Principles

Some principles I regularly come back to.

• Compound. The greatest returns in life come from compounding. Keep consistent and play long-term games.
• Prioritize. Decide on your most important priority for this decade, year, and month. Systematically allocate time to meet those priorities.
• Live holistically. Work-life balance is a false dichotomy. Integrate work as one part of a holistic life, where each area supports and complements others.
• Maintain efficiency. 80% of results are often driven by 20% of efforts.
• Invert. To be successful, rather than study success, study the causes of failure and engineer the elimination or mitigation of those risks.
• Transcend Paradigms. Mental models are useful abstractions, but are not the same as reality. Remain flexible and intellectually unattached.
• Take Action. In the Buridan’s Ass, the donkey dies because it does not decide. Do not be the donkey. Take action, even when no option is preferable.
• Radical honesty. Honesty, with others and oneself, leads to deeper relationships, clear decision-making, and a more authentic life.
• Look forward. Make decisions based on future value, not unrecoverable past investments.