Weekly Mix #276 - Bias for Action, Longevity, Working Hard & Harsh Truths

Bias for Action, Longevity, Working Hard & Harsh Truths

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Happy Monday!

After talking about working like a lion last week—sprinting hard and then taking a complete rest—I want to touch on what some of that sprinting looks like.

The most impressive people I've ever worked with sprinted with everything.

They responded to emails quickly, they took the first action on a project quickly, and they still managed to find time for the projects that required deep work.

They ignored the costs of switching contexts, choosing to believe they didn't exist, and could zoom in and out repeatedly, and quickly.

Now, context has to be considered. Most of them worked in VC-backed startups, or similar.

And most people I've worked with, even in VC-backed startups, don't do this.

I can think of others who exhibit an extreme bias for action yet remain free of the context switching and meetings.

Really it depends on your context, how big your team is, and all kinds of other factors.

But the one thing they all had in common? An extreme bias towards action.

Less planning and thinking and researching, more doing.

Whether you're in rest mode or work mode, that bias towards action will take you further than everyone else.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📚 Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity - Peter Attia - I discovered Peter Attia through Tim Ferriss, and I've followed him ever since. His new book is exactly what I hoped it would be: detailed and actionable.

I'm about halfway through, and he's already detailed what tests he suggests patients get and why, and then how they work through specific markers. I'll have a lot of notes from this one.

🔧 Medcan - On a related note, my girlfriend's colleague recently had Medcan's Annual Health Assessment done, and loved it.

Their offerings look like what I hope to see more of: complete preventative medicine looking to set annual benchmarks and specific programs using all the tools available.

No doubt I'll be looking at a variety of these type of services once I'm done with Attia's book.

📖 Work As Hard As You Can - Naval Ravikant - The original reference to "working like a lion" (at least that I could find) also has some other great points about how we should work:

"What you work on and who you work with are more important"

"No matter how high your bar is, raise it"

"Impatience with action, patience with results"

📖 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person - Jason Pargin - Cracked - A warning that this post doesn't use the most tasteful language, but the lessons are valuable, starting with "The world only cares about what it can get from you."

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