2-1a0c1d1 Focus on the few variables

“Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know” – Rousseau

“I can laser focus on all these items being great” – Todd Graves

“Not trying to be all things to all people is so important because if you try to be all things to all people, you’re not anything to anybody.” – Todd Graves

Limit the amount of details to perfect and then make every detail perfect—focus means quality and speed.

Also think about what the counterparty is focused on.

Next:

• 2-1a0c1d2 Less is often more

Related:

• 5-1b1b1a1a Pareto principle (or law of the vital few) - 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes
• On focus
  • 2-1a0c1d The One Commandment is about focus - Focus on a single moral innovation
  • 2-1b3a1 Narrow it down so you can have a chance to build your own moat
  • 5-1b4 Be prepared to deal with short-term nonsenses, but know what you’re focused on in the long-run and stay optimistic
  • 5-2b0b Most books about thinking focus on being more rational when the fundamental problem is not knowing what problems to exercise judgement
  • 7-1a1a3 If you know that others can solve certain problems, let them. Only work on important problems worth focusing on.
• Keep it simple
  • 3-1a3.1 Get the basics well. Relate to the basics. Do the basics well.
  • 7-1d Create something simpler-faster-cheaper for things we’ve been doing for thousands of years
• On measure
  • 5-2a0 Know what to measure
  • 5-2a1 You get what you measure
  • 5-2a2 What gets measured gets managed
  • 7-1a4a1 Wealth created ≠ the P&L of a business. Remember - you get what you measure.
• Do what’s your best at
  • 2-1c1a1 Companies will outsource everything that isn’t their value proposition. To build successful B2B company, simply be the outsource.
  • 3-1a4b1.2 Define and stay within your circle of competence
  • QUE5 - What’s the best thing you could be working on, and why aren’t you
• The smaller the group the better because the larger groups search for consensus and the larger it is the worse the quality of feedback—I think this partly explains Amara’s law
  • 1-1a5b2.1 Be very mindful of where you ‘experiment’; one of the most important decisions you can make is who you get feedbacks from (as well as ask questions of)
  • 3-1c3c3b Wealth = Measurement (work with a small group) + Leverage (develop new techniques and its value is multiplied by all the people who use it)
  • 4-1a3b Go to specific places to get specific feedbacks
  • RUL3 - Live in the future and build what seems interesting
• Wisdom is about prevention—’hire well, manage little’ lets you focus on what matters
  • 2-1a3.3 負もフィードバックする (Feedback loops work both ways)
  • 2-1b2b ‘Second-order thinking’ - Solve the root cause of a problem (prevention) and not symptoms. Be smart-lazy.
  • 4-1a3b Go to specific places to get specific feedbacks
• Problems >>> Opinions
  • 2-1a7a5 Build day by day unless anything fundamental (‘the core’) changed. Superficial-uncontrollable criteria (e.g., share price) matter less.
  • 3-1a3a Start with problems instead of opinions. The latter usually comes with confirmation bias.
  • 3-1c1d You must build your own media distribution to avoid distortion for yourself and others