Blog | David Kircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/2020-08-11T17:56:35+00:00All posts are my own opinion and do not represent any organization I am affiliated with.Cherish Every Moment2020-08-11T17:56:35+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/cherish-every-moment/<p>At this moment, I feel stressed.</p>
<p>I feel pulled in 1000 directions.</p>
<p>I feel like I am doing too much; I feel like I'm not nearly doing enough.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I love the people I get to spend my days working with. </p>
<p>I love what we are working on.</p>
<p>I love the person (and dogs) I get to go home to tonight.</p>
<p>I love the direction of our work and our lives. </p>
<p></p>
<p>But, I feel lost in the moment.</p>
<p></p>
<p>A few days ago, I asked some friends the question, "what is missing from your life?"</p>
<p>I was delighted to hear their answer was, "nothing."</p>
<p>And I realized my own answer was "nothing."</p>
<p>I know at almost every other time in my life, I would have had a different answer.</p>
<p>Today I don't.</p>
<p></p>
<p>So why the feeling of loss?</p>
<p>Being grateful is a choice. I was choosing to experience the problems.</p>
<p>Not to just experience the moment.</p>
<p>Good or bad, every moment with every person I interact with, I can simply cherish.</p>
<p>Cherish every moment.</p>Hear Intentions Not Words2018-05-29T16:05:42+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/hear-intentions-not-words/<p><g class="gr_ gr_17 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" data-gr-id="17" id="17"><g class="gr_ gr_17 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" data-gr-id="17" id="17">Language</g></g> is a powerful tool for communication. The problem is, the system in our brain which turns our intentions into words is not perfect. The result of this is that we often don't say what we mean or we mean something that we don't say.</p>
<p>This is particularly apparent when talking about difficult subjects. Especially during difficult conversations, I have made a concerted effort to listen to intentions over words. David Cohen wrote a great blog post a few months ago titled <a href="http://davidgcohen.com/2017/08/18/assume-good-intent/">Assume Good Intent</a>. Assuming good intent is a powerful concept. Next time someone says something your gut perceives as critical ask yourself "what is their intention?" Their intention is often to be helpful. Some conversations are difficult by nature. Choose to work with people who have good intentions. Listen to their intentions not words, especially when they are critical.</p>Life Math: Compound Interest2018-05-07T10:04:07+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/life-math-compound-interest/<p>I read this quote a long time ago and it has stayed with me "compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe." The saying is commonly attributed to Albert Einstein, but after Googling it <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/compound-interest/">doesn't seem very likely Einstein ever said it</a>. Regardless of where it came from; today, I linked it to a new meaning.</p>
<p>I've been thinking about how to define entrepreneurship, or more broadly how to describe the entrepreneurial mindset. One way that has resonated with me is efficiency in leveraging current resources. Or simply, making more out of what you have right now. Then repeating the process many times over. The result is compounding returns, which are quickly very rewarding. When evaluating how entrepreneurial someone is, one route is looking at what they have been able to accomplish so far through the lens of what resources they had at the time.</p>
<p>This will only get you so far, as some people are not able to continue compounding the returns. Some people are great at getting new companies or projects off the ground and then not the right people to take them from a small to medium scale. On the other side, some people are great at scaling companies or projects but their strong suit is not getting them started from scratch. Making sure the right people are involved at the right time is tricky. Ben Horowitz discusses this extensively in his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205">The Hard Thing About Hard Things</a>.</p>
<p>Determining the life cycle of a company you are most capable of contributing <g class="gr_ gr_39 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="39" id="39">at</g> is a really helpful lens when thinking about your career. I've recently determined that mine is in the earliest stage of a company where it is just a few people looking to get an idea off the ground. </p>
<p>In other areas of life "what you made out of what you were given" is often something I am interested in learning about when I meet somebody. And a question I often ask myself is "how can I use the position I'm in now, to get more of the things I care about?" This sounds a little crazy, probably because your mind probably jumped to money. Don't think of it in the context of money and it feels a lot better. For example, "How can I use the things I have today to show my partner just how much I love them?" or "How can I leverage my volunteer time into affecting the most change for our cause?" </p>
