Sometimes you just have to say fuck it. Recently, I was considering a trip to New York City but it was a bit difficult to justify the trip from a financial and time standpoint. After all, I was going to visit one person who told me that we could just do a skype call. I decided that I needed to do a face to face.
It was a great decision. With an investor meeting as the anchor, I decided to launch the trip. Once I committed and booked the trip, I reached out to a couple of people and had an amazing two days in the Big Apple. In addition to a great meeting with a potential investor for SyncFu, a company that I’m advising, I met a dozen amazing people including Russell Simmons, Christy Turlington, Scott Harrison, Chris Sacca, Tony Hsieh, Leigh Ferreira, Manoj Dadlani, Ingrid Sanders, Shira Lazar and others. These experiences would never have happened if I didn’t go with my gut.
Leigh, a TED friend, and I met at the TechCrunch party and walked over to the Standard for a cocktail where we talked about TED, Summit Series, New York and San Francisco living. We randomly ran into Chris Sacca, Crystale English, Jenn Lim, Tony and a few other great people from TechCrunch. The following morning, I interviewed the always inspiring Scott Harrison from Charity Water, and then attended a fantastic cocktail party at Charity Water that night. Scott and Charity Water teamed up with Jack Dorsey from Square and threw a great party. At the party, I was able to spend time with Ingrid Sanders, Manoj Dadlani, Jack Dorsey and others.
I went from the party to a fundraiser at Russell Simmons place where I spent a bunch of time talking with Russell about his insightful panel discussion at Summit Series, meditation, the need and gratification of giving back, what drives us, being persistent and going with your gut. Russell agreed to a follow-up video interview. I also had a great conversation with Christy Turlington, whom will be in the book, about her passions and upcoming film Every Mother Counts.
I didn’t know that these things were going to happen when I decided to go to NYC for a couple of days. They happened because I went to New York. Too often, we spend so much time on analysis an ROI and don’t listen to our inner voice. Trust me, as an engineer and MBA, I’m guilty of it. More often these days, though, I’m saying fuck it and going with my gut. I’ll tell you what – it feels a hell of a lot better than wondering what could have been, and, the ROI has been amazing thus far.
Do yourself a favor and say “fuck it”, if only just once over the next week. See, it even feels great just to say, doesn’t it? As you know, I love your comments!
