Solve Big Problems
There are a lot of small problems in the world. Problems you could spend your whole life solving just to look up and see nothing changed. If you plan to spend your life obsessed, you might as well pick a big problem to obsess over. A good thing about big problems is that they are easier to solve. No one wants to help you solve a small problem. But pick something insane enough and you might just get the resources to do it.
The big problem I'm solving is Dental Insurance. Deducing from these four axioms with a prerequisite of obsession I will solve it.
Do 1 thing
Spend 3 hours on one essay. Spend 3 months on one product. Spend 30 years on one problem. At every time scale, results compound with focus. The world is distracted. It's easy to win with focus alone.
Have long time horizons
If results compound with focus, magical things happen when you focus for a long time. The longer you work on one thing, the greater advantage you have. The companies being built today have the opportunity to last 100 years. I make decisions accordingly.
Do things differently
Be different for the sake of being different. Being in the majority is incompatible with innovation. Doing what everyone else does and expecting different results is delusion. Even if you can't think of a better way, being different alone at least gives you a chance.
Keep it simple
The world is complex. Value is trapped in complexity. Relentlessly delete. 80% of output comes from 20% of input. Only do the 20% that matters and repeat.
This is my manifesto. The four thoughts that have played in my head for the past five years and will continue to play in my head for the next fifty.
Homage paid to the thinkers that have shaped my mind:
- Ed Thorp
- Charlie Munger
- Steve Jobs
- Elon Musk
- Richard Feynman