Alex "Gus" Gustafson

Category: Life

  • The Career Lesson I Keep Re-learning

    Sales is difficult.

    Multiple times I’ve started projects where success ended up resting almost entirely on sales. Each time I was confident that the rest of my marketing mix would be sufficient to overcome any selling problems. Each time I was wrong. Sometimes I’ve even had the hubris to think I’m good at sales despite evidence to the contrary.

    What I’m starting to understand is that when I face difficult tasks my instinct is to start blocking out the world. I want my desk and calendar cleared so I can focus and think. I want hours in a row with no other expectations or distractions. And definitely no phone calls or messaging with anyone. This has served me well in coding and planning but in sales is an absolute wreck. It’s a social sport and persuasion happens emotionally. Emotional connections are not improved by going into a cave of productivity.

    So there are two parts to the lesson. One, I need to acknowledge this instinct. When I feel the need to seclude, first question if it’s really the appropriate solution. The times where seclusion is right my instinct will already carry me there. Two, I need to accept my shortcomings. If sales is the main driver of success on a project, I should be a supporting character and find the right person to lead. It could mean avoiding some opportunities altogether, and that’s okay.

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  • New Glasses

    Been three years since my last pair.

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  • A New Line of Work

    Today is my last day working at OOHology. It took a lot of time and consideration, but I decided it would be best in both the short and long term if I left the company.

    Starting tomorrow I’ll be a full-time dad, and I’ll be focusing on that at a minimum until we feel like we can safely send her back to preschool. But part of what precipitated this change is also that my relationship with Grace has continued to change. We’re in a time of life where we really get a lot out of our hours together and I want to make the most of it. Whereas the early years were… not my favorite… I can see where this time of life might be what I’ll remember most fondly. Removing my work obligations will only help me continue that.

    Professionally, I think I’ve settled that client work just isn’t for me. For nearly three years it’s been my job, at two different agencies and freelance. All of those opportunities were the right thing for me at the time, and I have no regrets. I also learned so much! But when I’m ready to work again, I know it needs to be in a different kind of role.

    Lastly, Ber is working full-time now. Our family needs to adjust to her odd hours, but we also have her wages and health insurance so this move is not as risky as when I went full-time freelance in 2018.

    This confluence of short-term and long-term isn’t always so clear, but it is this time. It’s scary to leave a job where I was doing well during such an unsure environment, but it really seems like the right move for my family now and later.

    If you’ll excuse me, the four year old seems to have an issue with some Lego.

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  • Absurdist Parenting

    Three-year-olds are sometimes called “three-nagers.” They can go from excited and playful to moody and recalcitrant with seemingly no explanation.

    In those moments, I sometimes get upset too. I like playing with Grace, even to the point of spoiling. But when I take the time and effort to put her fun first, that three-nager attitude doesn’t just go away, so at my worst I feel like she’s intentionally being ungrateful. And that’s not fun for either of us.

    When I’m at the top of my parenting game though, I notice that she actually has plenty of opportunity for fun but she’s hitting a mood. A great tool for these moments is to find something completely absurd to make her mind reset.

    “Did you know the sky is pink when you’re not looking?” has worked – she instantly switched from grumpy to playful, trying look down then back up at the sky.

    One day she would respond to everything I said with “NO!” so I timed out a click of our car’s panic button with her response and by the time she was done yelling, she was smiling at the distraction. That was a better game than ‘yell at daddy.’

    If you just need something to change, a bit of craziness can be effective.

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  • Still Reading Recently

    The Art of Procrastination by John Perry

    What some may think is tongue in cheek is actually brutally honest in this short, funny book. My wife and I are both procrastinators, so we had a good evening me reading this book instead of working and her listening to the best laugh lines every ten minutes or so. A good read for anyone feeling a bout of shame about their own procrastinating nature.

    Locke & Key, Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

    The scariest Locke & Key volume yet. I really wish I could go back in time and read these books as they were released. Every page is well done. It hurts to see the Locke family going through such horrific things, but it’s the very best sort of horror… perhaps the best sort of fiction… that makes us thankful to have a less interesting problem to tackle.

    Ghost Tree by Curnow, Gane, and Herring

    The final book of this four-issue miniseries from IDW came out and holy cow the ending was jarring. The whole story is ethereal and strange, but I loved it, but suddenly I wasn’t sure how to handle it. They certainly accomplished the goal of making me thinking about this story for days after finishing it.

    Another note about comics

    I started collecting comic books in May. I love it. I’ve had phases where I’d get a trade paperback on a friend’s suggestion or if I saw something interesting at the used bookstore. But a new comic shop opened up near us and I wanted to check it out and support it… and now I look forward to every Wednesday. My favorite book is The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which happens to be ending in December. If you’d like to read the last storyline of Squirrel Girl along with me, look for #47 on August 14th.

    That said, I may not always mention all the comic books… but rest assured I’m reading them.

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  • Even More Recent Reading

    Essentialism by Greg McKeown

    I got so much out of this book, I read it twice in two days. I made some immediate changes to my business and schedule right afterwards. I wish I’d read this a year ago.

    An interview with Greg McKeown that gives an enticing introduction as to why the idea of Essentialism has merit.

    The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

    I wish I’d read this ten years ago. I heard about it when it first came out, and I always feel some kind of connection to Josh Waitzkin because of my childhood in scholastic chess scene. Part memoir, part self-help, Josh is a great educator and it he brings a lot of clarity to learning difficult skills at the highest levels.

    If anyone knows of a “Josh Waitzkin, but a programmer,” I’d really want to learn about them. Matt Mullenweg is the closest person that comes to mind for me?

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  • 62

    168 hours a week.

    Sleep for 56 and you still have 112 remaining.

    Work 40, commute 10, and you still have 62 hours under your command.

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  • Rich, Happy, and Saving the World

    Holidays are good times to reflect on how we’re living our life and how it can be done best. This talk is one I return to a lot, and it seemed appropriate today.

    Happy Father’s Day.

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  • Begin Again

    It’s tempting to catch up, do extra, race harder, or double down. Looking back at what’s been done (or more often in my case, ruminating on how much less than desired is done) and demanding a new, better pace going forward.

    But none of those options gives you any more hours, any more energy, or any more of the present moment than what you have already. You’re only left with the choice of what to do right now.

    Find the best path and begin.

    When you’re off the path, begin again.

    If you slow to a halt, begin again.

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  • The Cure for Burnout

    I have no idea what the cure for burnout would be, but I’m on the search for it. And fire seems to help.

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