Time

The first dawn of 2026 feels like a reset button. That quiet moment when you clear the screen, take a breath, and start again. The closing months of 2025 were full of lessons and reflections.

As I step into this year, one idea keeps circling back: Life is like Tetris, Business is like Chess. Both are games of time, yet they require us to play differently. And in between them, as a father of daughters and an entrepreneur, I believe that Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast.

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” — Leo Tolstoy

Most of us systematically undervalue our time. Whether it’s with friends, family, life, or work, finding high-leverage activities, tackling the toughest challenges, boosting efficiency, and making the most of incremental time is a goal worth striving for.

This is not about being slow, unproductive, or just taking time to do something that someone loves. They are complementary to one another. The difference is in the mindset, the degree of agency with which we use our effort, and the time given to us.

Fall of the Blocks

Life rarely asks if you’re ready. It just keeps dropping blocks. The school run collides with a customer call. A late-night fever overlaps with a morning deadline. Like in Tetris, the blocks fall whether I want them to or not.

There was one day last year when everything landed at once. My younger daughter had a project due, my older one needed me to listen to a friend’s issue, and two customer calls were on the calendar. It was a perfect storm of falling blocks. I didn’t line them all up neatly. Some moments I fumbled, some I caught. But later that night, as my daughters finally fell asleep, I realized Tetris isn’t about perfection but resilience. You clear what you can, you forgive the rest, and you keep playing.

Life is relentless, imperfect, and requires presence more than mastery.

Playing the Long Game

Business, in contrast, gives us space to plan. It’s like Chess: you don’t win by reacting to today’s pawn, you win by anticipating the next seven moves.

I remember a product decision I made three years ago that seemed like a setback. We pulled the plug on a shiny feature that users loved because it slowed the core experience. The decision felt painful in the moment, but like a rook repositioned for later, it made sense over time. Today, that product stands stronger because of it.

Chess teaches that sacrifices are not failures but part of the long game. But only if you are willing to look beyond the immediate move.

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast

Between Tetris and Chess lies a paradox I’ve come to live by: “Slow is Smooth; Smooth is Fast.” I wrote about this idea last year, but it continues to prove itself in ways I didn’t expect.

The principle is simple: deliberate, repeated practice leads to smooth execution. Smoothness, in turn, translates into speed when it matters most.

“Punctuality is the thief of time.” — Oscar Wilde

Hiring the right people can feel frustrating when deadlines are pressing. However, slow and deliberate hiring practices lead to smooth collaboration, which ultimately makes the entire company more efficient. Rushed hires, like mismatched ones, only pile up into messes you spend years clearing.

In my own work habits, I’ve begun to practice slowing down, making decisions in plain words, and rehearsing systems until they become muscle memory. It feels slow in the moment, but when crises hit, smooth becomes fast.

Common Currency

Time is the thread that ties everything together. In Tetris, you feel it slipping away, each block falling faster. In Chess, you learn patience, knowing the right move can take years to bear fruit. In practice, you understand that slowness is an investment.

As a father, I see time most clearly in my daughters. Their childhood is a reminder that I cannot treat family like Chess, waiting for the “right season” to invest. Nor can I treat it like Tetris, reacting only when something drops. The only way is to be present, fully, in the moment. That presence, whether slow bedtime stories or smooth weekend rituals, is how time compounds in relationships.

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” — William Penn

Looking forward, it is no longer about winning every round of Tetris, nor to checkmate every Chess opponent, but to honor the sacredness of time in both.

To take the slow practice that makes the messy days smoother. To take the long view that makes hard sacrifices worthwhile. To let family and business coexist without one erasing the other.

Because in the end, the games are not separate. They are both metaphors for how we spend the only non-renewable resource we have. And the real victory is not in clearing lines or declaring checkmate, but in looking back and knowing the time was well spent.