Don’t skip to skip. Skip to win.
Yesterday, one of my buddies told me to show up to class while another one of my buddies joked about having to show up to class.
Winning is all about showing up, right? Not exactly. You’re missing the point.
Skipping things may seem bad.
Oh, you skipped the meeting. You skipped class. You skipped the project. You skipped hiring. Etc.
However, I don’t think the difference is well understood.
There are times I choose to skip to skip.
That is because I am lazy or unproductive and don’t follow through.
There’s nothing wrong with that, it will inevitably happen. There are days we skip the workout because we did not feel like it. While not great, we all are human.
I can also just skip to skip everything. That’s being a quitter. It doesn’t get me very far.
Or, I can skip strategically.
That is we skip to prioritize higher leverage activities.
It’s hard to understand leverage. Until you are forced to make leverage driven decisions. Then, everything becomes what will give me 10x this unit of effort for the enterprise value that I could create.
Yesterday, I skipped a class. Why? Because I needed to make enough time to also add a workout and get to bed on time.
I knew that if I did not skip class, I would have to forfeit the workout for working on a live project that is taking up most of my mind.
The workout has compounded effects, almost 10x.
Here’s the math. Maintain discipline not only in the gym but across all aspects of work I’m involved in: 2x. Improve cognitive speed, focus, and mood in all other work: 5x.
Going to class. That’s 1x.
In fact, I can watch a lecture recording. That lecture recording can be watched at 1.5x speed. I can also skip 5-10 minutes of pauses.
10 minutes walk to, 60 minutes lecture, 20 minutes pauses/breaks, 10 minute walk.
Instead, 40 minute lecture at 1.5x speed.
Wait, attending that lecture was a 0.4x decision. Bad choice.
Not saying don’t attend class. I actually recommend it. Class could be the most high leverage activity if you maintain discipline, condense learnings, get more intuition, feel motivated, etc.
But this is based on context. What is the tradeoff you yourself have to make? If there is nothing else you sacrifice it is a mistake to skip. Your opportunity cost is 0.
Now, you need to make up that lost time.
There are some classes that I never skip because the return is 5-10x my efforts/time. And, making that up would be disastrous.