<p>Think about what limited things you have and how you use those resources today to drive the results you want. People who are good at this are often very successful.</p>Be Happy and Improve the Ability of Others to be Happy2018-05-03T10:01:15+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/be-happy-and-improve-the-ability-of-others-to-be-happy/<p>The other day somebody asked me "If you had to, what would you say the purpose of life is?" The answer I chose is "to b<span>e happy and improve the ability of others to be happy."</span></p>
<p>We all share the human condition. Some of us started life in a really great place, while others were dropped in chaos and suffering. None of us got to choose and I can not think of a better notation of meaning than helping our fellow travelers make the most of life.</p>
<p>What a wonderful opportunity we are given,<span> be happy and improve the ability of others to be happy.</span></p>Work Backwards2017-06-08T16:18:24+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/work-backwards/<p><a href="http://www.techstars.com/mentors/david-brown/">David Brown</a> reminded me of a great piece of advice a couple weeks ago. Advice that in and of itself is totally obvious, in retrospect. It is: <strong>work backward</strong>. Start with picturing the result you want and in your mind work back to the present. Visualizing the path and thinking "what can I do now, to get closer to this goal?"</p>
<p>The mental exercise can result in many possible paths for achieving an outcome. I believe it is important to not just pick one of those paths and stick to it without any deviation. As new information is learned the best path always changes. Dynamism is important. The exercise is more useful to get a range of possible ways to achieve an outcome.</p>
<p>When I can visualize realistic paths to a goal, something that once seemed impossible and lofty feels attainable. This helpful for me to establish confidence in the things I am doing today.</p>Warm Day in Boulder2017-01-09T03:00:57+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/warm-day-in-boulder/<p>Today was a very warm day in Boulder. It was 50 degrees for most of the day and we still have about 5 inches of snow on the ground. I made full use of the warm weather and hiked all day.</p>
<p>I started off in the morning with Green Mountain Loop</p>
<p><img alt="" height="450" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/2017/1-8-warm-day-in-boulder/05540551-0857-4CE9-B83F-3DC8E4963082.JPG" width="600"/></p>
<p>View from the top</p>
<p><img alt="" height="450" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/2017/1-8-warm-day-in-boulder/4BC27132-65D7-4980-91AA-B7BDFDEB15AD.JPG" width="600"/></p>
<p>And then went on a run (mostly walking tho :p) from Flagstaff to the top of Sanitas Valley Trail.</p>
<p><img alt="" height="450" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/2017/1-8-warm-day-in-boulder/AB539872-403C-47FE-BA03-5FCFB47A0FB9.JPG" width="600"/></p>
<p>Made it back to the car just in time for sunset.</p>
<p><img alt="" height="450" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/2017/1-8-warm-day-in-boulder/F122B760-086D-4B67-8494-01725A7C4AE2.JPG" width="600"/></p>
<p><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/825902647/embed/ab177513afeb8f8812c895fc50b89157000d552a" width="590"></iframe></p>
<p>In total I went 10 miles and 4,000 ft up.</p>Choice Fatigue2017-01-06T02:19:47+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/choice-fatigue/<p>Choice fatigue is a phrase I've been using lately to describe the situation when a decision has to be made between many good options. In this case, it is difficult to make a decision. Not because a good choice is hard to find, but rather because the worry of not making the absolute best choice holds back any decision. When the difference in the quality of the options is marginal, the time lost trying to make the best decision can outweigh the marginal improvement gained by the best option.</p>
<p>Choice fatigue can also play a role in product design. For example, Amazon helps their customers avoid choice fatigue by naming only 1 item in each category the best selling item. So when users search for a product like "reading lamp" they aren't given 100s of results with only a marginal difference in quality and no easy way to distinguish between them. Instead, they are given assistance picking "the best" option by labeling it as the #1 best-selling product in that category. This prevents users from becoming too fatigued by the options and therefore unable to decide.</p>2017 Resolutions2017-01-02T01:08:30+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/2017-resolutions/<p>2016 was the first year that I had and actually really tried to stick to any new years resolutions. I made 5 and was able to stick to 4 of them, the last uncompleted one was more of a goal and may yet be completed. I never wrote those with the intention of sharing them, but this year I am going to.</p>
