Do Less

Thursday, 9.34pm

Sheffield, U.K.

If something is not worth doing at all, it’s not worth doing well. – Charlie Munger

The world is frenetic right now.

We have access to more information than ever, but learn very little.

That’s because we see the same two or three things over and over again on the platforms we use.

And it can seem like there’s nothing else that’s important.

It’s time to try and switch off.

But how do you do that?

I started with https://clew.se. This is a one-person donation supported search engine that indexes “writing by independent creators”.

You can always find something interesting to read there written by a real person.

Another strategy is to delete everything – to do less – as little as possible.

This is quite hard, as most of us take on obligations without really considering the full costs of doing so.

We all have scarce resources and must use them for the most good.

It is really quite important to read the Charlie Munger quote above and take a long hard look at whether something is worth doing at all.

If you’re developing software, are those functions worth doing?

If you run a business, are those jobs worth doing?

There is no point making something work well when it should not be done at all.

My bugbear on this is tidying up.

If you don’t have a thing you don’t need to tidy it away.

Just have less stuff.

And by that, I mean have less physical stuff, less digital stuff, less mental stuff.

Life will be simpler.

Finally, the Munger quote leads back to the 1994 shareholder letter by Warren Buffett.

In that, he has these lines, which are as relevant now as they were 31 years ago.

“We will continue to ignore political and economic forecasts, which are an expensive distraction for many investors and businessmen.”

We have no idea whether AI will change the world, whether there will be political unrest in one corner or the other, or catastrophic climate change this year or in the next decade.

What we can do is manage our business prudently and with an eye to the risks coming our way.

Don’t buy a house or start a business in a flood plain unless you have tiled flooring, for example.

It’s probably more important than ever that we make decisions on sound fundamental principles rather than reacting to short term noise.

In short, keep plodding on.

Cheers,

Karthik Suresh