This morning as I was chugging coffee and crossing items off of my to-do list, constantly pushing my startup forward, when I found myself repeating the phrase "the next six weeks will be critical" each time I finished some small task. My initial reaction was, "Oh hell yes they will! I've really got to work hard and pay attention!"

Then it occured to me that there hasn't really been any time in the last year that I've haven't considered the next six weeks to be critical. In fact, it's highly likely that no matter what actually happens in the next six weeks, the six weeks after that will be critical. And the six weeks after that. And so on.

In reality "six weeks" is an arbitrary time period. I could just as easily say "four weeks" or "eight weeks" and still be pretty accurate in terms of how critical they will be. But for some reason my brain chose to focus on six weeks.

I'm taking it as a hint. From now on, I'm going to try to build planning and timelines in six-week intervals. That way, when I find myself thinking how critical the next six weeks will be, I will at least know what exactly is supposed to happen during those weeks, and what I should be thinking out instead.