It’s been about 2 months since my sabbatical and that long since I have written for this blog, or for INC magazine, or crafted a new Tweet.  Yep, 8 weeks or about 60 days.  Miss me?  Well I missed writing but I did not miss the deadlines.

What did I learn from being away?  

  • My writing muscles began to atrophy. Seriously, it’s like starting all over again.
  • My brain feels much less cluttered.
  • I don’t feel like I am chasing shit – shit seems to be finding me.
  • The world continues on – however, many of you have reached out and asked me when I am going to start writing again. Thanks for those thoughts.
  • I am developing a new set of themes that I want to explore including (fundraising experiences, founder self-awareness, RTP phase “next”, views from outside RTP).

What am I doing now post-TSF?

  • First of all, Dave and I still have 35 investments to manage and help succeed – that is the commitment we made to our investors.
  • I am spending time outside of Raleigh/Durham to talk to others involved in similar activities.  I need to hear what is going on and get some different perspectives. Stops in DC, New York, Boulder, Austin, and the valley are scheduled.
  • I am getting the writing back up to speed with INC, this blog, and the start of another book.
  • Lastly, I am continuing to hit the speaker circuit around the country.  I love this (personally) and it gives me a platform to talk about startups, investment, community building all of which shines a bright light back to RTP.

As part of my sabbatical, Patty and I took a 3 week break in St. John USVI.  I feel very lucky.  First of all I have never taken a break this long where the only mission was to not use my brain.  I did not take a computer and checked my email every couple days (my vacation auto-responder said email with the word URGENT in the subject line if it is important).  My email scan took all of 2 minutes.  I mean off the grid.  I also read a ton of stupid crime novel paperbacks.  And sat on the most gorgeous beaches I have ever seen.

The result – a clarity that I have not had for a long time.  I am super excited to share what comes next as soon as it crystallizes (probably over the next 60 days).

Thanks for having me back and look for some new thoughts . . .