Welcome back to my monthly reflections 🎉

In case you're new, this newsletter has three purposes:

1. A dedicated time for me to reflect on and draw meaning out of the last month ✏️.
2. An entry for conversation – if anything of what I write awakens something in you, I encourage you to hit “reply” and share it with me 🙋‍♂️.
3. An insight into my thoughts regarding the topics I write about 💭.

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In this very email, I share about rucking to break out of the comfort; the reminder I'll always be with myself; building habits without punishing or judging myself; social support networks; being in Porto in July with the European Innovation Academy; the question if leadership is the same as coaching; my tomatoes, peas and nasturtium; my seedlings in and outside the greenhouse; and finally some thoughts on how to measure food.

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Getting uncomfortable...

An episode of Impact Theory (a show on health, wellbeing and entrepreneurship I used to binge-watch in 2016) inspired me to embrace discomfort more.

In it guest Michael Easter shares about how most people have become very used to comfort and how discomfort can actually stimulate growth, health, and confidence.

Losing our son in 2020, I certainly had enough emotional discomfort in the last years but I did get inspired to challenge myself physically to build back confidence.

I decided to go rucking (walking with a weighted backpack) for a 26km (~16mi). By leaving three days earlier than planned, I added another layer of discomfort: rain.

The way back was challenging! My calves and ankles hurt, my shoes continued being fully soaked and the weather didn't get any better.

But I continued walking and after 5h 18min, only interrupted by 13min to eat a cheese croissant in Peñiscola, I arrived back home.

I'm happy I went and surprised it wasn't harder. To up the difficulty, I'll use more weight or add in some running next time!

I thought the monotonous walking would lead to deep reflections and insights but that didn't happen... bummer! Perhaps if I had entered the day with the intention of reflecting it would've been different, though. 🤔

Left: leaving the house prepared for rain all day. Right: view of the Castle of Peñiscola. Most of my walk was along the coast..

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Always Me

I received a powerful reminder by listening to a fellow participant in the last Emerging Men* session...

It doesn't matter what I do or where I am or who I'm with, I'll always be with myself. Nothing new but it still hit me in two ways:

1. There's no getting away from me, not even for a moment. That's why the relationship I have with myself is the most important one.
2. Personal development is the most valuable kind of development and the one with the most long-term impact. I'm happy to be working in this field :)

* Emerging Men is a men's community that I started in 2019. Its purpose is to provide a space for deeper connection and brotherhood that inspires presence and personal growth. Come join us in our weekly Zoom meetings if this piques your curiosity.

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Building habits without punishment

I used to be really good at taking on new habits and discarding old ones. But (and it's a big but!), I accomplished that with a lot of judgement and punishment of myself.

External success but internal disharmony...

Now I'm on the quest to get great at habits again but while being kind to myself.

So far, what I've discovered is that some habits I find easier to form. For example, I've been doing Wim Hof breathing pretty much every morning for months.

Others are more difficult: I'm still trying to make my workouts a consistent habit.

The remaining question is: what distinguishes breathwork from working out? Is it that I experience the benefit from breathwork more quickly? That it takes less effort? That I can do the exact same thing every day and don't have to rotate exercises?

When I'll have a new insight, I'll let you know in another edition of this newsletter...

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Social surroundings

This has been a topic for a while...

In 2020 we not only lost our son but also a big part of our social support network. We started anew in 2020 when we moved houses and again in 2021 when we moved from Portugal 🇵🇹 to Spain 🇪🇸.

Staying socially connected is harder for me than it used to be. And building new friendships is, too.

Being a solopreneur adds on top of that. Neither as a coach nor as a university teacher do I have actual colleagues...

I know a strong social support network is important. I feel it's important. And still, I often don't feel motivated...

Actually, let me catch myself! I do feel motivated! Motivated to have meaningful conversations with people that I know I can have them with.

Where I frequently lack motivation is in dealing with uncertainty, advancing trust, and being outgoing. I've become more hesitant socially.

I don't think that's bad in itself but it does make starting anew slower...

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July in Porto 🇵🇹

In January 2020, right before COVID went global, I was invited to Qatar 🇶🇦. I spent two weeks as a life and leadership coach for young entrepreneurs and startup founders.

Apart from the Arab Innovation Academy, I've worked with other startup accelerators but lost interest when everything went online with the pandemic.

That makes me even more excited to go to Porto 🇵🇹 with the European Innovation Academy in July this year!

The EIA is the world's largest accelerator and guides its participants to go from idea to tech startup in three weeks. Of course, that's only possible with adequate support... and that's why I'll be one of the mentors!

I've mentored and coached at the EIA in 2018 and 2019 in Cascais and am excited to reunite with fellow mentors and organisers.

