For the first time in eons, I’m going into New York City for work today.

And yeah, I do it quite rarely.

And it’s funny because yesterday it was affecting my mood until I figured out why.

Your Daily Lex.

I mean, let’s be clear.

The first reason that any time a trip to New York City can weigh on my mood is because it takes a long time.

You can drive in, which is miserable for a variety of reasons, including an absurdly high toll and intense tunnel traffic.

Or you can take the bus.

And the bus gets to skip a lot of the tunnel traffic because the bus gets its own lanes unless there’s some giant accident, in which case you’re screwed.

But the bus is miserable because it’s a bus.

But I was dreading and I was feeling all this negative emotion about this trip.

And I’m actually pretty excited for my work in New York City today.

But then I realized my mindset was, oh, when you go to New York City, you have to leave super early and it’s this whole thing.

But I’m not leaving super early.

I’m recording this at 1152.

I’m leaving the house at 1230.

I’m taking a bus that’s just before 1.

And that’s quite leisurely.

When you’re not getting up to take the early bus, then you’re fine.

I want to be my gig starts at 3.

I want to be there at 230.

So I’m taking like a 1255 bus, which would get me to Manhattan at 156, according to the bus schedule.

My hunch is it’ll be a little bit later than that, but not by much, which will be plenty of time to get to this gig.

I am very fortunate that I had a friend connect me when somebody else had reached out to a circle of folks that he’s in.

But basically, the issue was a company was having an offsite training for 25 managers from around the country.

And one of the things they wanted to do was an improv business workshop.

And the person who was going to do it was a friend of the president of the company and had a conflict come up and was no longer going to come.

And they still have all those people and they have this two-hour block today for that training.

So I got introduced on Saturday, maybe Friday night, I think Saturday.

Had my first conversation with the team Saturday, connected with the president Monday, and they confirmed, yeah, we’d like it to happen today, Tuesday.

And I was able to move a couple things around on my regular work schedule, charge them a rush fee, if you will, and get it done.

So I’m going to go run this business improv workshop.

It’s really made me think I’ll probably write a Your Intermittent Lex piece about this too.

But improv workshop trainings, corporate improv trainings are a real thing, a big thing, but I did not include it when I built the Lex Friedman Consulting website.

I would say I’m still not enamored of the Lex Friedman Consulting website because it’s a mixed bag.

You’re trying to express a lot of things, particularly when people don’t know you.

It’s not like anybody’s going to stumble across that website, so it’s much more about if I reach out to people or if they hear about me or if they’re introduced to me and they go check out my website, they can see like, oh, this is what he does.

But I didn’t put improv workshops on there because I just felt like if I was like, hey, I’m this revenue and sales and growth and business expert who’s been a part of these company acquisitions, whatever else.

Also, I teach improv.

I thought it diminished maybe some of the business things.

I’m not sure that that was the right mentality.

I think I might have misjudged how potentially off-putting is not the right word, but potentially how weakening that was of the rest of the things I offer.

And I don’t think it’s zero.

I think it does.

I think there is some reputation.

Oh, improv?

Well, this person’s not serious.

They do improv stuff.

But you can be serious about improv.

You might be wondering, improv training for business?

Is that even a thing?

Is there any value?

And I actually think it’s very valuable.

So I’m excited for today’s, which is a two-hour workshop.

It’s a little on the larger side.

I have 25 people, which makes everything trickier for me, but still good for them.

So, yeah, I’m about to eat lunch and then head over to the bus.

I’m sure I’m going to leave for the bus stop early.

I’m sure I’m going to get on a bus that’s earlier than the bus I need.

And thus I will be in the city early.

All of which I’m willing to do.

One, because it de-stresses me a bit.

And two, because it’s only 73 degrees today.

If it were absurdly hot, I’d feel differently about how early I could get there because I don’t want to be drenched in sweat.

A year ago, me would be like, if I get there early, I’ll go to a coffee shop or a cafe or a place and get some food.

But I don’t want to get food.

I don’t want to eat extra food.

I’m packing my own protein.

And it’s not like you can go into a Dunkin’ Donuts and then eat your own protein.

That’s not how it works.

But anyway, I am excited.

And it’s fun to go into New York City and not dread it.

I think I mentioned yesterday that I was going into the city today and thus entering a bunch of Broadway lotteries.

None of which I won.

So, bully for me, I guess.

Which, the bummer there is it means that I’m going to end up leaving the city at around 5 something.

Which is the worst time to get on the bus.

So the bus ride home will take approximately forever.

But that’s okay.

Because eventually I’ll get home.

And hopefully I’ll get home in time to pick up Liam from an early pre-school starting band practice.

If not, he’s got a grandparent who can pick him up.

But hopefully I’ll be able to do it.

That’s my day.

Now you know.

Don’t rob my house while I’m in New York City.

Lauren’s here anyway.

Lex.