Less but better
- you cannot ignore the reality of trade offs
- Continental airlines vs southwest airlines : good case study about straddled strategy
- Also important to prioritise - you cannot value everything at the same time equally, come decision time you’ll be on your own without a prioritised credo
- QBy forcing us to weigh both options and strategically select the best one for us, we significantly increase our chance of achieving the outcome we want.
- Ask- what do I want to go big on? What do I want to give up? tradeoffs
- Escape a D reflection help with discernment
- Build thinking time into your schedule
- if the answer isn’t hell yes it’s a no
- Say yes to top ten percent of opportunities priorities
how-to-choose First, write down the opportunity. Second, write down a list of three “minimum criteria” the options would need to “pass” in order to be considered. Third, write down a list of three ideal or “extreme criteria” the options would need to “pass” in order to be considered.
By definition, if the opportunity doesn’t pass the first set of criteria, the answer is obviously no. But if it also doesn’t pass two of your three extreme criteria, the answer is still no.
- everytime you fail to say no to a non-essential you are saying yes by default
- Clarity of purpose essential to your performance
- But how do you get clarity?
- Essential intent :strategy which is concrete and inspirational, intent which is meaningful and memorable, makes one decision that eliminates thousand decisions
- Always ask, how will I know when I’m done? no
- awkward pause
- No, but
- Let me check my calendar and get back to you
- Email bounce backs
- Yes, what should deprioritize?
- You are welcome to x, i am willing to y
- I can’t, x might be interested
- if not for sunk cost am I likely to do this
- What else could I do with this energy and time
- Admit to failure and begin success
- Stop making casual commitments
- Pause before you speak
- their problem is not your problem
- Don’t rob others of their problems
- Find dealbreakers
- Craft social contracts
- create buffers
- Practice extreme and early preparation
- Add 50 % to your time estimate
- Conduct scenario-planning
- What risks do you face and where?
- What is the worst case scenario?
- What would be the social effects of this?
- What is the financial effect of this?
- How best can we invest to reduce risks and strengthen financial and social resilience? subtract
- Becker about essential Intent
- what is the slowest hiker in your life? What is the obstacle keeping you from whatever you want to do?
- What is getting in the way of what is essential?
- Remove obstacles
- Produce more by removing more
- start small big results
- Celebrate win
- Always identify and do min viable product
- Do minimum viable preparation early: what is the minimum viable preparation I can do right now routine
- make essential the default position
- With routine and habits mental work shifts to basal ganglia freeing up brain relal estate
- Habits are made out of cue, routine, reward
- Focus on the hardest thing first
- what’s important now?
- There is only now
- Chronos vs kairos
- Multi tasking is ok multifocusing is not
- figure out what’s most important right now
- What do you need to do to go to sleep peacefully?
- Get the future out of today
- What might you want to do someday as a result of today
- Prioritise