Expansion Sprint Midpoint Check-in

TLDR: six nights I protected my sleep, one I lost to midnight pizza 🍕

We’re halfway through the 2-Week Sprint, and I want to do a mini-retrospective to see what’s working, what’s not, and see if I need to adjust mid-flight. Please comment below with your own mid-point check-ins!

My one non-negotiable this sprint was simple: in bed by 10pm. Through the first week I hit my goal six nights out of seven.

What I was pleasantly surprised was that the rest of the pillars came along for the ride. I worked out, did yoga, and meditated every day. Nailing the keystone gives the other stones a higher chance to settle into place around it.

But, honestly, the real lesson lies in that one lapsed night.

On Thursday I was in Dallas co-organizing an AI conference - 200+ people, the whole day spent running between panels, moderating them, managing the filming of each session, and meeting people building in the robotics and physical AI space. It wrapped at 5pm. Then I drove the four hours back to Austin and walked through my door at 9:30pm.

Process-wise, I did everything right. I wound down and was in bed by 10pm.

And I couldn’t fall sleep.

I was so amped from the day that two and a half hours later, at 12:30am, I was still wide awake. Eventually I gave up, got up, realized I was starving, ordered a pizza at 1am, pigged out and finally crashed around 2ish.

You’ll notice that while I controlled the process, that is getting myself to bed by 10. I didn’t control the outcome. My nervous system had other plans.

🤷🏻

And that’s the whole teaching of this sprint for me: we are responsible for the process, but not the outcome. And rather than beating myself up, I gave myself some grace for being human. The next morning I climbed back on the wagon without making a big fuss.

The biggest learning of the week is this: when I get to bed by 10pm, I raise the odds of good sleep.

And good sleep changes the entire next day. That’s why it’s my 2%.

On the good-sleep days, I published the Tao Te Ching Verse #7 video, by far the longest and most involved one I’ve made so far. I also showed up for a friend who’s been in a dark stretch, helping her deep clean her house so her home could start to feel like home again.

What the 2% really buys is energy, presence, and the capacity to actually show up for work and for the people alike. It moves 98% of the needle, and not just in what I get done, but in how much I enjoy it.

This one is staying. It’s my clear keeper going into Week 2.

With the pillars holding, the focus now shifts to automation and AI systems building plus sitting down with another friend who’s just landed in a rough patch at work and could use some help mapping his way through it.

Beyond that, the plan is dead simple: protect the 2%, and let the other 98% unfold on its own.

If you’re sprinting alongside me, drop your own midpoint check-in in the comments below with a) what’s holding, b) what fell apart, c) what you’re learning about yourself and the process.

I’d love to know.

Next Sunday I’ll publish my full two-week retrospective, and we’ll close the sprint together at our retrospective workshop the following Wednesday, June 24 at 8am PT.

Until then, keep at your own 2%.

- S