What it is I believe to be true…

Jordan Peterson says if you want to learn to think you need to write because writing is formalized thinking. So…in an effort to be a better thinker maybe I’ll give this writing thing a try to discover what it is I believe to be true.

Note, if you are reading this…be warned that it is likely a terrible read and you should only do so if you have nothing better to do. Yes I know that this could just be a Google Doc for myself but I think by having it be public I will put more effort into it to make it make more sense.

Business:

• To have a sustainable business you need to have a legitimate value proposition. Your product or service needs to be the best choice for a rational person that did their research.
• Covid is a stress test for your balance sheet. The strong will get stronger because there are lots of opportunities if you have the cash.
• Paid search matters more because the future is pay for play.
• Moving fast is hard.
• Being structured for max efficiency makes jobs feel a lot more like work.
• Getting out of the office increases idea generation.
• Good management matters, is hard to execute, is expensive and is very difficult to measure. I think I could be good at it but we are much too lean of an organization and I wear too many hats to a fault. This is a problem and needs to be addressed because our team could be better.
• Ray Dalio is a hero and is brilliant. Principles is one of those books that has changed my life. Reflecting on mistakes, trying to get to the root cause and trying to build those lessons back into the operating system is really hard to do but works really well when I put the effort into doing it.
• Dalio’s animated Principles for Success has already been read to my 9-month old daughter and hopefully will be read hundreds of times more until she has it memorized.
• Blinkist.com is pretty awesome. They give you 20-minute nonfiction book summaries that I like reading over and over for books that I’ve already read. Ideally I would know the great books so well that I could teach a class on the book without any notes. That is not true for many books I’ve read and much too often I think they are great, don’t implement many of the ideas and then look the details off to the ether. Well….if I listen to the Blinks first to have a foundation and to know if I like the book first, then read the book and then listen to the Blinks several times after that I think I’ll be much more likely to retain the info. It’s not an Audible.com killer but a supplement for those of use without photographic memories.
• Next time I can leave the state I want to really go through a bunch of Blink summaries while on vacation and to formulate a list of very specific actions to take to improve Patio Pacific.

Health

• While I naturally eat very fast, eating slow is superior. There’s a delay from when you eat something until when you feel full. Generally you can eat half your meal, drink water and wait 5 minutes and you will feel full. Eating slowly makes it easier to stop because you feel full.
• Intermittent fasting is a very effective way to lose weight. Even if you disregard the additional benefits, it is easier to eat less if you only eat during a 8 hour window.
• Smart phones are terrible for humans in many ways. Probably the single worst part is any type of app that allows you to scroll and browse. The convenience and dopamine generation just leads to addiction to passive time wasting. I switched to a flip phone after Tessa was born so that I would stop being a phone zombie and I don’t think I’ll ever go back.
• Exercise is an investment that makes me better at almost everything.
• Isometric exercises and deep flexing helps with adding muscle for a hard gainer.
• I haven’t heard anyone aside from Joe Rogan talk about how people should focus on naturally improving their immune system in this covid-19 era. This is one of those no-brainer things that you should always be doing and now even moreso. Drink at least 100oz of water, sleep 8+ hours, get exercise, cut out the sugar and booze will make you get sick a lot less all the time and would likely increase the odds that you are a-symptomatic for coronavirus.

Family:

• We sincerely were unsure if we wanted to have kids and I am infinitely grateful we did. I didn’t really like kids and was terrified about hating it. If I had to talk my former self into it I probably would point out that having a kid is so insanely difficult that humanity wouldn’t have survived if there wasn’t some type of instinct that makes you want to do it. There has to be some joy that comes from seeing the kid grow that makes you be willing to keep them alive or we never would have made it this far. That instinct to take care of my kids was in me but wasn’t activated until Tessa and now I get it.
• In an effort to slow down and to prioritize food more we have been eating only at the table, clearing it completely and using a tablecloth with every meal. After the meal we remove the tablecloth and it oddly helps make meals feel more important. Yet another reason why I enjoyed French Kids Eat Everything.
• Cleaning dishes and audiobooks/podcasts/blinks were made to go together.
• Being home to see your kids grow matters. I love my job and we’re super busy so this is tough. Spending quality time with the wife is also mission critical. Sleeping a lot is also a hard requirement. Here’s how I look at time buckets:
  1. Sleeping
  2. Working
  3. Family
  4. Exercise
  5. Social
  6. Administrative
  7. Everything else
• If you treat sleeping and working as statics, the key to having enough time for family, exercise and friends and everything else is to really minimize #6 and #7. Getting ready for work is not important for #1-5 so you should do it as fast as possible. Going to Costco would be a #6 so bring your daughter and teach her about vegetables and why not to park in the fire lane.