<p>I believe an important part of picking resolutions is making sure they are defined in such a way where you can absolutely say whether they were completed or not. For example instead of something like "exercise more" I would write "run more than 500 miles tracked on Strava". Very easy to determine the success condition. So here it is, my 5 resolutions for 2017!</p>
<blockquote>
<p>1. Write and publish something every day.</p>
<p><em>Success condition: Post count for 2017 on davidkircos.com is > 365 on Jan 1, 2018.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>This one is going to be the hardest. Because of that, I am going to leave it the least specifically defined. This does not mean I am going to write a full blog post every day, even tweet-length posts count. As part of this, I'm going to stop automatically posting to Facebook and Twitter. I'll only share certain posts there.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>2. Read 36 books.</p>
<p><em>Success condition: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/7207821">This</a> Good Reads Challenge is completed.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I love reading, I have never been intentional about making it a habit. Now I am going to try. If you're wondering why 36, that is about one book every 10 days. My very rough book theme this year is "Important things we rarely think about." Which includes things along the lines of farming, history, infrastructure, how other countries governments' work, microscopic fabrication, religion, etc.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>3. Music purge. Listen to (and play) all new music.</p>
<p><em>Success condition: Have my Spotify library filled with new music on Jan 1, 2018.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>For the last couple years, I feel like I have been stuck in a music rut. I've been listening to mainly the same stuff over and over again, not making any effort to listen to new music. This year I'm going to try to listen to only music that I have not heard before. I've gone through Spotify and removed all my saved songs. I am relying mainly on Spotify radio and playlists to discover new content. By the end of the year, I hope to have a whole new library of music I enjoy listening to. I've been in a similar rut with music that I play on the piano. Part of this resolution is learning to play new stuff too.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>4. Run a marathon.</p>
<p><em>Success condition: Complete a marathon without stopping running.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>As I said after running the <a href="http://www.davidkircos.com/blog/detroit-half-marathon-2016/">Detroit half-marathon</a>, I intended to run the Athens Marathon this November. Furthest I've ever run is a half marathon, so this is the next logical step :)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>5. #GiveFirst 10%.</p>
<p><em>Success condition: (breaking my own rule) this one will be mostly judged by gut.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Give 10% of my time and money to organizations which I believe will contribute to one of the 6 things measured <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/World-as-100-people-2-centuries-1.png">in this graphic</a>. If at the end of the year I feel I have slacked giving 10% of my time, I'll make up percentage points by giving more money proportionally.</p>
<p>Here's to a great new year!</p>Farewell 20162016-12-31T23:09:01+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/farewell-2016/<p>There is this running joke online that the year 2016 was horrible. Sure, lots of famous people seem to have died (anecdotal) and there is a general uncertainty about the future (trump). However being an optimist, I think it's important to remember that the word is still getting better. In fact, the world is better than it has ever been.</p>
<p>Worldwide poverty is in a free fall.</p>
<p><iframe height="150" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/declining-global-poverty-share-1820-2015" style="width: 660px; height: 426px; border: 0px none;" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>Child mortality rates are too.</p>
<p><iframe height="150" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-child-mortality-timeseries" style="width: 660px; height: 426px; border: 0px none;" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>Although there is a rising global fear around terrorism, conflict-related deaths are just about as low as they have ever been.</p>
<p><img alt="" height="434" src="https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Wars-Long-Run-military-civilian-fatalities-from-Brecke.png" width="664"/></p>
<p>And on a really positive note, almost half the world is online. With no sign of the progress slowing down.</p>
