That's great advice Dharmesh, I think I can be much more specific there. Thanks for the heads up.
For anyone reading who's interested, I think this might be the best example of how seriously we take self-improvement at Buffer:
Each day we have a daily standup video call (Google Hangout) with the whole team. Each person has 3 minutes to talk. Like most standups, we talk about what we've done and what we're doing next. The thing that we do which I don't know that any other startups do, is that as part of that 3 minutes we also share a daily improvement. Something we're working on to improve ourselves. It can be related to Buffer, but usually it isn't. Some examples of improvements people have worked on: start blogging every 2 weeks, speak at first event, speak to a new person every day, learn japanese, wake up an hour earlier. We all encourage each other with our improvements, and this helps us push forward much faster than otherwise. It's a really positive environment and there is built in accountability.
That list at the end reads like my personal checklist (even the Japanese, in particular). Let me attest to the value in all those activities.
You pretty much stole my attention for the evening with that explanation. Good thing I've almost finished this short story outline! Look forward to an email from me.
For anyone reading who's interested, I think this might be the best example of how seriously we take self-improvement at Buffer:
Each day we have a daily standup video call (Google Hangout) with the whole team. Each person has 3 minutes to talk. Like most standups, we talk about what we've done and what we're doing next. The thing that we do which I don't know that any other startups do, is that as part of that 3 minutes we also share a daily improvement. Something we're working on to improve ourselves. It can be related to Buffer, but usually it isn't. Some examples of improvements people have worked on: start blogging every 2 weeks, speak at first event, speak to a new person every day, learn japanese, wake up an hour earlier. We all encourage each other with our improvements, and this helps us push forward much faster than otherwise. It's a really positive environment and there is built in accountability.