When Your Best Becomes Your Rounding Error: Lessons From 2020

So there's this classic startup story that people love to tell at cocktail parties. I don't know if it's true or if it has just become a Silicon Valley urban legend, but here it is:

The founders of Reddit had a meeting with some big wig at Yahoo. The big wig asked the startup founders about their daily traffic to the Reddit site. They answered (very proudly), "Ten thousand."

"Ten thousand?" he responded. "That's our daily rounding error."

The Reddit guys went back to their offices, got out a Sharpie and wrote "rounding error" on a big piece of paper and taped it above their desks. The rest is history.

There's another classic version of this story that I've seen on one-too-many fitness Instagram feeds: "My warmup is your workout."

What happens when something that was a big deal becomes...nothing? When major becomes minor? When effort becomes effortless?

2020 has stretched us beyond anything we could have imagined. The loss of life is and the impact on our economy is unthinkable.

In the heartbreak, I believe in mining for gold. And we're still here. We can find the glimmer in the rubble. There are things we didn't do before COVID that we do now, that we do constantly, that I really hope stay with us.

So, I think about that cocktail party story - the one of the guys from Reddit and the exec from Yahoo. Where has my 2019 best become my 2020 rounding error? I'll share some of mine with you.

• Quiet: I live in the heart of NYC, so "quiet" isn't exactly a word you'd use to describe my life. But I have to say...it's been really quiet. In 2019, 5 nights in a row with no plans would have been a wild idea. In 2020, it's my thoughtless norm. In 2019, the idea of sitting in my home, working with no background noise for 10+ hours would have felt like a painful, silent marathon. Today, it doesn't even cross my mind to turn on the TV or music. I sit peacefully, easily in the quiet.
• Uncertainty: A 2019 "ton" of uncertainty has become a 2020 "ounce." My 2019 best when it came to navigating uncertainty has now become my hourly standard. I think less about my future plans than ever before, which has led to feeling more present than ever.
• Appreciation: I've never appreciated life, home, food, comfort and love more than I do this year. My 2019 highest level of appreciation doesn't hold a candle to 2020. Sitting in gratitude is no longer a practice. It's become breath.
• Cooking: I cook more in one week of 2020 than I cooked in the entire year of 2019. Super into it.

We've all reached new bests this year. Our ceiling has become our floor in ways we might not even realize. And as we move toward a new year, I hope you have also turned a few of your 2019 bests into 2020 rounding errors. I hope you mine for gold in work, at home and in life.

Amy