The Art of Small Steps
My reflections on balancing success and self-care as a first-time CEO.
Check how our AI Editor, Calvin, helped me create this newsletter. Hire Calvin as a part of AI team to streamline your operations!When you hear the title "CEO," what comes to mind?
What is it about for you?
For me, it was always about power, responsibility, busyness, money, strong character, stamina, and highly developed soft and hard skills. So from the very beginning, since I became the CEO of Olympia, I pushed myself harder to improve at team and time management, partnerships, marketing, project and product management, you name it.
But what I eventually realized is that sometimes it's even not busyness per se, it's a fuss, "Look at me, I am so cool, I am such a busy CEO here, doing all this stuff!" I started asking myself about the necessity of the tasks I do: is it important or urgent, and how does it help develop my business or contribute to my growth as a first-time CEO? Once, I had a consulting session where I received advice to stop planning too much, stop all the fuss, and work on the most important stuff (and we always know what that is). It became easier for me as soon as I got rid of the mess of "doing" for the sake of mere activity. I started making small but important steps towards my goals, and surprisingly, the pace of my growth increased.
As CEOs, we also tend to forget that we are only humans. With our lives besides work, with a range of feelings and complex nervous systems, physical needs, families and external factors, health and flow of life, and hobbies. We play in business so hard and think that we're omnipotent, that one day, when our system inevitably crashes, we finally remember that we're not machines.
At some point, when business becomes more important than anything else, we lose ourselves completely. There is something extremely wrong about it, and here's why.
You are not a robot. You won't last long working 24/7. Neither your body nor your family will be okay with it for too long. Or your life partner, or your children, or your friends. And in the end, when there is nothing left but your business, you'll be ready to burn it and forget it like a horrible nightmare. But you won't be able to get people dear to your heart back; your spouse, the time with your kids, your health, and friends. Was it what you wanted when you started your business? Is it worth it?
This week, I didn't publish the next episode of The First-Time CEO. I pushed hard through the week while going through a major life transition. I forced myself to stay strong and do everything as planned, no matter what. On the day of the deadline, I woke up and had a lightning thought: "Why, in the time when I need myself the most, when I need self-love and compassion, and careful planning, and time to process, I push myself even harder? How does it serve me?" Besides, pushing myself means pushing others, too. My designer is eight hours ahead of me under missile attacks, and last time, she worked till 4 am for me so that I could publish the episode in time. It is cruelty towards myself and others.
So I gave myself (and us) more time. And love, compassion, and gratitude for respecting my own needs and flow of life. Immediately, this shift allowed me to plan my life and work better, and record episodes with enough time for editing and creative work, and promo before the next one. There is more air and space between the tasks, and I can breathe and stay human.
I'm learning the art of small steps from this sweet prayer written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that I want to share with you today:
The Prayer of Small Steps
Lord, I am not asking for miracles and visions,
I’m only asking for strength for my days.
Teach me the art of small steps.
Make me clever and resourceful,
so that I can find important discoveries and experiences
among the diversity of days.
Help me use my time better.
Present me with the sense of recognizing what is essential and what is secondary.
I ask for strength, self-discipline, and moderation,
so that I do not merely drift through life,
but rather, organize my days wisely,
seeing the best use for each passing moment.
Help me to endure life as it comes,
with the necessary patience and serenity.
Help me to understand that difficulties, failures, and setbacks
are trials that help us grow and mature.
I know that many problems resolve themselves
if we do not rush them,
so teach me patience.
You know how much we need friendship.
Let me be worthy of the most beautiful and purest of gifts.
Give me enough imagination
to be able to share warmth,
in the right place, at the right time,
with words or with silence.
Spare me from the naive belief
that everything in life must run smoothly.
Give me the clear understanding
that difficulties, failures, and setbacks
are just a natural part of life,
through which we grow and mature.
Remind me that the heart often argues with reason.
Send me, at the right moment,
someone who has the courage to tell me the truth with love.
I do not ask of You perfection, O Lord,
but I ask for that which gives meaning to life.
Help me take small steps
toward the great and eternal goals.
Amen.
So, the next episode of The First-Time CEO podcast will be out next week. And for now, I suggest you watch/listen to my previous episodes if you haven't yet:
The Evolution from CTO to CEO with Kirk Marple, Founder and CEO of Graphlit (ex. Microsoft, General Motors, STATS, Kespry)
SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | APPLE PODCASTS
From Layoff to Closing $750K in 15 Months with Julia Arpag, Founder and CEO of Aligned Recruitment
SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | APPLE PODCASTS
From Accidental Marketing Agency to Lead Generating Machine with Marco Mendoza, Founder and CEO of Wizerlink
SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | APPLE PODCASTS
Last week, I also hosted the Olympia demo webinar, where I showed all the features we've developed so far and demonstrated how our AI teams can help entrepreneurs streamline their operations. If you haven't had a chance to join, watch it here (Passcode: K5obu%vU). Feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions about Olympia. Subscribe to our Eventbrite page to keep an eye on the next webinars, where I'll discuss particular use cases in the future.
For more content like this and first-time CEO insights, follow me on Substack, Linkedin, and Instagram, and The First-Time CEO show on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to be my podcast guest, please fill in this form, and I’ll get in touch should it be a good fit!