Do Things That Take A Long Time

We’ve gotten really good at condensing things:

From chess to Clash Of Clans.
From Martinis to Fireball shots.
From Saturday morning bike rides to SoulCycle.
From coffee with friends to Instagram likes.
From fermenting Kimchi to UberEats.

The key ingredient to the best things in life, though, is time. It takes a long time to build deep relationships. It takes decades to maintain a sourdough culture that’s passed down between generations. It takes years to build a business. And you can’t speed up time.

Andy and I aren’t expecting a Get Rich Quick scheme for Bottle. We anticipate building a product for years and years and cultivating a client base for as long as we can.

There’s a story about Olmsted, after he planted all the trees and bushes around Central Park. He abhorred flower boxes and fake walls demarcating ​“nature.” He wanted trees and flowers to flow naturally with the landscape.

After he designed and planted the park, Olmsted warned the NYC government not to rip up the trees, not to widen the sidewalks, to simply wait. It was going to take years for the growth to fulfill his vision.

They didn’t listen. They got impatient. About five years later, they ripped out a lot of his work.

But Olmsted is the inspiration for this blog. We want to focus on the things that will always matter. We want to work on things that take a long time.