Weekly Wisdom #292 - Positioning, Clear Thinking, Alive or Dead, Back Pain Tools & Life Lessons

Positioning, Clear Thinking, Alive or Dead, Back Pain Tools & Life Lessons

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Happy Sunday!

A friend sent me the classic Paul Graham essay "Default Alive or Default Dead?" this week.

The essay is about startups, and how founders should always know, at their current growth rate and with the money they have, whether they will survive.

The underlying point is that you never want to have to count on raising more money to survive:

"Sometimes something about your business will spook investors even if your growth is great. So no matter how good your growth is, you can never safely treat fundraising as more than a plan A. You should always have a plan B as well..."

It reminded me of a line from the introduction of Clear Thinking, Shane Parrish's new book:

"A good position allows you to think clearly rather than be forced by circumstances into a decision. One reason the best in the world make consistently good decisions is they rarely find themselves forced into a decision by circumstances.

Anyone looks like a genius when they’re in a good position, and even the smartest person looks like an idiot when they’re in a bad one."

While the quotes refer to different contexts—one about startups, and one about thinking clearly and decision-making in general—the principle is the same.

Making good decisions is about being in a good position. It's about having options, and being "default alive" if nothing changes.

Warren Buffett's old adage "be greedy when others are fearful" only works if you're in a good enough position to do so.

Startups, investing, decision-making in general: making good choices comes down to having put yourself in a position to do so.

Have a great week!

Graham

Links

📚 Book Notes: Clear Thinking - Shane Parrish - As I note in the summary, I was a little disappointed with the book overall, as I think it could have been clearer.

But it's still a good book for providing ideas on how to avoid common mistakes, and how to make good decisions. I found some of the personal examples particularly useful.

📖 Default Alive or Default Dead - Paul Graham - This essay is a classic for founders, and it's part of why bootstrapped startups appeal to me.

Being forced into a specific timeline and growth targets because you know you need to raise money is a rough place to be, and for me personally, it usually requires compromises in the product that I'm not comfortable with.

Of course, having any sort of traction at all is a nice place to be.

🤸 PSO-RITE Psoas Muscle Release and Deep Tissue Massage Tool - I was skeptical of this tool at first, and half the reviews are saying how it's overpriced (it is), but I'm a believer now.

I went for a long run last week and had some lasting back pain that my regular stretching and a massage didn't manage to fix, but 5 minutes on this thing and it was solved.

It's not a cure for everything, but I've always had trouble relieving the tightness in my abdomen/psoas, which is clearly part of solving the lower back pain/tightness puzzle.

Tweet of the Week

Delian Asparouhov is founder of space manufacturing Varda, a former Thiel fellow, and a Partner at investment firm Founders Fund.

Clearly an smart guy, he published a list of 30 life lessons which you can read on Twitter or on his website here.​

delian-->

@zebulgar

I decided to write up 30 things I've noticed about the world in my last 30 years on this planet

I wish I'd noticed some of these things when I was younger!

Images here, link and thread below:

https://delian.io/thirty

2:33 PM • Nov 30, 2023

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