Weekly Snapshot: Surviving Among Chaos

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There are certain times in life when things start to get out of control. It mainly happens after taking on more than you can chew comfortably. Despite running away from such situations, one frequently dwells in the territory of over-indulging. As humans, I think we are attracted to the idea of excess. Maybe it is the consequence of trying to climb the ladder in our world - a wild and unforgiving world that eats you up if you fail to keep up with the pace of the top performers. You are left with no choice but to over-indulge.

So what is the remedy?

I have found trimming down and picking your winners is your best option. Instead of giving 33% to three things simultaneously, it is better to give 50% to two things. Even better, 100% to a single thing. It is easier said than done, but it is a path forward. 

Because if we keep over-indulging, I have personally found the result to be quite hurting - burnout, lack of focus, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and no time to recover. If we keep up with this routine, I can guarantee a crash from a mile away. Although I still over-indulge, the number of things I do in parallel has decreased significantly. 

Every three months or so, I use the 25/5 rule first shared by Warren Buffet as advice to his assistant. First, make a list of 25 top goals you want to achieve. Second, shortlist five (I shortlist three now), and third, exclusively focus on those goals. The wisdom is to avoid the other 20 at all costs. 

It works. From juggling recklessly, you start to juggle responsibly to the point where you are not juggling anymore. You are 100% in control.

Do you feel overwhelmed and out of control in life? 

If your answer is yes, then trim and focus.

💪 Wins of the week

  1. Infrastructure of the new 2.0 app is pacing towards 100% stability. Happy with the progress made!
  2. AI SDR is coming along pretty nicely! The frontend is up and running - just a few more iterations and it will be ready to use.

🧐 Challenges & Learnings

  1. Last week was really challenging. I had difficulty sleeping due to over-exerting and anxiety. I did give myself enough time to recover which has slowed down my pace at work. I want to ensure I don’t run out of energy - ever.
  2. I have my wisdom tooth extraction and I’ll need rest for a couple of day. With all going on in my life, I just don’t know how I’ll get the rest I need.

🎯 Goals for Next Week

  1. Build v2 of the AI SDR.
  2. Accelerate the pace at work by moving away from bug fixes to building and launching new features+experiments!
  3. Onboard paid customers on the platform!
  4. Stay focused and grateful.

📖 My Readings

I finished reading Elon’s biography. Quite fascinating and inspiring. I’ve now picked up $100M offers by Alex Hormozi. It’s a great book to learn about the art of making an offer. It’s an easy read so hopefully will be done with it by the end of this week.

🎬 My YouTube Video

Trade offs. I’m trying to get back in the game - hopefully, I’ll release another video this week.

✍️ Quote of the Week

“Being rational is a moral imperative. You should never be stupider than you need to be."

- Charlie Munger