Paul Graham - maker vs manager schedule. It instantly explained why I was frustrated with certain work environments and my own habits. Reid Hoffman - his cofou

Paul Graham - maker vs manager schedule. It instantly explained why I was frustrated with certain work environments and my own habits. Reid Hoffman - his cofounder, in a video course at Stanford called blitz scaling, talks about a unique strength Reid has to focus on only the most important task and ignore all other tasks. He says, in the start up phase of a company there is literally too much to do, and for many this is overwhelming because they look at a growing list of tasks and they can become incapacitated. Reid can focus on the the bon fire, and ignore all the small bush fires without stress. For me personally, I felt broken for a long time. I worked as a lawyer and every task was almost equally important so there was always a long running list. I was overwhelmed and not as good as peers. I am honestly only able to focus on the existential bon fire tasks so when I saw this I felt instant clarity and validation. As a start up founder it’s been a super power and when the company transitions to a stable growth phase I know to hand it to someone that can focus on a broader task list. The common principle of both is accept yourself and find a context where your strengths shine. We live in a culture that emphasizes certain traits and we can feel bad about our characteristics that seem to deviate but in reality they might be unique strengths if we were in different circumstances.