Thanks to an earlier project, I just spent 4 months on paternity leave with my first son (March -> June). It was the first time in my life I’ve had so much unstructured time without any pressure to figure out what’s next. Here’s what I did:

1) I bonded with my son

2) I supported my wife while she worked

I was able to do this without feeling the sting of the opportunity-cost of each second with them. Many older people & country songs have informed me that these are “the good ole days,” and I was able to cherish them more sweetly by reducing the external pressures on my time.

Ok, fun stuff:

3) I worked out a lot. I can:

  • Do a standing backflip
  • Run a 6-minute mile
  • Walk on my hands further than ever (down my driveway & back)
  • I’m in the thousand-pound club (bench + squat + deadlift), with a 280-lb bench

I spent lot of time lifting in my home gym, following stretches on gymnasticsbodies.com, and just running more consistently. I was surprised by my progress. I think it’s because I viewed the time spent exercising as a treat – I saw the workouts as indulgence, not as a means-to-an-end.

4) I started 2 long-term projects

  • A swimming pool chemical calculator app: pooldash
  • A sales-productivity tool: afterpitch
    • Update: this one failed quickly, I was wrong about it being long-term (whoops)

I’m going to make small updates to these projects each week, and hopefully I’ll see compounding returns in a few months!

Me doing a backflip in my front yard
Me and my 8-month-old son at a booth in a Chinese restaraunt