Hi Everyone,

I'm going to keep this email short and actionable. Below you'll find a handful of things I'm experimenting with and hope you'll find them useful.

Let's go.

80/20 Reviews.

At the end of last year, I conducted an 80/20 review.

I wrote out the 20% of things that created 80% of my positive experiences, and the 20% of things that created 80% of my negative experiences. It was a great exercise and it informed how I approached this year.

However, I didn't want to only use this once a year - giving me a chance to be off-track for 52 weeks before my next review. So, this year, I've been doing weekly 80/20 reviews. I've noticed some trends that would have slipped under the radar, and have been able to adjust every week.

In fact, noticing when I was having a bad week, I was able to review what negative things could have been causing it - and make sure I was including as many of the positive things as possible.

The compounding effect is something I'm excited for - as the negative is constantly reduced and the positive constantly builds upon itself.

Put simple, you should do weekly 80/20 reviews because they make it easy for you to live well. As Charlie Munger put it, the key to success is to find what works and do more of it, find what doesn't work and stop doing it.

That's the ability this review gives you.

(Example: I've found poor sleep to be a negative, while 7-8 hours is a huge positive - and so I've been protecting my sleep.)

Find The Essential (Deloading)

This leads us to our next point: You need to find what is essential for you.

I mean this lifestyle wise - double down on your positive 20% and be ruthless with removing your negative 20% - but also bigger picture.

If you're someone who values autonomy, and you find it to be essential to your happiness and fulfilment, weigh that up. Don't make decisions that will impede your autonomy long-term.

You get the idea. Build a lifestyle and work towards an outcome that fits what is essential to you - not what others want. Don't just crumble to mimetic desire. The 80/20 review is a simple way to start identifying those ways for yourself - but you should also take some serious time to think.

Start a journal if you haven't. Write out what you really want. Set goals and review them. Check them against the actual feedback your mind is giving you about your life through the 80/20 review.

Find whats essential and focus on that.

Focus on Stack (Lollapalooza Effect).

Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest swordsman in history, had a great quote that we should keep in mind - "Never have a favourite weapon."

It's a reminder to be flexible. We don't want to rely on a single thing in any situation. We see this across all fields. The most dangerous UFC fighters are the ones who weave together multiple martial arts. The average millionaire has 7 streams of income.

The idea is simple: we want options. Beyond increased flexibility, it increases our odds of success.

If we can stack multiple strategies on top of each other, we can achieve what Charlie Munger calls a "lollapalooza effect" - where a bunch of minor items stacked together end up compounding, and create an exponential income.

Now, once we've identified what is essential to do and essential to avoid, we can double down on them with multiple strategies and tools. We want to create those lollapalooza effects - we want to let the good stuff stack and compound, and counter the bad with multiple weapons.

Parting Thoughts...

There's an idea that Fate does exist, except its not directed by the winds of chance or divine intervention. Instead, as Heraclitus wrote, Character is Fate.

And so, each of us carry a duty to perfect our character as much as possible - not just for the benefit of others, but the benefit of our fate.