Britt Gage

Minimalism isn't about owning nothing, it’s about nothing owning you.

I’d spent much of the last decade trying as hard as I could to make a positive impact, from teaching English in South America to working in microfinance in Colombia to volunteering in the Peace Corps in Ukraine to starting an education business on the Internet. This endless striving came from an insatiable need to make a difference, to feel like my... See more

The main lesson we’ve learned is that you can almost never optimize directly for a goal—instead, you’re usually optimizing for something that looks like your goal but is slightly different. It’s a proxy.

Because you have to optimize for a proxy, when you optimize too much, you get too good at maximizing your proxy objective—which often takes you far... See more

#6 — Automated Delegation

In order to delegate something today you need to describe the project, or your goals, to your assistants. There are different ways to do this:

• Text/typing → Slowest


• Voice → Fastest/easiest


• Loom videos → Adds the most context

But what if AI could automatically identify tasks that were able to be delegated to your... See more

Often, a good impression is a byproduct of deep engagement in a conversation, a desire to learn, or thoughtful work, as opposed to something you aim at directly.

When you’re anxious, there is no quicker relief than checking things. Checking your Substack subscriber stats, refreshing your inbox and order confirmations.

Scott Belsky coined the term insecurity work to describe work that does not move the ball forward, but is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing.

Unlike... See more

We don't have enough experience with early versions of ambitious projects to know how to respond to them. We judge them based on where they are currently, not based on what they could become. The same is true for how we judge people.