Author: Joel Gross

Joel Gross is the CEO of Coalition Technologies.

Pursuing Self Improvement

Sometimes it seems to me that sitting on the couch and watching television is a nice way to relax, but that is happening less often. I’ve realized that I actually feel better in general if I do something to improve myself. Here is a list of my favorite non-work activities at this point:

  1. Programming
  2. Outdoor rock climbing
  3. Reading non-fiction books
  4. Running
  5. Reading hacker news articles on my phone
  6. Eating healthy
  7. Getting enough sleep (prereq for life)
  8. Indoor climbing
  9. Playing a game like BrainWars on my phone

Favorite work activities:

  1. Programming
  2. Building new systems / structures
  3. Working with my team members / collaboration
  4. Team meetings
  5. Client calls / sales calls
  6. Answering emails
  7. Negotiating contracts

Bouldering at Stoney Point

Outdoor bouldering is definitely not my thing… Too high risk. Today will be my only day without ropes I think.

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I climbed up this relatively easy but slabby and scary climb.

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No ropes, 25 feet in the air… Ugh.

Is Slow Growth Risky?

WordPerfect grew at 50% a year and their executives were happy at the time. Microsoft Word grew at 200% per year and ended up killing off WordPerfect. People didn’t choose Word on features, they chose it on market adoption.

Naps

Sleeping in the middle of the day is a superpower enabling activity. Sleep clears out waste which is not cleared while awake. After your nap you basically get a fresh start to the day, doubling productivity. Try it for a month and see how this secret gives you new success!

Work Gives Meaning

The New York Times had an interesting article today about 25 NFL draftees from 1990. One committed suicide, several went broke, and the rest had varying levels of success. One common theme was that those who worked hard and saved their money and kept working after retiring were happiest and most successful. They kept their meaning.