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I Am 28 Years Old. This Is What I Believe.

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I am 28 years old, and everything is about to change — again. That’s what happens when things start to seem settled in your life. You meet a girl, and she’s amazing. You move in together. You’re in a job you like, and you’ve been doing it well for a long time. (Well, “long” as far as internet standards go.) Things are good!

And then you look at the calendar year ahead and realize: You have 11 weddings to go to next year. Eleven! And one of them is yours! Your friends are having kids and buying homes. You drive through the suburbs and think, Having more space might not be so bad!

It hasn’t all happened yet. But it’s happening. By the time I write the 2016 version of this post, things could be very, very different.

For now, though, there’s 28, and it’s been an incredible year. Over the past year, there are certain things I’ve come to believe hold true. I know that my beliefs will continue to change. I know that I will change.

But here, at 28, is what I believe:

The hardest part of the work isn’t getting it going — it’s keeping it going, week after week, year after year.

End results matter, but the routines and processes you use to get there are so much more important. Master those, and the results you want will come more often than not.

When you stop feeling like a little like an impostor at work, that means it’s probably time to take on a brand new challenge. You should always have something to prove.

There are so many big, weird ideas I want to try. I’m just waiting for the right teams and the right time to try them with.

Inbox Zero is too hard. Shoot for, like, Inbox Twelve. It’s more do-able.

The no. 1 secret to wedding-related sanity: Stay the hell off Pinterest.

Travel reveals who you really are when things get stressful. So if you’re dating someone, and you’re thinking about popping the question, and you haven’t taken a big trip, well: Maybe it’s time to see how much a round trip for two to Thailand costs.

I don’t know what happens at my alma mater next, but I do know this: We stood up for Michael Sam. We stood up for Jonathan Butler. We can stand up for a whole lot more, Mizzou.

Once a week, reach out to a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Write an email. Send a text. Or (and this sounds crazy): Make an actual phone call! The 15 minutes you spend laughing and catching up might be the best 15 minutes of your week.

I still think this is the year my Washington Capitals are going to win it all.

Screw “Fake it ‘till you make it.” Don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t. Recognize your weaknesses. Be willing to say: “I don’t know — but I can find out.” There’s power in that.

I used to say, “Define your greatness, and go out and do it.” Now I see it a little differently. First, you’ve got to define what success means. Because if you don’t know how to define it, how will you know when you’ve achieved it?

Friday is my 10-year high school reunion. On the day I graduated, I had never held a smartphone before. Never even owned an iPod. Never blogged. Never tweeted. Never posted a photo or a video online. Never downloaded an app. Never started a video chat. I don’t know what the next 10 years will bring, but I know it’s going to be amazing.

And most of all: I know change is scary for some. But when I think about Sally and the things we want to do together, I’m not scared at all. I’m excited.

Bring it on.

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In that photo at top, from left to right: Sam, Mom, Dad, Sally, and El. Love you, guys.

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Why Didn’t Anyone Show Up To My Presentation?

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Here’s something that happens at every office: You work hard on a big presentation. It’s got everything a great presentation needs: Actionable advice, clear takeaways, and data to back up your big points. You send out the calendar invite to a large group of co-workers — maybe an office listserv full of people who could use your advice.

Then when presentation time comes, only a fraction of the invited employees show up.

Why? What went wrong?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this problem lately. It’s something we struggle with at BuzzFeed, and something I hear echoed in conversations with friends who work in fields from media to medicine. Why aren’t people showing up for valuable presentations?

Three things are usually at play:

1) No one is holding them accountable — This is the big one. If you’re inviting people on a more personal basis — emailing 2-3 people at a time, or reaching out to folks on a 1-to-1 basis — they know that you personally want them there, and that you expect them to be there. When you reach out to a big team/group/listserv, it’s more impersonal, and people often feel like their attendance isn’t necessary. They also know that if they don’t show up, there won’t be any pushback — you won’t follow up to ask why they didn’t make time for your presentation.

2) They don’t know what’s in it for them — WIIFM isn’t just a silly acronym — it’s also an important part of any good presentation! Every time someone gets an invite to a presentation or a training, they should have an expectation for what they’ll be getting out it. If there’s nothing in it for them, why would they show up in the first place?

