James Hsu

In recent months, I’ve written quite a bit of work-related content, both on our company blog and elsewhere. I’ve conducted significantly less “personal” writing. Sitting here at home, I figure it wouldn’t hurt to exercise a bit of penmanship and get back on the saddle.

“Personal” is a misnomer, anyways, in the same way that we call performers “character actors.” If you stop and think about it, are there really other types of actors out there?Probably not.

Now that I’m here, what should I write about?

Potential topic #1 — my increasing addiction and reliance on social media, particularly Twitter. Social has taken up more of my time in recent months. It’s fun — and I’m interacting with a bunch of cool people — but it feels…undisciplined. I feel a loss of control. I also experience guilt for not doing something more productive than staring into the LCD-screen-abyss.

Potential topic #2 — the importance of culture. I used to think “culture talk” was a lot of BS, and now I understand why it exists. You have to believe in it yourself before others will believe in you. That’s just part of the deal. The excitement of building a company from the ground-up is the ability to install your own DNA imprint on how things should be, and how the team should behave.

Potential topic #3 — motivating oneself and motivating others. Figuring out habits and systems for peak performance. Communicating at the right level to others. Making enthusiasm transparent to other team members. This field of motivation is always a work in progress, but I enjoyed a fairly ‘happy’ week where I broke through some mental barriers.

Potential topic #4 — human nature and letting grudges slide. How certain people go above and beyond your expectations of them, while others just savagely disappoint you. But hey, I’m not that bitter. I just grow thicker skin and move on. I also repeat to myself: it’s not all about you. It’s not all about you. It’s not…

Potential topic #5 — discovering ways to sustain happiness and satisfaction. For me, it means taking adequate rest, stressing a lot less, chilling with family (but not too much), and generally finding the right passion projects to keep me distracted. We are all just bundles of anxiety living inside marvelously-constructed brains, anyway. Fickle and weak and paradoxically capable of so much. If only we could master our own selves.

At some point, I’d like to expand into these of these five topics. For now, it’s a relief just putting down a couple hundred words and getting extraneous thoughts out of my system.

Peace,

James