Left:: EIA 2019 in the Estoril Congress Center. Right: The mornings are packed with insightful lectures on everything that has to do with entrepreneurship. The slide reads "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

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Leadership = Coaching?

I've dedicated some more time to books in the last month. I just finished Trillion Dollar Coach: Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley Bill Campbell and really liked it.

Bill functioned as CEO and advisor to many of the Silicon Valley giants (Facebook, Apple, Google...). No matter what his official function, most of his time he spent coaching. He was an empathetic and supportive people person and brought the human aspect into many of the tech companies he worked with.

The main reason I liked reading the book so much was that it showcased that even in tech, people skills are so necessary! That's exactly what I support startup founders with as well!

I just started reading Compassionate Leadership: How to do Hard Things in a Human Way. In it, a leader is presented like a coach, raising the question of whether coaching and leadership is the same thing.

I think it's very similar but there are differences. Certainly, both have to understand people really well, and be good at talking to people and helping them solve problems.

But a leader also has the role of bringing people together around a shared purpose as well as making decisions regarding team composition. I don't see this in coaches.

That could mean that, ideally, leaders are coaches AND additionally are skilled at inspiring and bringing people together and don't shy away from making hard decisions.

What's your take on this?

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More rain 🌧️

Last month I wrote we "finally had some rainy days". These days have turned into weeks and it only stopped a couple of days ago.

The rain was desperately needed. But it also meant I didn't spend much time in the garden.

My tomato seedlings 🌱 are yearning for heat and sun and didn't grow much and lost some of their colour over the last weeks.

From left to right: 2 rows basil, prairie fire (chili) roter Augsburger, Salattomate, golden current, cocktail dorada, Ida Gold (all tomatoes)

Because of the weather, I also did not build another greenhouse. I'm still considering it, though...

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Peas dying from mildew

The peas initially really enjoyed the rainwater. I'm sure it tastes better than the chloride water from the hose!

But they aren't fond of humidity because that's ideal for mildew. The white fungus likes humidity and seems to have a preference for peas! I removed several pea plants entirely even though I sprayed them with bicarbonate soda (nontoxic but too alkaline for fungi).

But it's OK. I like eating them but more importantly, I sowed them to improve the soil. And that happened already!

The nasturtium isn't completely happy either. I have three plants that are just exploding and will soon cover the whole compost (which is great because it gives more shade but lets air flow through). I didn't expect them to get that big and think I sowed them too close together...

How they show they aren't completely happy? Spots on the leaves (see first pic). As far as I can tell, it shows a lack of potassium and I've added wood ash to the watering. Let's see how they'll develop.

Left: Some spotty leaves of the nasturtium. It affects both old and some new leaves. Right: First nasturtium flowers. I love eating them. Last year we made a salty nasturtium butter! :)

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More life!

I've been waiting for March...

It's the month of sowing!

In my greenhouse with maximum light exposure:

• Top left: two rows of kale, two rows of rainbow chard.
• Bottom left: green beans, tiger nut, pepper, mar azul (blue tomato), kumato (black tomato). One column each.
• Left: two rows of broccoli, one row of marigold. Zucchini (big leaves), more rainbow chard (in toilet paper rolls), tomatillo (bottom row).
• Very left in a separate container: peas (to be eaten as microgreen).

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Outside, sheltered from wind and rain:

• Asian lettuce, mixed lettuce (on column each).
• Three rows of green beans.
• One row of cucumber (not out yet)
• Two rows of Galia melon (a hybrid of honeydew and cantaloupe, not out yet).
• Also two shoots from the tomato that's already fruiting for propagation and some leftover lettuce to regrow.

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Measuring food

On the field, food crops are usually evaluated by yield per area (eg. 750 kg per ha) and the price they can be sold for per weight or unit. By natural and unnatural processes, crops can then be improved to yield more and be seemingly more attractive to farmers and consumers.

But this is very different to how we ideally evaluate the food we eat: its nutritional value.

The other day I overheard that if you ate an orange 🍊 in 1950, you'd need to eat eight oranges today to get the same nutritional value. Food has become cheaper but at what cost?

What would be necessary is to weave in nutritional value into the calculations and look at how much nutritional value a crop offers per area and per amount of input required (that'd still be very simplified. Nutritional diversity, other ecosystem functions, taste, how long the crop stays well after harvest, labour-intensity in harvest and processing, etc. play a role as well).

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Made it!

And that's my reflection for March!

There are two things I'd like you to consider:

• Reflect on my reflections. I'd be happy to receive a reply from you.
• Forward this newsletter to a person you think would appreciate it.

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Until next month,

Jorim