“I could improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it, so that you had 20 punches — representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime.
And once you’d punch through the card, you couldn’t make any more investments at all.
Under this rule, you’d really have to think carefully about what you did, and you’d be forced to load up on what you really think about.
So you’d do much better.
To me, it’s obvious that the winner has to bet very selectively”
-Warren Buffett
Even though it seems like we make tons of decisions every day, only a few decisions matter in life.
(~10-20 decisions).
Why?
A: They hold more weight with regards to your POSITIONING.
The “decisions that matter” are “heavyweight moves”, meaning that they ripple out and affect multiple areas of life + people.
These decisions are:
- very hard or even impossible to undo
- impact the future options available to you
- impact your future quality of life
If you fuck up on foundational decisions you invite 100000000000x+ problems into your life and make your life quality 1000000000000x worse.
It’s much easier to prevent it in the first place.
Most of the problems people are dealing with are the consequences of being in a shitty position.
Upgrade your position and your life gets 10000000000000x easier.
This is why your timeline of decisions matters.
Early / timely decisions are more important because they affect the tint of the rest.
What are the most important decisions?
- What principles / ideas you choose to build your life around
- Avoiding nuclear mistakes
- What games you choose to play
- Where you live (for majority of year)
- What skills you pursue + develop
- Who you build relationships with
- How you spend / value your time
- How you make money
- Who you have kids with / Marry
Let’s explore.
1. What Principles / Ideas You Choose To Build Your Life Around
This is your philosophy / value system.
EVERYTHING is downstream of it.
Your life is the result of your value system.
How you assign value to fundamentals things like time and energy completely re-arranges everything about how you move and make decisions.
Your principles = Your priorities.
Your priorities = Your outcome.
Even if you don’t think you have a clear value system, your priorities reveal it.
And some values are obviously better than others.
2. Avoiding Nuclear Mistakes
Examples include:
- Student debt for a useless degree with little earning potential
- Reckless expenses that don’t add much to your life
- Buying liabilities that restrict your freedom
- Signing bad contracts
- Stupid investments
3. What Games You Choose To Play
Everything in life is ultimately a series of games.
Most people don’t get what they want because they choose to play games where it’s IMPOSSIBLE to get their desired results.
So how can you choose better games?
- Play games where the outcome is in your control (i.e. biz > gambling on shitcoins)
- Play games where you have an unfair advantage.
- Play long-term games with long-term people.
- Play positive sum games > zero sum games.
- Play infinite games over finite games.
- Play games that compound positively.
- Avoid rigged games (unless they’re in your favor).
- Avoid low-leverage games.
4. Where You Live (For The Majority Of The Year)
One a long enough timeline, your environment always wins.
So?
Make sure it works FOR you and not AGAINST you.
If you live in a place you hate, no amount of money will help you overcome your misery.
The only solution is to MOVE.
What makes a place good?
- Weather you enjoy
- Social scene you enjoy
- Hub for the industry you’re in
- Strong logistics to activities you enjoy (i.e. surfing, skiing, hiking, etc)
This doesn’t only apply to your city, but also your neighborhood / street.
5. What Skills You Pursue + Develop
Skills are a vehicle that affect your ability to navigate the world.
They dissolve problems and open doors.
However, some skills are better than others.
How do you know which ones to pursue?
A: the ones that grant you higher leverage.
For example:
If you become an expert in some obscure niche with no demand, you won’t be very successful.
By taking all that time + energy and investing it elsewhere, you drastically change the course of your life.
What skills have higher leverage?
- Sales
- Style
- Writing
- Communication
- Social Skills / Psychology / Game
6. Who You Build Relationships With
The fabric of the human experience is ultimately a social one.
The people you keep around are either assets or liabilities.
They will either make your life better or worse.
What kind of energies / situations / etc are they spilling into your life?
Don’t like the answer?
Change your social group.
7. How You Spend / Value Your Time
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer because they have different belief systems.
Rich people spend their time in a rich way and poor people spend their time on dumb shit.
And what are the building blocks of time?
A: Your habits.
Show me your habits, and I will show you your future.
If your habits aren’t improving the vehicles that allow you to move through life:
- Your body / fitness / health
- Your social skills
- Your $
You are quite simply not going to make it.
8. How You Make Money
All money is not equal.
Why?
A: Because of the life it forces you to live to acquire it.
(Plus all the other multi-order consequences that come with it).
Money that is detached from time and location (i.e. online cash flowing asset $) made in your sleep is superior to money that requires a commute.
- You save 20%+ of your time from commuting / getting ready / unwinding etc
- You save 20%+ expenses (less driving etc)
- You get xx% tax write offs and benefits
- You get a xx% ownership multiple
Always pay attention to the “strings attached” and whether or not they make sense FOR YOU.
9. Who You Have Kids With / Marry
Your sexual choices will either make your life heaven or hell.
This is why you must have CLEAR vetting principles.
Don’t have a kid with a woman unless you wouldn’t mind having a daughter EXACTLY like her.
Big mistakes include:
- Marrying the wrong person
- Dealing with divorce
- Having kids too early
Conclusion
You only make ~10-20 decisions that matter in life.
And these decisions revolve around building a strong position.
If you make the wrong choices, you will invite 100000000000x+ problems into your life that could have been prevented.
Want to learn how to do it?
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My name is Mister Infinite. I've written 300+ articles for people who want more out of life. Within this website you will find the motivation and action steps to live a better lifestyle.
