Day 666 - Small bets playbook - https://golifelog.com/posts/small-bets-playbook-1666913254452
If there's ever a playbook for the portfolio of small bets approach, this is probably it:
> What to unlearn/relearn
>
> \- Hard work β Trial & error
> \- Focus β Many things at once
> \- Optimization β 80/20 rule
> \- Consistency β Intensity
> \- Avoid distractions β Embrace randomness
> \- Practice 10,000 hrs β 100 bets
> \- Goals β Stay in the game
> \- Efficiency β Slack in the system
>
> β [@dvassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1585320516378058752)
I'm a fan of Daniel's ideas around small bets. It resonated with me, and articulated something I had always intuited and had been doing even before it came along. But what's interesting about this list of things to unlearn/relearn is how spot on it is on all the things I'm struggling with on my indie solopreneur journey.
For the longest time, especially in school and when employed, I'm totally about the qualities on the left side of the list: hard work, focus, optimization, consistency, avoid distractions, 10k hours, setting goals, efficiency. Maybe I wasn't like that when I'm a kid, but it had certainly been beaten into me over the decades. Our society in general incentivizes these qualities. You're a good boy or girl if you do all of that.
That's why it's been a steep uphill climb unlearning all that early conditioning. Maybe that's why I feel stuck.
If I were to give myself kindergarten grades for how well I'm doing transiting over:
- βοΈβοΈβοΈ Hard work β Trial & error
- βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ Focus β Many things at once
- βοΈβοΈ Optimization β 80/20 rule
- βοΈ Consistency β Intensity
- βοΈβοΈ Avoid distractions β Embrace randomness
- βοΈβοΈ Practice 10,000 hrs β 100 bets
- βοΈ Goals β Stay in the game
- βοΈ Efficiency β Slack in the system
I'm still pretty much a consistency person. I get that I can still keep my daily habits and still practice intensity for my products, but it's been hard separating what is a hardwired personality trait.
I loved goal setting. It used to work very well for everything I do in the past. So practising to let go of it had been hard. I used to do monthly goals but now it's more monthly intentions, which work for me.
Giving myself slack in the system was the hardest. I would optimize and utilize every waking minute to work or do something. Taking a break intentionally was counter-reflex. That's also why I burned out multiple times over the past decade.
I reminded myself that I should bring a [skeptic's lens](https://golifelog.com/posts/a-skeptics-lens-1666737100854) to this, that I need to make this mine instead of blindly following someone else's playbook. So still lots to experiment and discern. I suspect as I go, it's not a total transition from left to right on the list, but more of a nuanced intuition on when and where I stand depending on the context.
After all, I've been doing this even before the playbook came along. I want to circle back to that beginner's mind, even as I learn more.
Onwards!
> What to unlearn/relearn
>
> \- Hard work β Trial & error
> \- Focus β Many things at once
> \- Optimization β 80/20 rule
> \- Consistency β Intensity
> \- Avoid distractions β Embrace randomness
> \- Practice 10,000 hrs β 100 bets
> \- Goals β Stay in the game
> \- Efficiency β Slack in the system
>
> β [@dvassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1585320516378058752)
I'm a fan of Daniel's ideas around small bets. It resonated with me, and articulated something I had always intuited and had been doing even before it came along. But what's interesting about this list of things to unlearn/relearn is how spot on it is on all the things I'm struggling with on my indie solopreneur journey.
For the longest time, especially in school and when employed, I'm totally about the qualities on the left side of the list: hard work, focus, optimization, consistency, avoid distractions, 10k hours, setting goals, efficiency. Maybe I wasn't like that when I'm a kid, but it had certainly been beaten into me over the decades. Our society in general incentivizes these qualities. You're a good boy or girl if you do all of that.
That's why it's been a steep uphill climb unlearning all that early conditioning. Maybe that's why I feel stuck.
If I were to give myself kindergarten grades for how well I'm doing transiting over:
- βοΈβοΈβοΈ Hard work β Trial & error
- βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ Focus β Many things at once
- βοΈβοΈ Optimization β 80/20 rule
- βοΈ Consistency β Intensity
- βοΈβοΈ Avoid distractions β Embrace randomness
- βοΈβοΈ Practice 10,000 hrs β 100 bets
- βοΈ Goals β Stay in the game
- βοΈ Efficiency β Slack in the system
I'm still pretty much a consistency person. I get that I can still keep my daily habits and still practice intensity for my products, but it's been hard separating what is a hardwired personality trait.
I loved goal setting. It used to work very well for everything I do in the past. So practising to let go of it had been hard. I used to do monthly goals but now it's more monthly intentions, which work for me.
Giving myself slack in the system was the hardest. I would optimize and utilize every waking minute to work or do something. Taking a break intentionally was counter-reflex. That's also why I burned out multiple times over the past decade.
I reminded myself that I should bring a [skeptic's lens](https://golifelog.com/posts/a-skeptics-lens-1666737100854) to this, that I need to make this mine instead of blindly following someone else's playbook. So still lots to experiment and discern. I suspect as I go, it's not a total transition from left to right on the list, but more of a nuanced intuition on when and where I stand depending on the context.
After all, I've been doing this even before the playbook came along. I want to circle back to that beginner's mind, even as I learn more.
Onwards!