges to startups: how open-ended the whole thing is (no one is telling you what to work on and who with), managing relationships with people, managing burn, managing your emotions, moving fast every day. And the endless to-do list is up there among these.

The key is to zoom out and ask yourself what is actually most going to move the needle in this list of things you have in front of you. Of course, you inevitably will get caught up in a lot of operations and admin work (such is the fate of running a ship), but the rest should go to those highest priority things.

One of the very best entrepreneurs I have ever worked with has several times told me: “there are many things, but there are actually few things.”

And Warren Buffett famously says that he’s got a great year if he makes 3 good decisions. This is obviously more applicable to the world of investing where you don’t have to actively manage a team and a product every day, but the point still applies.

The list is endless. But the list of important things is finite and can be weighted according to their relative importance.