SΩ23 - Who We Meet

How do strangers turn into friends? Most of us meet new people on a weekly basis. The two years developing Society Ω has made me come to appreciate the complexity and serendipity of social connections. Hopefully, these anecdotes will give you a taste of my upcoming project: Ω Teams. For a chance to join, sign up here.

Having lived in three countries one might consider me a modern nomad. What few know is that I’ve lived in over 17 shared flats! This means I’ve lived with around 50 different people and yet I’ve only kept in touch with a few. However, my experience in one shabby flat in Worcester was different. It’s here where I met a physicist, who I spent enjoying many late night discussion with. Although we differ in many ways, like religion, somehow our friendship has withstood the test of time. Even as he and his family have bounced between Asia and his birthplace of Nigeria he remains a close friend.

When you think of Belgium you might think of waffles, chocolate, and fries. However, for me it’s capital of Belgium brings back much different memories. It’s there where I met my first girlfriend. We are both adventurous people with a love for traveling and sports. Yet somehow we drifted apart and she eventually returned to China. It’s incredible how we can find love in the most random places imaginable. It’s just as surprising how time can sometimes evaporate those seemingly unbreakable connections.

A more recent tale comes from Barcelona. Here you'll find dozens of startup events and meetups on a daily basis. Last December I participated in a hackathon with a blend of amazing people. If you’ve ever participated in a hackathon you’ll know that the event is a bit of a blur. A few days later someone contacted me on Twitter. As politely as possible I responded to her ‘who are you?’. Yes that Venezuelan chica turned out to become my spunky co-organizer for makeathon.info. Even as I’m still getting to know her interests our values and work flow synced in just a few days.

Why am I sharing all this with you? Well we meet new people on a weekly or for some on a daily basis. Any of those people could turn into a friend, romantic partner, or partner in crime for a project/startup. This connection forming is fairly mystifying, which can be fantastic for friendship and relationships. However, for turning an idea into reality finding the ‘perfect’ teammate(s) is rather frustrating.  So I’m launching a new initiative, Ω Teams, to explore how to build strong teams from the start. I'm looking for 12 highly motivated participants with ideas or who'd like to contribute to one. For anyone who wants a chance to participate, just sign up here.

SΩ21 - Mastering Time

We live in a time where ‘I’m busy’ is a catch phrase! Yet if we look deeper is everyone truly ‘busy’ or instead struggling to manage their time? In the fourth lives session of our slack group we had a stellar three-man panel: Rob and Carlos (two entrepreneurs) and myself (freelancer). Rob’s startup, iRecargones, provides unique telecom services. Carlos’s startup, Iyiyim, provides event planning solutions. Myself I'm a freelance English teacher, writer and blogger.

If this post inspires you to become the master of your time, make sure to check out the mini-guide at the end. Without further ado, here is the meat of our Q&A session:

Q1 (Peter): When someone, a superior gives you some work, how do you decide on the deadline?

Carlos: Make sure to clarify with your boss the task & deadline

Rob: 1) Do it right away 2) If your schedule is clear 3) You have the available resources 4) You can do the task

Mario: Know the priorities of your company and your role

Q2 (Alejandro): What do you do when minor and urgent tasks distract you from the most important ones?

Rob: Delegate and get the most important tasks done first.

Mario: Knowing how much time each task takes and finish what you started, unless the urgent task can be done quickly. Urgency is relative, right?

Q3 Shahid: How to balance your personal and professional life especially when you’re company is demanding?

Carlos: Make the work schedule clear, before signing a work contract.

Mario: When a task is not your responsibility be firm about it, with your boss, yet communicate it with care. Depends a lot on the company environment and relationship with your boss.

Rob: If the company/job requires extra hours, it really needs to have a great environment such as 24 hours food service (free), open bar (no kidding), and a lot of activities.

Q4 Mario: If you had to give 1 time management tip, what would it be?

Rob: Find ways to break down a goal into manageable steps, instead of overthinking it.

Carlos: Keep in mind that tasks always take at least two or three times the time you initially think they will require.

Mario: If you want to be successful in life, know clearly what your priorities are. Stop spending time on everything/everyone that keeps you away from your personal priorities.

Mini-Guide: Time Management

1. First and foremost as you can see from the Q&A time management strategies vary based on each person. The best is to try a few different methods and see what works best for you. 
2.  Likely the most important part in time management is realizing your personal life priorities. Here you might also consider your preferred work versus life balance.
3. Take a few weeks to track how you use your time. Are there activities/people that keep you from accomplishing your main priorities? For example how much time do you spend on work, social life, fitness, watching TV, etc.
4. Create a daily, weekly, and/or monthly schedule from all the tasks/activities you want to do. This step is unique to the person, yet something like a to-do list or tools like Trello can help.
5. When creating your schedule, be realistic! We are only human and have ~16hrs per day when we are awake. Hopefully, you’ll see even if you accomplish a few tasks per day your time will become more manageable.

I strongly believe that becoming the master of your time will lead to a more fulfilling life! Time management is a valuable skill and one that does take practice to learn. Please share your own methods in the comments or continue this discussion below.