3) They don’t believe presentations are valuable — If you’ve been to a handful of sub-par presentations at your office, you’re less likely to think of them as valuable — and much more likely to think of them as a waste of time. And that’s a shame! A great presentation can change the way you work and give you the skills to produce amazing things. In a perfect world, people would LOVE going to presentations — they’re opportunities to make you better at the things you do every day!

So what can you do to improve your presentations? I’d start here: When you send out the calendar invite, let everyone know what they’re going to get out of your talk and why it’s so important. Follow up with people in person to make sure they understand why they should come — and create the expectation that their attendance is important. And lastly: Knock your presentation out of the park, and give them great advice that they can use!

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That photo of a presentation comes via the University of the Fraser Valley’s Flickr.

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One Thing You Should Know Before You Send In Your Résumé.

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Over the past three years, I’ve been lucky enough to hire a handful of really talented candidates to join my teams, first at Stry.us, and now at BuzzFeed. In the process, I’ve looked at a lot of résumés.

And here’s what I can tell you: Everyone — and I mean, EVERYONE, from entry-level candidates to experienced hires — struggles to write a good résumé. It’s understandable! This is something they don’t teach you in school. It’s tough to figure out what you should be doing with your résumé.

So here’s a way to think about it:

A résumé isn’t a listing of everything you’ve ever done. It’s not a complete catalog of all your work.

A great résumé is more like the book on your career — and as the hiring manager, I’ve picked up the story on page 60, and I’m quickly glancing through the previous pages to find out if I should keep reading or not. A great résumé shows me your career path, and makes it clear to me why the job you’re applying for is the next step along that path. Every job listing, college degree, side project, and skill listed should serve as a milestone along that path.

If I was a hiring manager at a law firm, and I was hiring a new lawyer for my team, I’d expect to see certain milestones on your résumé: A law degree, internships or jobs in the field, and maybe even a side project or a background in relevant clubs at your school (the debate club, Model UN, etc).

You don’t need a background that’s quite as specific to work at BuzzFeed, but there are milestones that should stand out. I’m looking for a relevant degree (creative writing, journalism, communications, and English lit are popular ones), and job experience that involves a combination of writing and content production. And I want to know that you’ve worked on long-term projects that require collaboration and organization. (If you’ve been a part of launching a big project, that’s a huge bonus!)

Let me put it another way: Within 60 seconds of reading your résumé, it should be glaringly, ridiculously obvious that this is the job you’ve been working towards all along.

Before you write a résumé, ask yourself this: What do you envision yourself doing in the next decade? What do you want to accomplish in that time period? And how does this next job keep on you the path towards completing all of those goals?

With those answers in mind, you can tailor your résumé around your intended path.

If you’re applying slightly different types of jobs — maybe you’re applying to work on my email team at BuzzFeed, but also applying for a writing job over at Refinery 29 — that’s OK! But your résumé shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. Your résumé should be tailored to each specific job. It should be clear why your skill set has brought you to my door.

Because if you don’t, you may be out of luck — there’s a good chance I’ll be onto the next candidate after only 60 seconds.

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That photo of a desk comes via Unsplash and photographer Dustin Lee.

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It’s OK To Break Your Routine.

A photo posted by Dan Oshinsky (@danoshinsky) on

I’ve written lovingly about routines before, and how building good habits can help you do amazing things. A good routine can keep you focused and productive. But I’ve also learned that sometimes, routines can make work feel monotonous.

So what can you do? Here’s an idea: Break your routine just a little bit.

It can be a small thing. Like last night: The work’s been good for a few straight weeks, but I was still feeling a little bit sluggish at the end of the day. Maybe it’s the changeover from daylight savings times, or may it’s just the weather. Whatever it was, I had a good day at work, but I needed a little pick-me-up.

My change? It was as simple as taking a different way home. I got off at a different subway stop, and walked past Radio City and 30 Rock. And just that little act — just a slightly different route home — was enough to throw a jolt into my day. I started thinking about how I’m coming up on three years in New York City. In fact, it was three years ago to the week that I interviewed with BuzzFeed. I remember sitting around waiting for a job offer I wasn’t even sure would come. And walking through Midtown, I had to remind myself: I made it here! I’ve built out a pretty awesome team, and some amazing products, too. I’ve been a part of building a remarkable media organization.

