Weeknote 03/2023
I’ve spent most of this week in the Netherlands with my WAO colleagues. We stayed in an American-style villa north of Amsterdam, complete with jacuzzi, ping pong table, and trampoline! Instead of client work we worked on things like the journey we’ve been on since being founded in 2016, how we can have a more consistent approach to projects, and contributor pathways.
A big part of meeting up together, though, was just to be in the same place for the first time in three years. Due to the pandemic, it was the first time Anne, our intern-turned-cooperator had met John and Bryan IRL. So Laura taught us all different types of poker (for peanut M&Ms), we played video games, went out for dinner, as well as going to an awesome ‘new school arcade hall’ called TonTon Club. Some of us also managed to sneak in a run.
Back at the ranch, it was another birthday celebration which we celebrated in Newcastle-upon-Tyne at Lane 7 and I Scream For Pizza. Everyone had a great time, and Hannah won bowling for the first time in Team Belshaw history. Our daughter played in a football match where she scored a hat-trick and was awarded player of the match. The Boy has a game today.
What’s been interesting to me this week is being able to see (with data!) the impact that increased alcohol consumption, less protein, and later bedtimes has had on my body. While I had a great time, routines are important to feel well-rested — as you can see on the Garmin ‘Body Battery’ chart above!
Next week will be back to client work. Part of our time away was to kind-of-formalise having a Project Lead and a ‘Context Understudy’ for each client. We couldn’t really think of a name other than something like ‘Skills Provider’ for other roles, but I’m sure the naming and approach will evolve. For me, it means that while I’ll probably still be involved in some way with each of the seven projects we’ve got on at the moment, I don’t have to keep the context for all of them in my head 😅
Photo of windmill near Heerhugowaard
