Steve Schlafman 🐌

After 18 years on this platform, I’ve decided to step away indefinitely. This isn’t a political statement. It’s not an indictment of Elon or the direction of the platform. It’s something deeper—something shifting inside me. A fundamental reorientation of what I value, what…

Today is the last day to apply to the Spring '25 Downshift program! We've tailored a special experience for ambitious professionals navigating transitions, experiencing burnout, or just feeling lost with work. We'd be honored to support you on your unfolding path. Link below.

My past VC self: Dude, WTF are you reading? My current self: You don’t want to harness the animals that live in your senses and chakra system?

Most ambitious professionals don’t realize they’re following a map—until it stops making sense. This is why we're building Downshift—to help founders, executives, and makers recalibrate their inner compass when the old map no longer fits.

“Better to retreat a mile than to gain an inch." --Lao Tsu

Uncertainty is not a problem to be solved.

The Hakomi Institute’s definition of mindfulness is the best I’ve come across. Not just awareness, but a way of studying how experience is organized—an open, alert state that lets us access deeper, often wordless knowing.

The truest things do not demand attention. They do not force their way into the world. They emerge. They rise. They become undeniable.

You do not disappear when you slow down. You become more visible in the way that actually matters.

This sticky note on my monitor keeps me grounded daily: —Nothing to do —Nothing to fix —Nothing to figure out —Just be with what’s unfolding Embracing non-resolution and non-attachment has made life increasingly easeful and serene.

"I'm working harder than ever, but from a different place.” One of our Downshift alumni recently shared this paradox with me almost a year after graduating from our program. Intentional deceleration doesn’t mean giving up your ambition. So much more becomes possible with space.

This is one of the most important books written in the past 25 years. If everyone read it—and lived its wisdom—I'm convinced humanity wouldn’t just survive, but thrive. Can’t recommend it enough.

“The illusion of speed is the belief that it saves time. It looks simple at first sight: finish something in two hours instead of three, gain an hour. It's an abstract calculation, though…Haste and speed accelerate time.”