Just a small tweak was enough to help me snap out of it. But your little tweak could be easy, too: Grabbing coffee at a different time during the day to break your routine; grabbing a new co-worker every day for a quick walk around the block; eating lunch with different people at your office. Sometimes, even a small change is enough.

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We Should All Stop Eating Those Sad Desk Lunches.

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BuzzFeed’s grown a ton since I started in December 2012 — not just in prestige or influence or monthly UVs, but also in raw size. We had about 175 staffers in New York when I started. Now, we’re so big that we take up two different offices — one across the street from the other.

And we’ve seen a few unexpected side effects of that growth. Here’s one: We don’t have nearly as much space in our canteen to eat lunch in anymore.

When I started, I regularly ate lunch with co-workers from across the company. We talked about what we were working on, and interesting ideas and projects often sprung from those lunches. But as we grew, and as space became as issue, I started eating more and more lunches at my desk. Eventually, it became my daily routine.

And because I started doing the Sad Desk Lunch, everyone on my team started doing it, too.

But a few weeks ago, I noticed one team at BuzzFeed that was still actively eating together — our team focused on content distribution. They’re run by Summer, who happens to be one of our best (and friendliest) managers. I noticed them eating lunch, enjoying conversation with one another, and I realized: My team needed to follow suit.

So on the newsletter team, we’ve made a new rule: On Mondays and Wednesdays, we grab lunch, head to the canteen, and eat together for 20 minutes. It’s a time to bond as a team, and it’s an opportunity to talk about work in an informal setting. Sometimes, you need to get buy-in from team members through a formal meeting or an emailed request. But other times, over a sandwich, you can talk about an idea and actually set some work in motion, and that’s also great! Some of our best ideas — our Dude A Day newsletter, for instance — have come out of those informal lunches.

Collaboration, communication, and a sense of camaraderie. They’re all wonderful things that have come out of a simple act: Eating lunch together.

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That photo at top comes via Flickr’s Link Humans.

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Shit Happens.

The work never goes like you want it to.

Oh, you had big plans? Shit happens.

Oh, you had goals/ambitions/dreams? Shit happens.

Oh, things were supposed to go a certain way? Yeah… shit happens.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t make plans — you should! It’s good to anticipate problems, and to try to get ahead of the work. But the work always gets weird along the way. You learn that something can’t work a certain way, or should actually work a completely different way. Your team takes a hit. Something breaks.

Things always go wrong. It’s just the way it goes.

So are you willing to push through it? Are you willing to keep working, even when things suck?

The best don’t use those bad breaks as an excuse. They find a way to get the work done anyway.

Good luck. Keep doing the work.

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My Favorite Question To Ask Candidates In A Job Interview.

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If you’re interviewing for a job on my team, be ready to answer this question: What tools or apps do you use to work?

When I’m hiring, I’m looking for people who are going to be able to work well with my team. If a candidate has the right work habits already, I’m confident that we can teach them the skills and give them the confidence to do great work. So that’s where my question about tools comes in — because the tools you use to work secretly reveal a lot about your work personality.

I’ve learned that:

◦ People who use a to-do app (and there are a million good ones) are typically detail oriented.

◦ People who save lots of links with an app like Evernote, Pinterest, or Delicious usually have lots of big ideas.

◦ People who swear by a calendar app like Google Cal or Sunrise are often very punctual.

◦ People who love an inbox app (Boomerang, Sanebox, Rapportive, Mailbox, etc) are almost always super organized.

This question isn’t everything — I always follow up with more questions about why that person loves an app so much, and what they use it for. But it’s a great way to dig into the mind of a candidate and catch a glimpse of how they work, and that usually gives me a good idea of whether or not they’d be a good fit for my team.

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That photo at top comes via Unsplash and photographer Todd Quackenbush.

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The Hard Thing Is That There Are Always More Hard Things.

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It’s fall, which means I’m already thinking about plans for 2016. The new year is less than 90 days away, and there are a ton of big decisions to make between now and then.

As I think about the state of my four-person team at BuzzFeed, these challenges come to mind for 2016:

-We need to grow our team.

-We need to find a way to train new team members in the way we work — how to launch stuff quickly, mess around with new ideas, and use data to make informed decisions.

