This is my actual founder operating manual. Not aspirational; what I actually run on as I head into the second half of 2026. Principles, rituals, meta-rules. If any of it is useful, take it. If most of it isn’t, that’s also fine — your manual should be yours.

Operating principles

  1. Direction beats speed. The wrong direction at full speed is worse than the right direction at half speed.
  2. Constraints make better work. Don’t pray for more resources; design within current ones.
  3. Identity is upstream of strategy. Knowing who you are settles half the strategic questions automatically.
  4. Trust compounds; reputation evaporates fast. Every shortcut on integrity costs years of compound interest.
  5. The best work is unfashionable when it’s made. Optimising for current taste means producing yesterday’s work.

Rituals

  • Sunday review — 60 minutes, every Sunday, every week. Three numbers (the three I track), one decision for next week.
  • Monthly board with my operator — 90 minutes, first Monday of the month. Across all five companies. What’s on, off, and slipping.
  • Quarterly retreat — two days, no work, alone or with one trusted advisor. Re-read the year thesis, re-write the season plan.
  • Annual planning — one week in January. Year thesis, financial model, big bets.

Meta-rules

Rules about the rules:

  • Re-read the manual every quarter. Otherwise it ossifies.
  • Edit ruthlessly when something stops being true. The manual isn’t sacred; it’s a working document.
  • Add new rules only after they’ve proven themselves for at least one quarter. Premature codification is worse than no rules.

Decision frameworks

  • The five-year filter — will this matter in five years?
  • The hell-yes filter — if not, no
  • The energy filter — restoring, neutral, or draining?
  • The kill criterion — every project starts with one
  • The ‘is this me?’ filter — does this fit who I’m becoming?

Hard nos

  • No work past 8 PM on weekdays
  • No work on Sundays
  • No mandatory phone use during walks or meals
  • No commitments made under social pressure
  • No projects without a written kill criterion

Hard yeses

  • Sleep. Always.
  • Walking, daily.
  • Reading, every night before sleep.
  • One creative deep-work block per day, even on “business” days.
  • One restorative thing per week, calendared like a meeting.

The annual question

Every January 1st: am I still building toward the same thing? If not, what am I building toward now? Most career drift comes from not asking the question annually. My current answer is in next week’s piece.

The principle

An operating manual isn’t restrictive; it’s liberating. The rules absorb a hundred small decisions a week so the days become about the work, not the meta-work. The manual is the scaffolding that makes the freedom possible.

Building your own? Send me yours, I’ll send mine.