Starting again

Moments of crisis are moments of questioning and introspection. After the first shock, a pause can become useful.

Taking a real break gave me time to travel, read and learn new things, discover Dubai and spend time with friends. Stepping away from the daily noise helped me see what I wanted to do with my days.

A smaller playing field can also be a stronger one. A blank page is unsettling, but it brings energy. You stop maintaining everything you have accumulated and start choosing what deserves to exist.

Meaningful projects often begin small, fragile and clunky. Talking about a technology is easier than finding a use for it. What matters is whether it makes a useful service possible, especially one that could not have existed without it. That is where I want to spend my effort.

The quiet periods are good for this. There is less attention to compete for and more room to work. I would rather judge a project by what people can do with it than by the conversation around it.

I came back to a few simple decisions:

• Build things that can generate cash flow.
• Focus on projects I can carry forward without outside capital.
• Give concrete work more of my attention than public commentary.
• Protect time with the people who matter to me, and avoid passing online hostility on to them.

Starting again does not require a perfect explanation of the past or a grand announcement about the future. It requires something small enough to begin and useful enough to keep working on.

Let’s go.