26 pills from 2023.

I tend to believe I don’t fall for these ‘new year initiatives’ because I am quite consistent during the year. However, this time I am taking the chance and using this opportunity to reflect on the year we just finished. Hectic as it had never been before.

For this process I am only going to consult four sources: gallery, notes, Talent Protocol Updates and calendar.

1. Nobody can read your mind. You either speak up, or you deal with somebody else’s decision. If you keep your opinion to yourself, then you can’t complain.
   

2. Joy is my main KPI. You may not like a few tasks in the process, but you will barely realise it as long as you’re aligned with the purpose.
   

3. You can’t be prepared for all outcomes. Trying to guess the future output of every action you take is tiring, stressing and makes you believe you can control things outside of your possibilities.
   

4. Our parents have the key to our emotions and sometimes we overreact to their attitude. They also fuck up. They also need to be understood. But they also need to listen to how you feel, otherwise nothing will change.
   

5. You can summarise networking in two actions: you either knock on people’s doors, or you make enough noise to have them knocking at yours. Making noise is funnier.
   

6. Having a committed community behind takes you anywhere you want. Bringing a community together is energising. Finding a common purpose and developing it together is exciting. Co-creation made real.
   

7. Relationships mutate over time and you can’t control how these change. All you can focus on is being as healthy as possible for you to provide your best self at all times. The rest depends on an infinite set of shit you can’t control.
   

8. We have given AI hallucinations a negative connotation, when all AI is doing is basically being creative. AI is fucking amazing. Embrace it. Of course it makes mistakes, but so do we.
   

9. Making a product you can actually touch (or wear - BlurredFuture) is the coolest feeling ever. Looking at other people wear it is even better.
   

10. The enthusiasm shown in the first meeting is not an indicator for future performance. That excitement needs to translate into commitment to the project for productivity to maintain over time.
    

11. There is a general trend of not showing who we really are to certain people - specially clients. Being professional / adequate does not depend on shirts or brands. Our clients also watch Rick and Morty (if we chose the right ones).
    

12. You need to stick to the project when things are not going well. Your investors need the same level of information regardless of the current state of open positions.
    

13. Maradona was cooler than I thought. If there is a sentence I take from this bio is “Dinámica europea con chamuyo criollo”. Can’t be translated, just let is slide.
    

14. If I could chose to be the best at anything it would definitely be music. If there were no languages anymore, we would be able to communicate everything through music/rhythm. Watching people sing with you when you’re playing is a true superpower.
    

15. True innovation is messy. You will never get the best solution at first. Getting the first draft out there asap is key. Finding the key metrics to identify the next steps is vital. When in doubts, get to a hackaton mentality and obliterate those deadlines.
    

16. Pokemon is trendy again and nothing makes me happier.
    

17. F**K Crypto Bros, but they might have a point. Speculation → More people join → Money comes in → More innovation → More people join → More money comes in…

18. The language you speak with your lifetime friends never changes, but you might switch to different dialects for a while. Eventually, you will get back to the same level of understanding.
    

19. There is a bliss point in every pain point.
    

20. Laugh is a million years older than language. We will understand each other better by sharing anecdotes that may expose our true selfs, rather than pretending to be flawless.
    

21. There is no better place in the planet to refill my batteries than being at my mom’s place. Noting this for the future.
    

22. Nobody has a favourite Tiktok, but many people have favourite movies or books. We only connect emotionally to the things we dedicate ourselves to. I have definitely faded the Tik tok narrative, but I just can’t be bothered.
    

23. We have all the tools and resources to build anything we want for free. All we are missing is the ability to stop for a minute and think what we really need to build.
    

24. We are more likely to change the name of something that harms us, rather than getting rid of it. There are 61 names for ‘sugar’ out there.
    

25. Now that blockspace is a commodity, crypto is finally focusing on onboarding users. As techy as it seems, crypto is a financialised version of people’s emotions at play. The next two years will bring the first groundbreaking use cases that people will want to use daily.
    

26. AI, Crypto or Blockchain are neither good, nor bad. These are tools that can be used in many ways. This use-cases can be judged, not the tools behind it.

What comes next? Things move very far and sometimes I feel I don’t enjoy the process that much. I want to dedicate a bit of time every month to reflect about what’s happened so far. I am exposed to a lot of things every week and I want to digest them to, potentially, share it with as many people as possible.

Why do I make it public? I need your pressure. I believe in the “build in public” idea and sharing always puts an extra bit of pressure on you that helps you go the extra mile. So yea, I want this to be cool enough for you to reach out and tell me to stop being a lazy ass and write a few thoughts down every month.

Before closing, cheers to the people who made it possible and guided me through the last 365 days - let me write down a few of you:

Steve, Dieguito, Nico, Gabi, Papá, Mamá, Julen, Ash, María, Manu, Juampi, Filipe, Pedro, Fabi, Ines, Juls, Edu, Gems, Juanjo and all my boxing mates, Fred, Olimpia, Lola, Mar, Flor, Abu, Julito, Primo Martín, Javier, Iñi, Miguelón, Tomy, Dani, Clara, Anto, todas las Crises de mi vida, Esther, Rogelio, German, Pilu, Sebas, Santi, Tommy, Calvi, Gerardo, Cato, Luquita, Dimitri, Adri, Carlos F, Posturín Marín, Luqui, Miguel y Juli, los amigos de la Colo, Lula, Chema, Neo mi peluquero, Lautaro, Sandra, los startuperos del Pizza day, Joan y Miguel, Sofi, Luz y Santi, Camelia, Manu, Santi y todo el equipo de Byld, Cuque, la Fede, el Emi.