3-2-1: On maturity, how to do exceptional work, and the connectedness of things

I’ve learned that if I think about this problem on a daily basis— what positive impact can I have here and now on this day? —I start making better decisions. I begin doing better things. Even the smallest matters of daily life provide an opportunity for this. That’s reassuring—because those are constantly at hand and don’t require changing the whol... See more

It takes maturity to work on something far in advance of a deadline if the activity isn’t something we like. Most of us need the pressure of a deadline closing in to kick us into action. Why? Because the feeling of discomfort or aversion we associate with the work is stronger than the feeling of anxiety we have about getting it done. So we wait unt

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It’s taken me a while to warm up to the idea that thinking is working, and that what is actually work can at first look lazy. I love Naval [Ravikant’s tweet], “Be too busy to do coffee while keeping an uncluttered calendar.” More often than not, spending two hours thinking about a problem is a much better use of my time than taking two calls withou... See more

In your work, it’s not the speed in which you do everything, but the choice of what to focus on that brings the greatest returns. Doing the hard things that truly matter outweighs years of busyness spent on things that don’t.