Starting Over on Own The Leap

What Day One Sounds Like Now

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I did not intend to spend part of yesterday reading old posts.

Someone had left a comment on Day 3, and I went back to see what I had actually written, because I couldn’t remember exactly, and then I kept going. Day 2. Day 1. Then forward again from the beginning. I lost forty-five minutes and the dog was staring at me with the flat expression of a creature who had expected a walk twenty minutes ago and was prepared to wait indefinitely, but not quietly.

The One I Sent First

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The dog and I did the loop at 6:15. Thirty-five minutes, same route. I did not rehearse anything, which was unfamiliar in a way I am still thinking about. For five days I walked that loop running the opener, the second paragraph, the one word I kept changing and changing back. Yesterday morning I hit send. This morning I just walked.

I checked my phone before I left the house. No response. Twenty-two hours in. I was not expecting one. I keep reminding myself of this. I am going to keep reminding myself.

The Third Monday

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The dog and I did the loop at 6:15. I ran the opener the whole way, which I’ve been doing since Thursday, so I’ve been at this five days and I’ve stopped practicing and started pacing. I walked up the driveway and thought: you have now rehearsed this more than you have rehearsed anything in four years. You know the subject line. You know the word in the second paragraph you will change and then change back.

What I Thought This Was For

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The dog and I do the same loop every morning. Thirty-five minutes, the same streets, the same three houses where the landscaping is competitive and the fourth house with the dead hydrangeas that have been there two years now and I keep expecting someone to deal with. The loop is useful. I do some of my clearest thinking between the second block and the turnaround.

This morning I was rehearsing the email again.

What the Subject Line Is

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I sat down Saturday morning to write the email.

Not to send it. I am aware of the gap between those two things and I have been living in it for two weeks. But I thought: you can at least write a draft. You can open a compose window and see what it says. The calls are not calls you have to make from the office. Start there.

I opened a compose window and typed the name. One of the four non-contingent contacts, someone I have known for 12 years, a relationship I built on my own before I ever worked at this company. She runs operations at a mid-size software company, recently promoted to VP, the kind of role where you are suddenly responsible for renewals at a volume you have never managed before. I know exactly what problem she is having, or going to have. I have watched this problem develop in seven different organizations.