productivity

“I have a lot of energy because I decide to. It’s like an acquired taste. You can teach yourself energy.”

time is of the essence – if something is going to fail, better to fail quickly, learn, and pivot rather than drag things out

As effort increases, the value must increase exponentially to justify the same priority. My colleague Pierre shared this framework with a helpful visual, and even a mathematic equation: Priority = Value/Effort^2

“Good performers crave a culture of energy... It’s using every encounter, meeting, and opportunity to increase the pace of whatever is going on. Apply pressure. Be impatient,”

“Insecurity Work” is stuff that you do that: (1) has no intended outcome, (2) does not move the ball forward in any way, and (3) is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing.

Imagine you have an evil identical twin whose sole job is to have 10x the agency of you. What ideas would they have? This thought experiment allows the mind to explore creative ideas you'd never think of.

What focus means is saying no to something that you, with every bone in your body, you think is a phenomenal idea and you wake up thinking about it, but you say no to it because you’re focusing on something else.