Day 2
At Amazon it’s supposed to always be Day 1. What this means is that anything is possible if you stay “constantly curious, nimble, and experimental.”
As for day 2, well, that’s what you want to avoid. Because as founder and then CEO Jeff Bezos joked at an all-hands meeting, day 2 “is stasis followed by irrelevance followed by excruciating painful decline followed by death.” And as someone who sits here 40-plus years old with acute tennis elbow after getting smoked in a casual game of pickleball, that hits a little too close to home. But does day 2 get a bad rap?
I thought about this recently when my daughter got a new phone. See, before she traded in her old phone, she made sure to transfer all of the photos on it that she wanted to keep. I was looking at those pictures with her as she did this and among them were her as a 3- and 4- and 5-year-old playing soccer with me coaching in the background. I about cried (which is becoming a recurring theme here) reliving those moments.
One takeaway from that is that sentimentality increases exponentially with age. Another, since she wanted to save them, is that teenagers may actually care about stuff (though the jury is still out on that)...
But she was offended when I remarked that I missed those days. Because why would I miss those days when I have these days? And that was an interesting question because I love these days. What’s different from then to now, though, is (1) we have fewer days left and so therefore (2) there is less open-ended-ness.
In other words, and to be brutally honest, even though I try to be curious, nimble, and experimental, it’s not day 1 for me anymore (and also not for Amazon either). I’ve done things and made decisions that specifically preclude me from doing other things and making other decisions which means that not anything is possible for me. That said, it oversimplifies it (I hope) to say that if I’m on to day 2 (or 3 or 4) with a diminished opportunity set that I’m headed for irrelevance and excruciating painful decline.
That’s because here on day 2 (or 3 or 4) I’m building on previous choices made to take a step (or steps) forward. So while my scope of opportunity is narrowing, the magnitude of significance of what’s left to do is growing.
When I previously about cried prior to spring break, I wrote that you or the world is always moving on, and I stand by that. But the thing about that statement is that it’s simultaneously something to be lamented and celebrated. To wit, I miss my little kids, but I love my kids.
So the thing to avoid isn’t day 2 because day 2 (or 3 or 4) is inevitable. The thing to avoid, as Bezos rightly notes, is stasis.
So wherever you are, personally or professionally, recognize that you won’t be there for long and further that you can’t (and hopefully don’t want to) go back to where you once were. You’re headed somewhere next and that also means not being headed to an increasing number of other places. For that to be something to celebrate and not lament, be intentional with your investments of – and in – time, capital, opportunities, and people. You can’t do it all, but do what you can.
Here’s to Day 2.
-Tim
