okay serious question, say you’re starting over or starting from scratch. how do you (i mean you, reading this right now) how do you put constraints around the seemingly infinite # of possibilities in order to form a structure to start moving in the direction it want to go in? how do you overcome analysis paralysi
Helps to remember that you can always start over again if and when you decide.
workout, eat healthy and get a decent amount of sleep… the rest just falls into place.
every morning, sheet of paper (for writing slow), bullet point order of importance a list I can't expand before bed, new sheet, duplicate the list from memory, if list isn't shorter scratch out the last item. review then sleep repeat until list is irreducible and accurately the same every morning and night
I start most things with a risk/reward analysis. 1.) given my current life situation how much risk can I reasonably withstand. Number of options already reduced. 2.) look at available resources & what I want to optimize for the most in getting there (speed,money etc). 3.) Then sketching out routes and picking one.
There's always a prior to build on top of; identify that. Then start surveying—breadth-first or depth-first, doesn't matter. At some point during the survey there'll be an implicit/explicit attraction/aversion. Chase that and, hey presto, constraints!
I use the Fun Criterion https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=idvGlr0aT3c
Everything is arbitrary and under-constrained if you take too long with it. It’s like saying the same word over and over until it sounds weird. You’ll need to be split-brained, with a nerdy confused mode as existential conscience, but also a jocky action mode pushing forward based on “gut” assessment.
zico, are you taking about starting over in a career, or a business or something else? One trick for all is just help a bunch of people and see what resonates Helping people is the easiest way to help yourself
By priority: Mission (does this drive forward the thing I really care about), Zone of Genius (am I uniquely positioned to succeed), financial (do I have the ability to launch and iterate with current means). Last one is primarily, that I would like to do hardware. But it’s more expensive.
Classify each permutation of attributes as a “direction” to explore Then timebox the pursuit of each direction based on criteria that you establish
- You set a measurable aspirational goal(s) - you define what you’re willing to sacrifice and what not - you plan in weekly intervals and do frequent reviews if you’re going in the right direction
I simply rank every possibility by sharpe ratio in descending order and make kelly bets on the top candidates.
What worked for us was hopping on a call with a mentor that has experience Leaning stuff out in order to make sure the product is as simple as possible, then launch asap recently launched this to crowdfund our hen farm and look into using daos for new sustainability models, would love your feedback https://jpegg.world
I think start with the emotional connection of doing something that you love. It's easy to list out the things we love. That's the north star. Figuring out business models that enable us to do what we love is the next sequential part. Leading with what makes us happy reduces paralysis.
Force yourself to talk to domain experts to form plausible hypothesis and build to increase the quality of validation. You can only do this in one domain at a time.
I start with remembering and applying this mentality https://www.wysr.xyz/p/the-returns-to-volatility
force yourself to make a decision The analogy I like to use is “monkey with a hammer”: you are a monkey and your ideas and todos are nails. Assume you’re stupid and all you can do is move your arm - you’re bound to hit a nail, no matter how long it takes. Then you get better at hammering nails.