<p><iframe height="150" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-internet-users-by-world-region-1990-2014" style="width: 660px; height: 426px; border: 0px none;" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>Continuing on that positive note, albeit on a much smaller scale, I've personally had a great year. Of the 5 resolutions I set for myself this year, I've completed 4 of them. With the 5th hopefully being completed soon... I know mysterious. I never wrote those resolutions with the intention of sharing them. But this year I'm going to, my next post will contain my resolutions for 2017.</p>
<p>Happy NYE!</p>
<p>Note:</p>
<p>All the charts here are from ourworldindata.org, I highly recommend <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts/">this article</a> on their site about why most people think the world is getting worse and how they are wrong.</p>Most Impactful Mentor2016-12-02T18:21:31+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/most-impactful-mentor/<p>Last night I attended a Jeffersonian style dinner hosted by a couple of friends <a href="http://www.workwithflux.com/nick-karas/">Nick Karas</a> and <a href="http://www.workwithflux.com/matt-conforti/">Matt Conforti</a> who both work at <a href="http://www.workwithflux.com/">Flux</a> here in Boulder. The idea of a Jeffersonian dinner is that the dinner conversation has a preset topic that everyone should come prepared to talk about. The topic for last night's dinner was "Who has been the most effective teacher/mentor in your life? Why did they leave a lasting impact?"</p>
<p>There was a wide range of answers. From, basically not having any specific mentors rather considering a friend group as the closest thing. To having very deliberate mentors where the relationship of mentor to mentee was verbally discussed. Also, through the course of the evening, we were able to hone in on a more specific definition of what a mentor is.</p>
<p>We discussed the distinction between a mentor, role model, and a teacher. A teacher is the easiest to define, someone you learn from either with direct contact or not. A role model is someone you look up to and want to become similar to in some or many ways. Finally, a mentor can be both a teacher and a role model. The difference is basically the element of friendship and a good mentor takes some ownership / responsibility in the growth of the mentee. A word that kept coming up around mentors was human. Many people in the group described that their mentors first saw them as a human. Meaning they were much more tolerant of mistakes and treated them with kindness.</p>
<p>Over the past few years since graduating college, I have been very lucky to have had many great mentors. Including <a href="http://tedserbinski.com">Ted Serbinski</a> who taught me the value of giving time to others, a value embodied by Techstars slogan: Give First. And <a href="http://jasonmendelson.com">Jason Mendelson</a> whom I picked up the importance of being as kind as possible regardless of who that person is and how busy my own life might be. Those mentors, among many others, have been highly influential in my life over the past few years. However, I would be completely wrong if I had picked any of them as my most influential mentor overall. My answer to that question is indisputably my father. While I was growing up my father was always an entrepreneur. In the late 90s, he started a tech company. And after that, he has run a commercial bakery and been very involved in charitable work. He has always advocated working hard, building things, and that no problem was too difficult or impossible to solve. In addition to being a great teacher and role model, my dad has certainly been the mentor that has left the biggest lasting impact in my life. Thanks, dad!</p>
<p>Finally, thank you again Nick and Matt for hosting all of us for dinner. Hope to do it again!</p>Moving to a New Place2016-11-22T15:53:01+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/moving-to-a-new-place/<p>Moving to a new place is hard. It means starting over in a number of ways. Including making new friends, learning the local area and finding new places to hang out. Daily habits are also retooled. If used thoughtfully moving can be a great opportunity to reshape some of those habits in positive ways.</p>
<p>I moved to Boulder about two months ago from right near my hometown in Michigan. These are a couple of habits I have managed to change since moving:</p>
<ol>
<li>Exercise. In Michigan, I would exercise about once every two weeks. Here I've been in the rhythm of <a href="https://www.strava.com/athletes/18006567/latest-rides/180065d120c5c42886951374d09876ab930ef2af">running</a> or <a href="http://www.alltrails.com/members/david-kircos/home">hiking</a> about 3 times per week.</li>
<li>Reading. My regular reading cadence was about 2 book/yr. Since moving, I've <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/60831455-david-kircos?shelf=read">finished 5 books</a> and next year I'm setting a goal of reading 25 books. I'm a pretty slow reader but am really enjoying it.</li>
<li>Happiness. Which is not really a habit, but arguably the result of habit. <a href="https://www.davidkircos.com/happiness">My happiness</a> has been (mostly) up since September 17th when I moved.</li>
</ol>
<p>I've also been doing a couple things deliberately to meet new people:</p>
