Weekly Wisdom #293 - Doing Less, Same As Ever Notes, Annual Review Guide & Reading Rules

Doing Less, Same As Ever Notes, Annual Review Guide & Reading Rules

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Happy Sunday!

One of the most common traits of high achievers is believing they can do more.

But this causes problems.

When you take on too much, what it really means is that you'll be doing everything a bit worse than you could have.

As a result, you won't be proud of the things you're producing, and you'll lose energy and inspiration as a result.

And when you go to finish, since you cut some corners, the future maintenance cost will be higher than it would have.

Then, if that thing isn't successful, you won't know whether it's because of your choice of what to pursue, or the fact that you didn't get it done as well as you could have.

You'll have less time to course-correct, less certainty on where to head next, and you'll feel more pressure to do something quickly again.

It's a vicious cycle, one I see play itself out in startups, work, and life in general.

The better path? Assume you can do less.

It will force you to pick what's most important, and give you the freedom to do it right. You can be proud of what you're working on, and certain about the result one way or another when it's done.

Less but better.

Have a great week!

Graham

PS. There won't be a newsletter next week—see you in the New Year!

Links

📚 Book Notes: Same As Ever - Morgan Housel - I appreciate Housel's approach for a number of reasons.

First of all, he's said publicly he wants to find ways to focus on the positive. It makes sense for an investor, but it's nice to hear in a world where the attention is increasingly focused on negative things.

Second, his books aim to be timeless; rather than focus on the topic du jour, he's looking to unearth the human psychology underneath.

Same As Ever is about predicting the future by looking at the things that haven't changed: how humans behave.

📖 The Complete Guide to Annual Reviews - I'm revisiting this piece I wrote a couple years ago before I do my annual review—my look back at the past year and what's coming up—which I do over the holidays.

Annual reviews are meant to be an opportunity to check in on your life, whether you're happy about what you've achieved in the past year, and whether you're heading in the right direction.

If you've got some time off from work or your normal schedule, the holidays are a great opportunity to do so.

Tweet of the Week

Ryan Holiday has long been one of my favourite authors, and this is a great compilation of 38 of his rules for reading.

Alex & Books 📚-->

@AlexAndBooks_

Author @RyanHoliday has read over 3,000+ books.

Here are 38 reading rules that changed his life:

1) Do it all the time. Bring a book with you everywhere. I’ve read at the Grammy’s and in the moments before going under for a surgery. I’ve read on planes and beaches, in cars and… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1731673246620086459

9:54 AM • Dec 4, 2023

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