It’s Book Club week (join us here if you’re curious—no reading required, and this week’s theme is True Riches) and in preparation I was reading The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom.
One of his core ideas is this: “Everything comes from what you put first.” He recommends developing a “life razor”, explaining a razor as a principle that allows you to quickly remove unlikely explanations or avoid unnecessary steps to simplify decision making. (He provides a few examples, such as Hanlon’s razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”)
It reminded me of a prompt Dorie Clark explores in The Long Game: what are you optimizing for? (She suggests optimizing for interesting, which I have found to be a very enjoyable idea.)
Strategic plans, personal or corporate, are tools to help us focus our energy.
If your organization were to develop a strategy that had a “razor” that allowed you to metaphorically shave away unnecessary explanations or actions and focus only on what is most essential, what might it be? (I can almost hear some of you bemoaning the dullness of your razors right now…!)
What about individually—what are you optimizing for?
Allow me to push you a little further on this: what if you didn’t answer the question aspirationally, but actually? What would your calendar or credit card statement or closest partners reveal about the real answer to those questions, and how might you need to course correct?
Loving Corrections is another title on this week’s book club list—with the emphasis on “loving.” (I’m showing my hand early this week—usually you only get one sneak peek title and these two aren’t it!) My message for you today is not meant to feel like a slap on the wrist, but rather an encouragement to move in the direction of alignment with your values. It’s less stressful and can actually be really fun.
For example, what different decisions might you make if you optimized for generosity or belonging or adventure over the next few months? I’d love to hear how it goes.