<ol>
<li>I set up a recurring reminder to meet at least one new person every week. My normal method of doing this has been reaching out to someone just outside my network and asking them to grab lunch. At the end of the meeting, I always ask "If there is one person in town I should definitely meet, who is it?" And then follow up with "Will you introduce me?" This is surprisingly effective, and often even ends up in multiple introductions. If I keep this up I will know over 50 people by September next year.</li>
<li>Networking events. As an introvert, I really dislike them generally. However, they are a great way to meet like-minded people. In a small town, it's also a great way to keep up with other people that I've met a couple times in passing.</li>
</ol>
<p>If anyone has other thoughts or tips on transitioning to a new place I would love to hear them!</p>Reflective Listening2016-11-04T14:52:12+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/reflective-listening/<p>I've never been great at communication. From a young age I found it really difficult to grasp that If I understood something in a certain way, it did not mean that everyone automatically understood it in the same way. Starting with the assumption that everyone was on the same page with me meant my speech and writing were often very terse, ineffective and I was responsible for many miscommunications. Improving my communication skills have been something I've been working on ever since.</p>
<p>Last year, <a href="http://davidgcohen.com">David Cohen</a> introduced me to the concept of Reflective Listening. It has changed the way I think about communication. Basically, Reflective Listening is <span>a f</span><span>ramework for thinking about the successful transfer of thoughts and</span><span> ensures that everyone is really on the same page. It's really simple.</span></p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Listen to what the other person is saying.</li>
<li>Repeat back, in your own words what you think they said. Be detailed. And ask "Is that right?"</li>
<li>Then ask "Is there anything else?" Repeat the whole process until they say "No, there is nothing else."</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>Reflective Listening, as implied by the name, first requires listening. Which, while thinking about what my response will be, I sometimes forget to actually do. Then report back what was heard. Asking the question "Is that right?" brings out what wasn't communicated correctly. Finally, asking if there is anything else confirms the complete picture is understood by both parties. Information transfer complete. I love this, it has been really helpful. Thanks for sharing David!</p>Remember Feeling Bored?2016-11-01T14:36:12+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/remember-feeling-bored/<p>Do you remember the last time you felt bored? I don't, it was a long time ago. Now with the first hint of boredom, I pull out my phone without even thinking about it. It has become a habit for boredom avoidance. Even during a lull in a conversation, it's possible for me to pull out my phone without thinking twice.</p>
<p>I remember reading, but can't find a source, that Zynga the creators of Farmville claimed their main competition was pornography. While this was probably a joke, their point came through; we [Farmville] are competing for your time against other activities that you do when you are bored. With always being connected to work through email and everyone else through facebook, it's clear why boredom is now so rare. There is always something to check or interact with.</p>
<p>In becoming more connected life has become more of a whirlwind. In the same 5 minutes last week, I started by working on a spreadsheet. Saw a text from a family member across the world, excitedly replied. Was notified that the State Government charged my credit card for the toll road I took the day before. Saw and ignored a facebook notification inviting me to a party in another country. Took my turn in Chess With Friends. And finally, reopened the spreadsheet to write another formula. By being absorbed with the whirlwind I was taken away from focusing on what I set out to work on. This happens all the time if I let it.</p>
<p>Another example is when having dinner with a friend. It is so important to me to do nothing but have dinner with that person. Not keep up with anything else in my world. Just be present and enjoy the time together. Presence means being in a particular place and existing now. This used to be automatic if you were in a place, you were automatically experiencing that place. Today, with so many other things competing for attention it's a choice to be present. A choice I'm doing my best to make more often.</p>Six Months of Sleep Tracking2016-10-23T21:23:35+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/six-months-of-sleep-tracking/<p>Since April I've been using the <a href="https://www.sleepcycle.com/">Sleep Cycle</a> app as my primary alarm clock. Basically, the app uses the microphone to try and tell when you are not in REM (deep) sleep to sound the alarm clock. You get to set a 30mn window during which you would like to wake up, and it tries to wake you at the most pleasant time. About 50% of the time I wake up at the last minute of the time window and feel just as groggy as I normally do waking up. The other 50% of the time though I wake up during light sleep and feel much better! I've been recommending the app for the past few months.</p>
