I’ve decided to come out of hibernation until at least Labor Day.
While this coincides with the publication of my new book, Give First: The Power of Mentorship, I also have a few things on my mind that I feel like blogging about. If you know me, you probably know that I explore ideas by writing about them, and have always learned a lot when I think out loud by writing in public.
I hibernated in the summer of 2023. I stopped blogging, podcasting, and engaging on all social media. I also stopped giving public talks, both in person and virtual. Sure, occasionally, I’d repost something on my LinkedIn, do a long-form interview like the one I did with NOCD about Mental Health in Entrepreneurship, and I wrote a few blog posts about new books from several friends.
But I stopped engaging. After almost 20 years, I needed a break.
I continued to write a lot. Some of my writing found its way into Give First: The Power of Mentorship and several email lists I’m part of, but most of it was private.
I switched from default yes when asked to do something to a default no. It took a little while to get comfortable with, and a few people were annoyed with me, but it felt great once I got the hang of it. And I badly needed to reset some things.
During hibernation, I continued responding to almost all the emails I got. I’ll keep doing this, as it is the best way to interact with me. I have comments on this blog, so that’s another way to engage. While I’ll be broadcasting stuff on LinkedIn and Twitter, I doubt I’ll engage there meaningfully, but who knows …