Adam Braun

Over the past year, I’ve quietly told people about my plan to take a three month sabbatical. If this is the first you’re learning of this, starting April 21^st I’ll be away from email, calls, meetings and texts until late July. I’ll be traveling through South Africa, Europe and SE Asia with my fiancé Tehillah in search of the most meaningful experiences we can find around the world.

While one of the motivators for the sabbatical is the desire to travel, the other is to ensure Pencils of Promise doesn’t fall victim to the traditional “founders syndrome” many organizations face when the founder micromanages staff and doesn’t allow the team, board, advisors and supporters to make the org theirs as well. I envision PoP being a leader in global education for the next 50 years, and I genuinely believe the single best thing I can do for our longterm growth is to step away for a few months, allowing our leadership team to truly lead.

So for the next three months I’ll be hiking, dancing, swimming, cooking, laughing and loving. PoP will belong to each of you, and in the process it will become stronger and smarter.

Years ago I asked a young boy on the street what he wanted most in the world and his answer (“a pencil”) changed my life. Now, it’s time to live out my answer to that very same question.

Over many years, I’ve developed a series of systems and shortcuts to manage my life. For the first time, I’m going to write them all out and share not just what I use, but how I use them. A few simple tweaks to each system allow me to address emails, remember tasks, and organize files in the most efficient way possible. Most importantly, they don’t let me forget to-do’s, things I want to remember for later, or emails I need to answer. In the modern world, you better find a system that works for you. Feel free to use any or all of mine. It’s centered around two main hubs that constantly remind me of what I need to do- my desktop and my inbox. The four main programs to enable this are:

• Chrome: Let’s start with the easiest. Install Chrome as the main browser on all of your devices, and change the Preference so that downloaded files go to your Desktop rather than a Download folder. Hit Control-T to open a new tab and immediately type any search you need, hit Control-W to close that tab once you’re done. Anything you download goes to your Desktop, where it’s waiting to be opened, reviewed and then sorted in Dropbox.

• Dropbox: Many people use Dropbox to back-up and share select folders, but here’s the key to my system- My entire computer is in my Dropbox folder. It’s well worth the $100 investment annually to gain the storage you need.  All of your files should be organized using the principles of MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive… Google it to learn more) so that you always know whether to drop a file into an existing folder or create a new one within Dropbox. No more Mac HD or random folder for where your files live, your goal should be to constantly clean your desktop by addressing and then sorting files over to Dropbox. This not only forces intense organization, it syncs all of your files across all computers, and it’ll enable you to use your Dropbox app on your phone to access and share your entire computer on the go. HINT: The Dropbox app’s “email a file” function is amazing.

• Gmail: The key to hyper-efficient Gmail usage is to enable selected Google Labs, archive religiously, and aspire towards inbox zero. First off, here are the labs to enable: Auto-advance, Background Send, Canned Responses, Inserting Images, Mark as Read Button, Right-Side Chat, Undo Send. Each of these Labs is a gamechanger, but right-side chat is an especially great tweak. Also, in the General setting make sure that Send and Archive, and Keyboard Shortcuts are both on. Just so we’re on the same page, your inbox is now your to-do list. Nothing stays in there unless you are purposely saving it to address later. With Keyboard Shortcuts enabled, click on an email to open it, once you’ve read it press R to start typing a reply (or F for a forward). As soon as you’re done typing, hit TAB, then SPACEBAR. This will Send and Archive that thread. TAB and SPACEBAR will become a part of your typing habit. You’ll learn to love that one-two punch when you’ve finished an email.  If you don’t need to reply at all, just press E and the email is archived. Gone. You’ll learn to love this one too. Your inbox will start to function as your list of top-priority items and future to-do’s. If your inbox gets above 10-15 items, it’s time to send out those email responses you’ve been saving for too long and need to write.  HINT: Download the Gmail app for your phone. It’s light years better than the standard mailbox for finding old emails.

• Captio: Captio is an iPhone app that lets you type a note and quickly send to your own inbox. Keep Captio on your phone’s front page. Anytime you have a quick thought to remember, hear a song you want to download, or observe something worth remembering, quickly open the app, type in the name/idea/thought, press send, and you’re done. Now that item will stay in your inbox, driving you crazy until you handle it.

For Twitter I use Tweetbot on my phone. For daily emails, Newsle and Upworthy are interesting every day. TextExpander and Moom are great tools for general computer usage. And Pocket is great for saving long articles via Tweetbot that I read when I’m on flights, trains or cab rides.

That’s Part I of my system, feel free to share yours!

My iPhone front page screen. What’s yours look like?

Seven weeks ago, on the greatest night of my entire life, I asked the woman I love with every ounce of my being to marry me. The night took months of preparation, and in a moment of absolute perfection, she said “Yes.”

The next morning the gravity of it all began to hit me, and I just couldn’t stop smiling. It seemed like everyone around us wanted to celebrate our love for one another. And as happy as I was, strangely, I found myself thinking about gay rights.

Over the past decade of my life many of those I’ve become closest to have been in love with members of the same sex. Some hid this for years, others came out. I never thought of their sexuality as their most identifying factor. But the morning after getting engaged, as I pictured each of my friends on the happiest day of their future lives, I realized that those who are gay cannot experience what I’d experienced the night before in many parts of our nation. And suddenly, the gay marriage debate became personal.