<p>At it's very worst, it's still better than the default alarm clock. Another thing I like, although probably not billed as a feature, is that when the alarm is active if you switch to another app it shows in the top bar. Which acts as a gentle reminder that I shouldn't be using my phone right before sleeping. I've been working towards not having any electronics in my bedroom at all, but frankly it's hard and I'm not there yet.</p>
<p>Another added benefit of using Sleep Cycle is that you can actually export your sleep quality data. Which includes: Start Time, End Time, Sleep Quality (a percentage metric they made up), Time in Bed, and Activity (number of steps the iPhone pedometer recorded that day).</p>
<p>A project I'm working on is tracking some key personal metrics over time, the first one I've talked about <a href="http://davidkircos.com/happiness">here is my happiness</a>. Sleep is another fun one, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zE3zQZ0C38jhK7zkMbo0dRsKaW_gf3QUf7RtQuoqAco/edit?usp=sharing">this is my raw data from Sleep Cycle</a>. I'll refresh the Google Sheet periodically with new data.</p>
<p>It's nice to see that my average (and median) sleep times are both about 7.5 hours. This is what I believe is healthy for me, and I intend to keep it up. Meaning I'll have about 16 waking hours a day. Best to not waste too much of that time merely keeping track of it :)</p>Detroit Half Marathon 20162016-10-18T05:42:44+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/detroit-half-marathon-2016/<p>Yesterday I ran the half marathon in Detroit. This was my first ever half, with the furthest I've ever run prior being 8 miles. I successfully finished, with my goal of running the whole time, in 2 hours and 8 minutes. Here is a link to the Strava activity: <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/746544885">link</a></p>
<p>I ran the race with my sister, and this was also her first half marathon. We arrived in downtown Detroit around 7am. It was very dark, humid, and the speaker system was broken so it only played music every 10 seconds for 1 second. It was <g class="gr_ gr_55 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" data-gr-id="55" id="55">loud,</g> and disorienting.</p>
<p><img height="666" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4212.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>We started in the very back with the last group. Which meant I would have to pass a lot of people over the next two hours, my guess is around 3-5 thousand. There <g class="gr_ gr_48 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="48" id="48">were</g> 13 thousand runners total.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4213.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>About two miles into the race, the route crosses the Ambassador bridge into Canada.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4215.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>The view of the city from the bridge was incredible.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4221.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>After the bridge, while in Canada, the sun started to rise shining on Detroit.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4226.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>The run was on the waterfront the whole time in Canada. There was a woman holding a sign just out of this photo that read "If Trump can run, so can you!"</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4227.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>The race continued through the under river tunnel back to the United States.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4231.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>The tunnel was very hot and humid with huge fans circulating the air. I'd compare it to being inside a massive hairdryer. It was not very pleasant. This photo is of the underwater border between the US and Canada.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4235.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>Back to the US for the final 3 miles.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4238.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>The final 3 miles were the hardest on me. Looking at Strava apparently these were some of my fastest miles however, they felt <g class="gr_ gr_50 gr-alert gr_spell gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" data-gr-id="50" id="50">misirable</g>. For the final stretch, I ran as fast as I could (while also taking this picture).</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/detroit_half_marathon_2016/IMG_4243.jpg" width="500"/></p>
