Building from a place of calm
“Calm isn’t a passive, disengaged, lazy way of being (despite cultural messages to the contrary) — it’s a sense of presence.
It’s actually a high-performance state — our nervous system is relaxed and regulated, our attention is clear, and we can act from a non-reactive state..”
— Zen Habits
For a long time, I thought the goal was to become more efficient.
Faster replies.
More projects.
More output.
Better systems.
But lately I’ve realised the real goal is calmer work.
Not lazy work.
Not passive work.
Just work that doesn’t constantly feel like putting out fires.
Over the last few years I’ve worked across creative businesses, campaigns, clubs and growing teams, and the same pattern kept appearing:
Passionate people overwhelmed by scattered systems, unclear processes, too many tools, too many messages, too much noise.
Most people don’t actually need more complexity.
They need clarity.
That’s really where Untangle came from.
Not from wanting to build a “startup,” but from wanting to create calmer ways of working. Better workflows. Cleaner communication. Systems that support people instead of exhausting them.
I’m trying to build this slowly and honestly.
Less performative.
Less urgency.
Less pretending everything is bigger than it is.
More useful.
More sustainable.
More intentional.
The interesting thing is that calm creates better work anyway.
You think more clearly.
You notice more.
You make better decisions.
You stop rebuilding the same problems every week.
So this next chapter is less about chasing growth for the sake of it, and more about building something that feels steady, useful, creative, and real.
Working from calm.
Building from clarity.
That feels like a much better foundation.
“Calm also doesn’t mean no urgency ever — sometimes we have to work with urgency, but we can still come from a grounded calm as we do so.”
Reference:
Leo Babatua
Untangle is an ongoing exploration of operational clarity, continuity and reducing friction inside businesses.