Freedom Wasn't the Hard Part
After my first layoff, I had time, money and no manager. I filled the space with bicycles, business ideas and almost anything except a direction.
The Uncomfort Zone
The Uncomfort Zone is for founders and independent builders working hard at the wrong problem. Real stories about the hidden decisions underneath stuckness — through an engineer's root-cause lens, from Vietnam.
Live Last read · last published · next check
Latest posts
I Got Promoted to Staff Engineer. Five Months Later, I Was Laid Off.
I left convinced I would build my own thing. Then came a climate-tech job board, four more false starts and more than a year of not knowing.
The Most Convincing Wrong Answer Is the One You Gave Yourself
Smart founders rarely stay stuck on a crude explanation. They stay stuck on a well-made one — the account of the problem that sounds too self-aware to doubt.
The Voice Calling You an Imposter Hasn't Read Your Own Archive
Eighteen months of your own writing already answered the thing you're telling yourself this week. The feeling just got there first.
You Don't Have a Focus Problem. You Have a Missing Destination.
Focus is a ranking, and a ranking needs a destination. The trap is that nothing in a founder's world ever forces you to name one.
What Rick Rubin Knows About Stuck Founders
He could explain exactly what was wrong with his business. That's not the same as fixing it.
You Can't Push Your Way Out of a Confidence Loop
I’ve been in this stretch twice since going independent.
You Know Exactly What's Wrong. That's Not the Problem.
A founder running a six-person consultancy walked me through his business like he was presenting a case study.
The Realest Thing Never Comes Up Over Coffee
For almost a year, I had a standing call with a founder in Berlin.
Stuck Isn't a Work Ethic Problem
There’s a specific kind of frustration that comes from working hard and going nowhere.Thanks for reading The Uncomfort Zone!