There’s this famous meme about introverts:

While I only need half the time don’t usually feel that way, I think the meme captures an important aspect of life. Some things that take little time take an unpropotional emotional toll.

When time ≠ toll

Some examples are obvious (and boring). Running 100 meters at the Olympics finals only takes 10 seconds, but we all realize there’s a lot of psyching up and recovering to do.

My closest example would be answering questions for an hour live on air. The game would be over on Saturday night, and it used to take me until Tuesday morning to recover – even after a dozen of stints.

Other things are sneaky. Why would a 1-minute call to reserve a table at a restaurant drain me the same as a 60-minute investor meeting? The task is stupidly simple, the stakes are low, the success is all but guaranteed — yet it’s a struggle for me every time.

The disconnect between the time and the (emotional) effort is most obvious for overdue tasks. The more time passes since the deadline (and the more guilt I feel) — the more effort it takes to get things done. It still takes half an hour to fill in my taxes, but while this only ruins an afternoon in February, the whole day gets written off in April 🥲.

Why care?

Acknlowledging that “emotional” time ≠ astronomical time helps to set realistic expectations for the day.

Yes, letting a person go only takes an astronomical hour, but that’s full eight hours of emotional time. Don’t expect to write an essay and lead two meetings on the same day.

It also puts the real price on reading the news “for only five minutes”. That’s a russian rulette (what a sad pun): can be five minutes indeed, can be two emo-hours.

The next time you’re calling your dad after two months of silence, take it easy. It’s not 10 minutes, it’s more. And it’s fine.

Inbox

The last issue of my bi-weekly 🤡 newsletter was four weeks ago. You, lovely readers, have asked a reasonable question: where’s the newsletter?

Here’s the deal:

• I don’t care – I don’t write. Your attention is precious.

• I don’t want – I don’t write. My happiness is precious.

January was a mix of the two.

Now, let me have another go at the bi-weekly schedule. My plan is to have two essays ready to publish at any time to allow me to fail gracefully.

Let’s see how it goes 🍿.

Me again

If you’re interested in how startup life looks like (almost) without make-up, check out Fibery’s 2025 (and 2024, 2023,…,2018) in review:

Fibery 2025: 85% MRR Growth While Cutting Marketing by 85%

We cut marketing spend by 85% and grew MRR by 85%. No ads, no SEO, no influencers. Just positioning, pricing, onboarding, and a product that finally works.

Fibery has been a big part of my life — especially last year. I’m glad we are finding a way to success on our own terms.

Favourites

My biggest contribution was in shutting down (almost) all marketing, so (very logically) here are my favourite examples of it 😅:

• (🎬 9 min) Sell you a pen? How about an ultrasonic knife? A top-notch marketing video in terms of the narrative and addressing potential buyer’s anxieties. Nudged me to sharpen my (non-ultrasonic) kitchen knives 🙃.

• (🎬 2 min + ✍️ 10 mins) My favourite campaign for a digital product in this decade is Anthropic’s Keep Thinking. “There has never been a better time to have a problem”. Just wow. Here’s a decent review/backstory behind the idea.

• (📚 272 pages) A Smile in the Mind is an amazing collection of witty graphic design. It took me three months and $125 to get my hands on the revised edition, no regrets. Here’s a nice page for ya.

This was issue #14, find more at antoniokov.com.

What takes you >2x emotional time? How do you deal with it? Reply to this email and share your thoughts.