<p>All in all, it was a great race. Set a personal distance record and got to enjoy the race not only with my sister but with 3 friends as well.</p>
<p>My next major race is going to be the original marathon in Athens Greece which takes place in November 2017.</p>Pink House White Walls (song)2016-10-10T06:31:55+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/pink-house-white-walls-song/<p>Until tonight, I haven't written any music in years. Unfortunately, time to write music is one of the first things forgone when I get busy. Writing music is absolutely something I want to do more often and greatly <g class="gr_ gr_13 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="13" id="13"><g class="gr_ gr_13 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="13" id="13">enjoy</g></g> doing.</p>
<p>The song is called <em>Pink House White Walls</em>, and it's on Soundcloud <a href="https://soundcloud.com/david-kircos/pink-house-white-walls">here</a>.</p>
<p>The lyrics are:</p>
<pre>Can you begin to see through the trees?<br/>Fire light by the sea. <br/>Then I start to see a Pink House (with) White Walls. <br/>Can it be home? <br/><br/>Weeds are growing on the drive.<br/>Vines snake on the brick.<br/>I hold your hand,<br/>as we go inside.<br/><br/>There is no fires light,<br/>no not inside.<br/>I begin to pull away,<br/>the walls and break aside.<br/><br/>This is not right.<br/>Because In my mind,<br/>we’re side by side<br/>(in our) Pink House (with) White Walls.</pre>Kindness Rules2016-10-05T18:35:51+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/infinite-bandwidth-for-those-who-are-kind-to-me-and-zero-for-those-who-arent/<p>Sometimes I prevent myself from doing something kind for someone else with the thought "I am being too nice, this is weird."</p>
<p>I've decided that whenever I get to that question "Is doing x nice or weird?" to err on the side of being too nice. Based on the notion that I would rather be a little too nice and it <g class="gr_ gr_12 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="12" id="12"><g class="gr_ gr_12 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="12" id="12">be</g></g> weird, then be slightly rude.</p>
<p>To be short: Kindness Rules. Pass it on.</p>
<p><img height="333" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/23tkv2b.jpg" width="500"/></p>Expand or Cut the Cake (Creating Value)2016-09-27T22:58:10+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/expand-or-cut-the-cake-creating-value/<p>I've been trying to write a post on value creation and rent capture for a couple weeks now. My words weren't coming together the way I wanted and while researching I stumbled upon <a class="user" href="https://www.quora.com/profile/Yishan-Wong" id="__w2_gJv2glY_name_link">Yishan Wong</a>'s Quora answer to the question <em>"What does it mean to create value?"</em><a href="https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-to-create-value"></a> He captures exactly the point I wanted to make, so I scrapped my writing and here is Yishan's full response:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code><span><span>What does it mean to create value?</span></span></code></p>
<p><span>It means making something out of nothing using human effort and ingenuity.</span><br/><br/><span>"Creating value" is a very important concept that for years I thought was just a business buzzword, but it captures a very important distinction from doing other things that make money, as making money is a big thing in our world, and for better or worse it's often the source of a lot of grief, joy, and politics. </span><br/><br/><span>Creating value is something that people inherently understand from a young age, but then later forget. For instance, a five-year-old will make a birthday card for you out of construction paper. This is creation of value. When we get older, many people forget this and start to think that such shoddy handmade things are worthless, that the only value is in things we pay money for, e.g. a store-bought card or gift. But the five-year-old has no money, and no choice but to create something of value out of nothing but the application of her effort and ingenuity upon raw materials. Money simply represents this value creation - the five-year-old could </span><i>sell</i><span> the card for money. Likewise, money you use to buy a store-bought card came from real value you created by doing your job, which likely required your own effort and/or ingenuity.</span><br/><br/><span>There's another way to generate money, which is </span><i>rent capture</i><span> (see:</span><span class="qlink_container"><a class="external_link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_seeking" rel="noopener nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/w<wbr></wbr>iki/Ren...