×

Stay up to Date

Thoughts and leadership game changers from Merge Lane
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Mergelane Blog

Broadening the On-ramp for Women-run Companies

Tuesday Takeaways 06.30.20 | Surrendering to July

As I talked about earlier this year in Lessons from a Bout of Holiday Depression, I typically feel a bit depressed over the holidays. I am most happy when I feel productive and I find that I have to expend three times more energy to feel productive during the holidays. This pattern tends to persist not only during the week of July 4th, but for the entire month of July. 

Many VCs and entrepreneurs take vacations. Last-minute meeting cancellations are more prevalent. People seem to be less motivated to build new relationships, start new initiatives, or complete non-urgent tasks. Admittedly, I feel a bit this way too.

In the past, I've always fought against this inertia. I’ve worked three times as hard, despite my body’s and the universe’s signals to slow down. It has resulted in frustration and depression every time. When everyone else jumps into fall feeling refreshed, I feel tired. 

This year, I am going to try to surrender to July. I am going to direct most of my energy to independent work and lower my expectations for responses and collaboration from others. I’m going to focus on the work I feel most inspired to do and work within my natural energy levels. I am going to take a bit more time to relax and recharge. This last one feels especially scary to me because it is so counter to my personality, and I’m nervous about the judgments you’ll make about me. But, c’est la vie. 

Stay tuned.


Related Posts

When Passion Runs Out

I’ve spent most of my life learning how to turn off my passion for just long enough to eat and sleep. I’ve never had to learn how to turn it on. After a recent long stretch without that passion, here's my hypothesis as to why I think it is coming back.

Read more ➞

Episode 41: Living Off the Brink of Disaster

I tried for many years to maintain a jam-packed schedule with zero margin for error, but life never seems to fit into perfectly scheduled boxes. After a straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back moment, I’m learning to live off of the brink of disaster.

Read more ➞

Episode 40: Avoiding Venture Capital Fund Administration Headaches

I've spent more time than necessary on our fund administration and reporting, in part because of some of the easily avoidable administrative mistakes I’ve made over my 10-year journey as a startup investor.

Read more ➞

Episode 39: When Anxiety Is Worse Than the Outcome

Over these past two months and throughout all of 2020, I've learned something that I want to record to make sure that I remember: My anxiety about the potential outcomes is almost always worse than the actual outcome.

Read more ➞

Stay up to date!

Sign up to receive updates on everything we are up to, including future events and the latest news.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form