Welcome to 2.0

For the last 10 years, I have regularly changed directions with this blog, and its topic (or topic). It started as a blog for tips about the work, as a system engineer, continued with productivity advice, went more into the productivity death spiral, and finished as a blog about mindset, leadership, and everything in between.

Lots of Stuff, huh?

That's precisely what I thought. It was hard for me to make any sense out of my blog and out of the work I am doing for it.

I couldn't see any bigger picture. I don't just want to have different blogs or use tags and categories to organize it. There was a need for clarity, not only for the reader but for me.

Who am I writing this blog for, what's my motivation to do so? What's my goal with this whole thing? What's the bigger picture behind anything that I am doing?

That are the questions I tried to figure out over the last few months, and I partially have an answer.

I say partially because this might change, maybe I will pivot over and over again.

May I introduce you to…

… my system.

This entire exercise not only helped me in case of blogging. It helped me to name things that I was doing for years and become aware of why I do things as I do them.

The starting points where some Kudos boards with feedback from my former teams. As I left my last company, they put them together and everyone could leave some kind words there. I put the common themes as sticky notes on a Miro board, together with some other feedback that I have received.

After the Miro board was crowded enough, I started to group them and give these groups names. Top level building blocks are basically North-Star-Principles and roles. With the roles, I am not a hundred percent sure, but that shouldn't bother me too much.

The North Star Principles are what guide me in every aspect and decision of my life. And I identified six of them:

• Humans Always First
• Routines Over Everything
• Think in Systems
• Communication moves Mountains
• Trust and Respect Everyone
• Lead Yourself First

The roles I identified are environments I act in:

• With myself
• With others
• As a leader

These roles have different aspects to it that are all connected with the North Star Principles.

But what the heck has this to do with the blog? Everything. This kind of categorization helped me to understand in which way to better tell stories and give value to you as a reader.

For example; Why do I think it's important to tell you (as someone who is interested in leadership) about routines and habits? As a leader, you need to learn to lead yourself first. Everything that you say, think and do is deeply influenced by your routines and this influences how you lead other people.

It helps me paint a clearer picture for the reader. In the past, it was always like: "Here with a little mindset, a little of productivity, and look over there, leadership tips are coming in as well."

If you are interested in more details, have a look at this page about how I think, live and work.

What's next?

As this blog is relaunched and no one is watching, I have used the time for a spring-cleaning. A lot had to go, I have summed up the reasoning behind it in the history of the blog.

Other than that, I will continue with my work and see where it leads me. There will be less new articles than before, but hopefully better articles.

If you want to read more like this, make sure to follow me on twitter to receive more frequent updates.