Minimizing Decisions, Strategy, Healthspan over Lifespan & Ignoring the Losers
Four Thursdays Issue #2
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Welcome to Four Thursdays, a weekly newsletter where I share insights on actionable insights and practical advice on personal finance, health, productivity, parenting, and more.
Mercury Launches SAFEs…
Mercury has launched a new feature that allows CCorp customers to create, sign, and distribute SAFE investment documents for free. The feature is available on the Mercury app and includes ESign and direct investment tracking within the SAFE document. Once an agreement is reached, founders can easily generate a SAFE agreement within the app, and Mercury takes care of tracking payments and managing funding rounds. Customers can access a comprehensive SAFE dashboard to manage all past and present SAFEs. Check out the Mercury blog for more information.
This week
Does limiting decisions really make you more productive?
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat. — Sun Tzu
Healthspan versus Lifespan
Ignore the Losers
Let’s dive in.
Does limiting decisions really make you more productive?
Ironically, in two interviews I conducted recently the classic Silicon Valley ideal made popular by Steve Jobs and continued by Mark Zuckerberg was discussed. Does wearing the same outfit every day reduce decision fatigue? In one discussion the correlation made that fasting is a similar practice — making fewer decisions about what to eat by abstaining from food for periods of time allows for more time to apply thought to other areas. The other was the traditional buy 50 black tee shirts and you never have to make a wardrobe choice again.
Having tested both, indirectly with wardrobe and more directly with fasting, I can attest to the same sentiment. Making fewer decisions frees up mental space to focus on more important things. Decision fatigue becomes a very real element as responsibilities stack up professionally and in other areas of life.
What are some other areas where this applies?
Strategy
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat. — Sun Tzu
Do not be fooled. Strategy matters and everything is strategic! Strategists as a career may not need (see below) but rather we should all have some form of a strategic approach to any idea worth pursuing.
Although strategy matters even in the early days of building a company, self-proclaiming strategists likely are not the early hires you should be making.
Healthspan versus Lifespan
I picked up a massive book a few weeks ago, Outlive and the big key takeaway thus far is that the American medical system is completely wrong (shocker). More succinctly the biggest takeaway so far is establishing a blueprint and strategy for healthspan versus lifespan. I am slowly wrapping my mind around the concept but the chart above highlights the overall principle that if you are going to live why not optimize your entire life around increased health span in your senior years? The hard part is starting early enough to weed off all the diseases that are invisible.
Ignoring the Losers: A Higher-Performance Strategy
And if they had learned anything from their father, it was the need to be able to look at a development site and visualize the future, not the past — to follow that vision, and “ignore the losers” you beat out to win the project, along with all the other doubters.
Recently, I have been reading books about New York City and have picked up a strategy from The New Kings of New York. I am struck by the audacity of the city's real estate titans and business moguls and their ability to dominate the market. Through reading about people like Stephen Ross from Related, Michael Bloomberg, and Curtis Jackson (aka "50 Cent"), I have noticed a recurring theme: the importance of ignoring the losers. This approach also discussed in 50 Cent's book, Hustle Hard, involves focusing on what matters and surrounding yourself with people who share your goals and mindset.
In the highly competitive world of business, it's easy to get bogged down by the naysayers and doubters. But according to some of New York's most successful capitalists, ignoring the losers is a critical component of a higher-performance strategy that the more and more I think about it should be essential for founders.
But who are the losers, exactly? My simple definition is that they are people who apply the wrong thinking and mindset to a given situation, those who are not driven by data and results, and those who are moving too slowly. It's nothing personal, but if you want to get anywhere you have to ignore these types.
Once you've identified the losers, it's crucial to limit communication with them as it pertains to the mindset, goal, or initiative you've set forth that is evidence-based. You can still be acquaintances outside of these areas, although if they are an employee at your company it's best to suss this out in the interview process, or if you discover it post-hire — rid yourselves of them immediately. Once you've defined someone as a “loser” in the context of what you're working on, you have to limit it or this person will drag you down. After all, you’re only as good as your worst loser.
One of the unique insights I pulled from The New Kings of New York is that even in a highly competitive industry, successful business people can maintain friendly relationships with their rivals. They attend the same schools, put their kids into the same high-end private schools, sit courtside at Knicks games, vacation in the same places, and frequent the same restaurants. But they're all playing a competitive game, and ignoring the losers and they do not waste time.
So why does this strategy work? The high performers recognize the loser class which doesn’t bring value. Losers pontificate and find reasons why things won't work without having the competence or courage to face their own fears head-on. As mentioned above, losers aren’t bringing strategy to the table.
It’s not meant not to be mean or dismissive. It's about recognizing that in a highly competitive world, you need to focus on what matters and surround yourself with people who share your goals and your mindset. So the next time you're facing doubts or negativity, remember: ignoring the losers is a higher-performance strategy.