Notes from the week, the trail, and the work.
Monday Momentum every Monday: intentions declared before the week takes over.
Friday Field Notes: when something from the trail or the crag demands reflection. Longer pieces live in Ideas.
Monday Momentum
A brief weekly note for people whose week needs starting on purpose. Intentions declared before the week takes over.
Browse Monday MomentumFFFN
Occasional dispatches from the trail or the crag. Published when something demands reflection before Monday.
Browse FFFNRecent — newest first
-
Intentional AI use, not reflexive.
Monday Momentum: The Line Morning intentions, written down, because writing them down is one of them: Lean on AI much less this week. Be transparent on the days I do use it. Put my own…
read → -
Reading the Rock
Before you climb, you trust the topo. On 15 June, NHS England admitted the topo for its most sensitive patient data was wrong: suppliers hold standing access the public was told did not exist. Read…
read → -
The system is holding.
The system is holding. A week of climbing out of the valley, closing easy 6c+, hearing the 7s call like sirens, and the reminder that the journey, and the pain, are shared.
read → -
Q2 closes. The seeding starts.
The week after a solid but incomplete one has a specific quality. You know what moved and what didn't. The gap clarifies, it tells you exactly where to put the weight. Q2 closes. Three things…
read → -
Volume at Low Level
Confidence at the high end is built low and wide, long before it shows up high. A week framed around finishing clean, handing off honestly, and building the base, across the quarter, and at home.
read → -
The gap between the news and the room
The news samples from failure and spectacle. The world I keep finding, on the trails, in meetings, in real conversations, is quieter, more capable, and more generous than the headlines suggest.
read → -
The Lift at the End of the Valley
The principle holding this week: Presence Over Performance. Less doing, sharper doing. The lift is there if I stop sprinting past it.
read → -
Carry everything. Break nothing.
There is a specific kind of weight that comes when multiple things are failing at once, and none of them are within your control. The valley of despair is real. This week is about carrying…
read → -
The crux isn’t on the rock right now. It’s in the execution.
Late, deliberate, and fully committed. Week 4 Q2: why some weeks demand presence before publish — and what execution under pressure actually looks like when life adds weight to the harness.
read → -
The Fork at Week 2
Week 2 is the fork. Before anything scales, you choose: commit, pause, or find who can carry it while you focus elsewhere. Scale shows before scale scales. Some decisions — partnership bandwidth, public moves, the…
read → -
The Move You Don’t Make
There's a moment on every climb where the obvious hold leads nowhere. Anthropic built the most capable AI in history — and didn't release it. Red lines aren't weaknesses. They're the route.
read → -
Pull on. Figure it out on the wall.
New quarter. New altitude. On rock, I know my grade. In business and leadership, I'm setting myself two grades higher. That gap between where I am and where I'm reaching is where the real work…
read → -
Week 13 — The Signal
Advising scales. Building doesn't. In Week 13 I'm wrestling with the shift from fractional advisor to committed builder — and what Anthropic's $400M Coefficient Bio acquisition tells us about why people and integration are the…
read → -
Monday Momentum: What You Don’t See
A dense week spanning Venice, Valtellina, Scandinavia, and UK. Many parallel initiatives, but real value lies in invisible preparation. Like climbing, what you see is not the grade. This week is the moment to make…
read → -
Base Camp Consolidation
Monday Momentum – Monday March 23, 2026 Four choices this week. Not tasks — choices. They come from a single observation that surfaced at the crag on Saturday: when you love what you’re doing, rational…
read → -
The Kit Is Getting Lighter. The Terrain Is Getting Real.
The kit is lighter. The terrain is real. And after a weekend adapting to different rhythms, limits and needs — on the slopes, in conversation with new friends — the lesson lands again: a framework…
read → -
A gang isn’t built — it’s earned
I didn't always hold the line — sometimes I moved with the room, called it pragmatism. The ethical line isn't abstract; it's heavy. And it teaches you one thing the easy choices never do: how…
read → -
The Only Test Worth Trusting
Not the whiteboard. Not the slide deck. Not the notebook where the ideas have been living for months. The moment it works out on the hill with someone else — that's the only test worth…
read → -
Eyes Up, Ridge Ahead
One tiny adjustment — a slight turn of the knee — and you’re not falling, you’re sending the line. Not breaking, but completing the turn perfectly. That’s the NED role. Not taking over the descent.…
read → -
Cut the Weight
Weight is no good in the mountains. You don’t go far and you don’t climb hard carrying too much. This week I cut — commitments, projects, maybes. The skill isn’t accumulating. It’s editing. Pochi ma…
read →