In the course of US history there have been many shifts in civil liberties that were initially met with great confrontation. But the commitment to equality for all is what should serve as our guiding compass in this debate. We should strive to create a society which says “Your love is celebrated” to every man and woman, regardless of the partner they choose.

The debate over gay marriage won’t go away anytime soon. Neither will the love shared between those members of our society who are discriminated against because of our current system. What will shift is the role of the bystander in this debate- the 20-something straight guy. No longer can we be silent because the rules don’t impact us directly. It’s time for us to stand up in support of our friends, our family members, our colleagues and the future society we seek to create.

As Samuel Johnson said, “An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.” It’s time for us to act that way.

Three years ago today, I wrote the scariest email of my life. It began, “To my Bain family, it’s been real. It’s been great. It’s been really great.” I was saying farewell. 

When I pressed “Send”, the four paragraph email was delivered to more than 400 employees across the Bain & Company system- The entire NYC office, international partners, managers, mentors and friends. I was notifying them that I had decided to pursue Pencils of Promise fulltime, and that it was my last day as a Bain employee. 

Nearly everyone I knew, including my parents, thought I was an idiot.

I had this big vision for an organization that could one day increase access to quality education for children around the world, impact the way nonprofits operate and alter the landscape of global education. We’re still humbly working towards that vision. But back then there was a major problem. Pencils of Promise had only built 2 schools. We didn’t have an office or one single fulltime employee. That was just three years ago. But we had the most important element to creating a successful company… Resilience.

I remember saying in the early days that we’d pour “blood, sweat and tears” into the organization. Back then it just was a phrase. Now it’s our history. All three have been shed on this journey, through both highs and lows. When most people take on startups they only envision the success. What’s even more important is to envision the struggles, the times when everyone will tell you it can’t be done, and recognize that forging on is what will dictate whether you will succeed or fail.

Each of us has had that feeling… you write a big, important email and read it over and over again. You know that once it’s in the world, you can never go back. And others have probably told you not to take the risk. That feeling may be scary, but here’s my advice when facing those moments of truth and destiny.

Press send.

Saw this and attached it to my farewell email. Still rings true.

This past weekend I was in Florida and got to spend the entire weekend with my 83-year old grandmother, Ma. She doesn’t tell people this often, but she was born in Hungary and forced into Auschwitz at the age of 14. In many ways she was my motivation for starting Pencils of Promise, as I found myself living a life of self-absorption in late 2008 and decided to change my ways by focusing on honoring her through the creation of our first school.

As the weekend started, I asked Ma what it was like to arrive in this country. She recounted stories of escaping across borders to travel by boat for 16 days towards “America.” When I asked what she did when she arrived, she said without hesitation- “I worked in a sweat shop.”

“How much did you make?” I questioned.

She replied, “$1 an hour.”

“And how long did you work there?” I asked.

She nodded her head, as if deciding whether to tell me the answer. 

“10 years.”

I felt like I was hit by a ton of bricks. My grandmother, this cheery little woman, had worked in a sweat shop for 10 years? How had I not known this? Most people I know leave their job after eighteen months, and yet my grandmother had worked well below minimum wage for 10 years so that her children and grandchildren could have a better way of life.

I’ve heard a lot of great motivational speakers, but my weekend with Ma was the most motivational experience of my year. It instilled a fire in me to make sure I live each day taking advantage of the position she worked so hard to put me in. I hope each of you will take the time to hear the stories of those who worked the hardest so that you could be in your current position too. 

Sometimes you find the biggest motivation from the smallest places.

Ma smiles with the photo from our first school dedication plaque, which is named after her.

In one hour it will be 12:01am on October 31^st, 2012, and it’ll be my 29^th birthday. My apartment has no power, no access to internet, and my cell phone has no service. Hurricane Sandy has attacked NYC and the northeast coastlines, and for the past two days normal life has been put on hold.

Last night around 9 o’clock, just minutes after the storm made landfall, my electricity went out and I heard an explosion several blocks away as a massive generator blew out. Since then we’ve lived by candlelight, without any access to the outside world besides a battery-powered radio where we listened to news and Obama’s address. I was briefly able to call my parents using quarters at a pay phone this morning, which is the only time I’ve been able to contact someone…

As I think about the experience of the past few days where everything seemed to slow down and return to a past way of life, here’s what I have learned-

1.  The things that matter most are your health, your safety, and the well-being of those you love and care for. Everything else comes second.
2.  Adversity brings us closest together. It’s when we witness and accept our vulnerability that we are kindest and most caring towards others.
3.  It’s important to shut off every so often. It reminds us of our humanity.

This year for my birthday I was asking for others to help me build a school (http://pencilsofpromise.org/adams29th). People already funded a full classroom, and in light of recent events I’d prefer to keep things simple. I’d just ask that if you read this far, please call or email someone who is in some sort of struggle, and share words of encouragement from the heart. It’s a small gesture, but it helps to heal the difficulties we all endure, and if there’s anything that the past two days, and the past 29 years have taught me, it’s that the single most powerful words we possess are “I love you, and we’re going to get through this together.”

It’s the Friday that kicks of Labor Day 2012, and once again I find myself plugging away on a busy workday. I’ve watched a lot of funky things happen lately on the web and in the physical world, and I’ve realized that it might be a good idea to start sharing my thoughts and observations. They won’t be clean, they won’t be perfect, and they won’t be traditional. But that’s not the way that I see the world. I see things through a different lens. I see things through a lens of optimism and love and life. I guess this is the time to start sharing it.