Fear and focus in Austin, Texas
I’m sitting alone in an apartment just outside Austin. Ten miles away is a giant party — the fleeting bacchanalian epicenter of my chosen corner of the technology world.
It’s hard to imagine a better target for parody than SXSW, the most cool and real conference in tech. Much of it really is deserved. It’s filled with endless promises of disruption, innovation and the next big thing — a million ideas poised to upset the status quo — packaged, sponsored and fueled by money from the largest #brands in the world.
And yet. SXSW has changed the trajectory of my life. In 2008, I recognized a burgeoning world of social media I wasn’t involved in — it led Jenn and me to found Union Metrics. The next year, I met Dean Cruse who became an advisor and is now our VP of Sales & Marketing. Subsequent years found me roaming from party to party with friends, meeting new people and making connections. While the past few years have been more scheduled, that SXSW serendipity has always led to something worthwhile. Even ignoring all that free alcohol, SXSW has been truly been valuable.
There’s a countdown clock on my desktop. It reads 47 days. Forty-seven days until April 28th when medical science tells me it’s approximately time for my daughter to arrive in the world.
The past few months of my life have been the busiest I can remember. And not because we’re picking out onesies. It’s because Jenn and I have been going at an insane pace to get Union Metrics to the next level and it’s really and truly working. I can’t remember a time where I had more clarity on exactly what to do and more drive to go do it. It’s an absolutely amazing feeling.
This is not just a matter of chance. Fifty-three days ago when that countdown clock read 100, I realized that there are two things that matter at this point in my life: the family and the business. Suddenly everything else became extraneous — distractions I must avoid at all costs.
After that, the focus flowed freely. But focus, by its very definition, means doing something at the exclusion of everything else; opportunity cost be damned. This year that means that I’m forgoing the parties and skipping the serendipity to work on a sales deck because we’ve got a quarter to close and my daughter will be here next month.
There will be a time once again when the fear of missing out can and should outweigh the focus I feel today. When that happens, I’ll be ready to meet the challenge — brand-sponsored beer in hand. Until then, I’ve got work to do.