</a></span><span>). This is a money-making method that does not create new value, but rather exploits a property of the environment (physical, social, or economic) in order to incur favorable transactions. The easiest example of this is forcibly taking over a piece of unowned land or open road and charging others a toll to use it. No new value is created, but the ability to charge "rent" is captured. Keep in mind that</span><i>charging </i><span>rent is not necessarily rent capture - if you build an apartment complex and rent out its units, you have created an item of value and are merely charging for it, i.e. making money exchanging something of value you created. Rent capture refers to charging money for usage (or relief from) a facet of the pre-existing environment you have exploited. There are complicated philosophical issues around whether the unilateral acquisition of unowned-but-finite environmental resources and their place in value-creation, but I still skip those.</span><br/><br/><span>Either way, the phrase "creating value" is typically used to designate activities which make money but which are not rent-capturing, i.e. new value is created through either mutually beneficial exchange transactions or producing something valuable out of raw materials through human effort and/or ingenuity. "Enlightened" capitalists or businessmen often use this term to designate "positive" business activities that make money because they apply the effort of human beings towards creating new value, versus other activities that generate money but not value. This distinction is significant because many metrics of business success are measured by numbers on financial statements, which are nominally blind as to whether increases in money flow are value-creating or not.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Basically, there are two ways to make money:</p>
<p>1) Create new value and capture x percent of the new value created. <em>(creating value)</em><br/>2) Capture rent on an already existing asset. <em>(rent capture)</em></p>
<p>The first form is the one that moves everybody forward. I think it is altogether too easy to forget that new value <strong>can</strong> be created. While accumulating wealth, you are not necessarily taking money from others. If you create new value for society that did not exist before, you have created new wealth and are entitled to capture a sustainable portion of that newly created value.</p>
<p>Source: </p>
<p><a href="https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-to-create-value">https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-to-create-value</a></p>I Spill Stuff and You Should Too2016-09-06T17:27:45+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/i-spill-stuff-and-you-should-too/<p>The other night I was talking with a friend about what I'm working on at Techstars and why I'm excited about it. I was so focused on what I was saying I spilled beer all over myself. Later the same evening I was talking about how exciting it was to live in the rapidly changing Midtown Detroit neighborhood and once again spilled a cup of water on the floor.</p>
<p>Reflecting on this, my passion for what I'm working on that lead me to not pay attention to anything else, and spill shit. Spill shit passion is awesome to see in anyone when talking about what they are working on. My friend of 3 years <a href="https://twitter.com/HRosenblume">Hunter Rosenblume</a> (founder of <a href="http://joinlunar.com">Lunar</a>) is spill shit passionate about his company. I can't count on my hands how many times he has knocked something over while feverishly talking about anything related to Lunar. Dedication and laser focus only come with strong passion, and it is essential for succeeding at anything really hard (like starting a cell phone carrier).</p>
<p>If you are not spill shit passionate about what you are doing, do something else.</p>Boulder Bound2016-09-06T14:10:58+00:00davidkircoshttps://www.davidkircos.com/blog/author/davidkircos/https://www.davidkircos.com/blog/boulder-bound/<p>I'm a born and raised Michigander. I grew up here (Grosse Pointe), went to college here (Michigan State University) and been working here ever since (Detroit).</p>
<p>Every city is unique and has a different personality. Most cities I travel to render the same sentiment in my mind "this place is great, but I'll be glad to go home". Boulder CO was different.</p>
<p>I first went to Boulder last year on a cross-country road trip with a friend. We were driving back to Michigan from the Grand Canyon and decided to spend 2 days in Boulder. We hiked in the flat irons and walked Pearl St Mall. For the first time ever I thought about a city outside of Michigan "this place feels like home, I would live here".</p>
<p>Boulder is touted for its 300 days a year of sunshine and having a 10mn walk to the foothills from downtown. Last week it became official, with a full-time offer from Techstars. I'm moving to Boulder. Next week I'll be hitting the road, <g class="gr_ gr_18 gr-alert gr_spell gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" data-gr-id="18" id="18"><g class="gr_ gr_18 gr-alert gr_spell gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" data-gr-id="18" id="18"><g class="gr_ gr_18 gr-alert gr_spell gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" data-gr-id="18" id="18">Boulder bound</g></g></g>.</p>
<p><img height="301" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/davidkircos.com/assets/10pwpc1.png" width="855"/></p>