Over the last few weeks, I’ve lifted my head from the weeds of the business and started thinking more big-picture—about Mixed, our future, and how we get there. This kind of work looks like me sitting still, staring out the window, maybe jotting a few words on a sticky note. It doesn’t look productive. And in comparison to my typical day to day workload, it doesn’t feel productive either.
After being such a doer in the business for so long, it feels almost indulgent to spend time just thinking. I catch myself feeling guilty—like I should be checking things off a list, sending a campaign, reviewing a product page, doing something tangible. But this quiet thought-work is what steers the ship. It's how we make sure we’re not just moving, but moving in the right direction.
The tricky part is: this kind of work is incredibly important, but never urgent. It doesn’t scream for your attention the way a customer service ticket or a low-stock alert does. And because it’s not urgent, it’s easy to put off. But the cost of postponement compounds over time—and by the time the consequences show up, they’re much harder to fix.
As I enter this new chapter of leadership, I’m learning to trust my team with more of the day-to-day and redefine what productivity looks like for me. Before, success meant getting something done: hitting send, launching a product, checking the box. Now, it looks more like holding space for long product sprints, deep work, and strategic planning—things that require sustained focus, ambiguity tolerance, and an understanding that my work won’t show results for many months. There’s little instant gratification, less dopamine hit from clearing a to-do list. But this is the kind of work that creates long-term clarity and traction.
This week I heard someone say on a podcast: “The best leaders don’t solve today’s problems—they prevent tomorrow’s.” Because entrepreneurship is, in many ways, a sequencing game, you have to know what to do when. In the early days, being in the weeds is necessary. You have to touch everything, wear all the hats, and move quickly. But as the business grows, your vantage point has to shift. You have to spend more time looking ahead—living in the future—while building a team that can hold the present.
It’s not about letting go all at once. It’s about learning to zoom in and zoom out, to toggle between details and vision. That’s my upcoming challenge: navigating both spaces with intention.
I’ve also been thinking about how this applies beyond business. In life, our most meaningful desires are often not urgent. Writing the book. Taking the trip. Starting the thing. These dreams won’t derail your day-to-day life if ignored, but if you keep postponing them, the cost shows up later—in the form of dissatisfaction, restlessness, or regret. The longer we wait, the harder they become to start.
So this week, I’m reminding myself—and maybe you too—that some of the most important things in life will never feel urgent. And that’s exactly why they need our attention.
