Posted on by Phil

Keeping track of the things that matter

One thing I’ve noticed is that the vast majority of really good advice is usually really simple.  Maybe that’s a function of the amount of time third parties are willing to spend on your problems, but I think it’s more that the majority of life’s trials can be helped with simple truths.

Warren Buffett has a lot of good quotes to this effect.  The summary is that Berkshire Hathaway doesn’t employ complex algorithms to determine good businesses.  They are just logical, and use a few axioms you could learn in an afternoon that help them pick winners.

If it’s so simple, why aren’t there more billionaires?  My theory on this is that life gets in the way, usually in the form of stimulus that depletes our ability to think rationally.

For example, maybe you put your life savings into WeWork stock because the CEO was a really good salesperson and you had extreme fear of missing out after your classmate from college made a mint investing in Facebook pre-IPO.  So, you ignored the unit economics and went all in.

There’s a similar dynamic here to when poker players are “on tilt” after luck has struck them down too many times in a row, or a lack of sleep has left them barely conscious.  They are likely to ignore the right moves, and go after outsized risks.

Whatever the case may be, it’s just hard to remember the 30-40 things that are/should be important to us.  Also, this list can grow over time, especially if you’re disciplined about it.

Recently I wrote myself an email campaign – a daily email that hits my inbox during a time when I’m probably commuting, and gives me a piece of advice I’d like to internalize but find hard to remember.

The advice may be to take a minute to think concretely about something I’m grateful for.  It may be a reminder to do something nice for someone I’m close to, or a stranger.  It could also be a quote from Warren Buffet 🙂

I’ve actually found these emails are pretty effective at keeping me focused just a tiny bit more on what I think is important, but again very easy to lose track of in the course of life.

I’m curious if anyone has figured out other ways to keep the best life advice you’ve gotten top of mind?  I’ve also been thinking about the best way for me to organize these nuggets (and stay motivated to organize them…it’s easy to highlight a book, especially on a kindle, but a lot harder to actually take those and put them in one repository!).

 

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