-We need to maintain the industrious spirit of a small team while growing into a (slightly) bigger one.

-We need to continue to grow our subscriber base.

-We need to launch new products.

-Some of those products will be launched in other countries.

-And some of them will be launched in languages other than English.

That’s a lot — and the secret is, it’s just the stuff that’s in front of me right now. In three months, we’ll have almost certainly knocked a few things off that list… but a new challenge or two will be added to it. Maybe we’ll add our first team member in a different city. Maybe we’ll be forced to make unexpected cuts to our lineup of newsletter products. Maybe we’ll have challenges implementing new types of advertising into our newsletters, or struggle to communicate with other teams here at the company.

Something new will come up. It always does.

And that’s the truly hard thing about working in a startup like BuzzFeed, I’ve found: There are always new challenges to face. Once you’ve mastered one challenge, another one presents itself. Sometimes, old challenges show up again in new ways!

The hard thing is that there are always more hard things to take on, and you have to be mentally prepared to taken on challenge after challenge. It’s why it’s so important to have those moments during the day to think, and it’s why it’s doubly important to have a great team behind you. The challenges will always keep coming. Make sure you have the time to center yourself, and make sure you have the team to take on what’s next.

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Yes, that’s an incredibly obvious “mountains beyond mountains” metaphor of a photo at top. It’s from Unsplash and photographer Nitish Meena.

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Why I Started Reading The New York Times In Print (Yes, Print!) Again.

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About a month ago, I did something I hadn’t done in almost a decade: I started reading the print edition of the New York Times every morning.

You read that right: A 28-year-old working in digital media actually re-subscribed to the dead tree edition of the newspaper.

And here’s one more confession: I really, really like it.

I like that the paper helps me follow what’s happening in the world, and thanks to my new habit, I think I’m as curious as ever about all sorts of subjects. I love that I’m sending along more stories to friends (via email, of course — don’t worry, I’m not cutting out and mailing stories to friends), and I love the conversations that are coming out of those shared stories.

But most of all, I love the 20 minutes every morning of absolute quiet. The TV isn’t on. I’m not distracted by email, or a video shared on Facebook, or whatever just showed up on my phone. That 20 minutes in the morning where I’m reading the paper is my chance to read, be quiet, and think.

I’ve turned to various things over the years to find that quiet. When I lived in San Antonio, I practiced yoga. In Missouri, I worked out like it was my job. But right now, it’s the Times.

Everyone should have that time during the day to shut out the rest of the world and find quiet. The rest of our days are so hectic, and so full of everything. It’s wonderful (and maybe even necessary!) to have a tool that lets you find that peace — even if it’s only for a little while. Those are the minutes that help keep you sane.

I never thought that peace would cost $9 a week and show up on my doorstep wrapped in a rubber band every morning, but I’m awfully glad that it does.

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UPDATE: Right after I published this, the Times published a great essay on the importance of time away from our devices. It’s worth reading!

As for that photo at top: That is sadly not my breakfast. It’s from the @mynytimes Instagram account.

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Another Chance To Do Better.

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This week marks the end of the Jewish High Holidays. I like the High Holidays for a lot of reasons: You get to see family members that you don’t see every day; you get to feel this connection to an incredible, ancient tradition; and you get to eat a ton of lox. (Mostly, I like the lox.) But the holidays mean something else to me: They’re an opportunity to spend time thinking about the year past — and the year ahead.

When I think back, I first think of the big things I did right: Goals accomplished, projects launched, and little victories that made the past year so special. Then I start thinking of the times where I erred: Failures in communication or execution, or wrongs committed. (There are, sadly, always a lot of these.)

And then I look ahead. And no matter what’s come before, I always remind myself: Next year is a new chance to do a little better. I’ll never be perfect, and I’ll never come close. I will certainly make mistakes. But the goal isn’t perfection: The goal is do a little better than before. If I can do 5 percent better this year, and 5 percent better the next, and 5 percent the year after that…. well, over time, all those 5 percents are going to add up to something pretty impressive.

So here’s another year — 5776 on the Jewish calendar, if you’re keeping score — and another chance to do a little better. Here goes.

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That photo of a sunset comes via Unsplash and photographer Mayur Gala.

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