In partnership with
Whether you left your job or are building on night and weekends, building a company takes a level of optimism most people don’t have. You see what’s possible when other people see risk and reasons not to jump. It’s intoxicating, to see the possibilities others don’t. I think it’s core to being an entrepreneur.
It’s the same optimism though, that makes distractions so tempting because you see what could be.
I like to think of myself as a disciplined person (as I write this past my bedtime lol) but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t struggle with focus. The things that pull your attention are purposely seductive.
Especially when your chosen path takes long hours and is filled with rejections. In those moments the grass does seem greener than wherever you’re standing. But as we all know, it usually isn't.
The answer isn’t to be less optimistic and stop seeing possibilities, I think the answer is focus.
Focus isn't about walking the same path blindly, it's about walking it long enough to learn something.
The discernment to know the difference between a distraction and a real opportunity comes from experience. You need the reps to know
Now, I don’t have some formal framework for focusing on the path. It’s an ongoing conversation I have with myself. I am really clear on the goals and the mission of my work.
And with that in mind, when I feel pulled by something shiny and new I check in with myself. I make sure I’m clear on what am I trying to accomplish. On the mission. and if this help us get there. Efficiently and with fidelity.
Checking in like that felt nearly impossible in the early days of starting Guava. when imposter syndrome was HIGH. When we were getting a ton of press and I felt obligated to take every meeting and consider every opinion. It’s still a practice but today I can more quickly parse a distraction from a true opportunity.
I’d love to hear from you.
What’s been threatening your focus?
Talk soon!
Kelly
Stay in flow state. Dictate everything else.
Context switching kills your focus. Every time you stop coding to type a Slack reply, write a ticket, or draft a PR description, it takes 23 minutes to get back in the zone.
Wispr Flow lets you dictate all of it without leaving your editor. Speak your response, your ticket, your commit message — Flow formats it and you're back to coding. Works system-wide inside Cursor, VS Code, Warp, Slack, Linear, and every app.
4x faster than typing. 89% of messages sent with zero edits. Used by engineering teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay.