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My weaknesses

Everybody has weaknesses, but many won't list them on a public website. It's an interesting exercise, and I encourage you to try it.

One weakness of mine is that I tend to go all in on new ideas without testing the water first. Once I get on a new idea (especially for a new website or a small business) I basically don't sleep until it's up and functional. Jumpstarter Creative and MN Flavor are prime examples of this. I get the idea, I draw a matrix of planning around it, I sketch out the website and write some text, then I basically make pot after pot of strong coffee and work to completion. From idea to established business and promoting it live is inside of seven days.

What I should do is slow down, step back, and get input from others. Often I build something beautiful but with some holes in it, and only after some key friends have seen the work do they say, "Hey Jason ... have you thought this through?" Also, I need to carefully plan how much time a new venture will take, for I tend to underestimate the time commitment of a side project. When I first envisioned MN Flavor I was budgeting for five hours a week once it got rolling. Very quickly I learned it needed at least twenty hours a week to be successful, an amount of time I simply couldn't afford.

Another weakness of mine is having emotionally thin skin, which used to be a weakness I hid, but now I've stopped apologizing for. Things rattle me, and I'm honest about that. One of my greatest fears for many years was the fear of being fired for no reason, which is one of the many reasons I'm self-employed. Criticism bothers me to the core, so I try to simply move forward with my ideas and be around people that bring positiveness. Movement and momentum are everything. Thick skinned, tough, loud, bossy people that simply bulldoze their way through things and situations bother me. I find them rude and one dimensional, and they suck life force out of me. So I do what I can to avoid people like that.

Another thing about me that sometimes I think is a superpower and sometimes think is a weakness, is a strong tendency toward being an introvert. I'm a proud introvert, and I think about 90% of the time it is perfectly okay. However, it's that 10% that holds me back. Not being social at a party (even if I go), not being more forthright is how I approach people, that sort of thing. Then again, I'll never know what I don't know so I shouldn't question it.

The last weakness I'll mention is that I get antsy when I'm stuck in a situation of boredom. I have little tolerance for sitting around and doing nothing, which is why so many cubicle and office jobs seem like living hell to me. Even in a beautiful spot where the goal is to decompress and relax, I can't sit still for very long. Life is too short, and I get jumpy (especially mentally). My wife well knows that if I'm in a situation where I'm stuck and can't do what I want to do, I become frustrated beyond belief. This is why I love yoga so much and aim to practice it more in the future. It's one of the few ways I've found to slow down a bit.