Harry Hamilton is the Co-Founder of Fuzzy, a company on a mission to help workers around the world find career fulfilment.
Let’s start with your background! Can you share with us your career journey and what you’re currently up to?
I started my career as a Management Consultant before quickly working out that I wanted to build more than slides and models. Luckily enough, I got introduced to the team at SafetyCulture where I was fortunate to be given a start in Product Management.
I spent an awesome 4.5 years at SafetyCulture building an Internet of Things business, managing Growth and Team Expansion, and finally as a Product Leader helping to build, develop and lead teams of Product Managers.
After SafetyCulture, I advised early-stage product companies, taught cohort-based learning courses to Product people and travelled.
Now based in London, recently I have taken the leap to launch a new company, Fuzzy, with my co-founder, Lucy Wark.
Lucy and I have both come from Management Consulting backgrounds and are passionate about teaching the skills we believe have the largest impact over the course of each of our careers. Ultimately, we’re on a mission to help workers around the world find career fulfilment.
We’d love to know what a typical day is like for you. Could you describe a recent workday?
In the midst of starting Fuzzy, everyday is pretty new and varied at the moment. A typical day will usually include getting up early to catch Australian afternoon hours (my morning in London) to either teach Product Management with Startmate or chat with Lucy, my co-founder at Fuzzy.
It’s then a run or gym and the afternoon is filled with speaking with customers, building courses and content, doing all the things to try and get a new business started.
At some point, I’ll also try to meet up with a friend and co-work either from a cafe or shared office space.
Can you define work-life balance for yourself and share with us your approach in maintaining it?
For me, work-life balance is getting increasingly better at giving my best focus and attention to each of the things that are most important to me.
It also means having the freedom to work towards goals outside of work.
I was inspired to start tracking my balance across the different activities I care about each day after reading Lucy’s article on the Lobster score.
Each day (mostly), I keep track of activities with a yes/no score like: exercise, productive work, healthy eating, good sleep, quality time with family, learning (65 day streak on Duolingo!) and socialising. This habit and visibility helps me to pick up early if I’m starting to lose balance or neglect something important.
Change is constant, and it’s essential for growth. Have you made any lifestyle changes in the past year to improve your work-life balance?
I had a ton of change over the last year. My wife and I moved from Sydney to London, and I’ve started a new business, Fuzzy.
The biggest lifestyle change I’ve made deliberately during this period is to really think about what gives me energy and when I’m at my best – and to optimise everything I do around this.
This often means that I work early in the morning and in the afternoon, but tend to exercise and spend time with my wife (who does shift work at all sorts of crazy hours) during the middle of the day when I tend to be less productive.
We’re always on the lookout for new resources! Can you recommend any books, podcasts, or newsletters that have helped you in your journey towards balance?
I’ve always found the ‘The Happiness Lab’ and ‘How I Built This with Guy Raz’ podcasts to be helpful, in different ways, when I’m needing to re-adjust my balance. ‘The Happiness Lab’ is great for reflection and whilst ‘How I Built This’ always serves to motivate and inspire!
Before we wrap up, do you have any final words of wisdom or insights on work, life, or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
It’s cliche but it’s to have a marathon mindset. Finding balance isn’t a ‘one and done’ – it’s a habit built upon each day. Try to be consistent. Go easy on yourself when you have an ‘off’ day and do your best to never miss twice.
