@darrensapalo (Twitter)
Sahil mentioned a while ago 20 year olds who say "I want to be a VC..." and he was like, "What are you doing?"
Lookign back at what a person went through to get to where they are (VCs, entrepreneurs, etc), it makes a lot of sense in hindsight. How might we look at it from a different perspective?
I think a better framing of a question, in line with leverage, is: what should I be doing at a certain time?
This brings me to a concept of timing - where certain activities are most efficient at certain periods of time.
E.g. mastering the basics of math, science, etc. early on in your schooling, which gives you the competence which then subsequently leads to confidence... which accrues over time in a few years later on.
I think that conceptually, the best way to answer the question is to know what kind of hero/character you're playing.
If you guys play competitive e-sports games or even role playing games, you would be familiar with heroes or characters.
Some are support/tanks/carries... your character has a set of natural characteristics (you're buff, you can take a lot of damage) and you have your own tendencies (you want enemies to hit you so your team can beat them up).
So the challenge I think is:
- practicing and learning discipline early on in life, so that you can gain competence consistently early in your game (of life)
- As you grow and mature, you can then practice reflection on what activities your 'character' wants to do.
This lets you gain the wisdom to pay attention to the leverage that is inclined to your character.
Context: Not everything can be planned
Keywords: conscious practice/simulations in mind, clarity of calculated execution (minus distractions, emotions)...
Leaving some of my thoughts on leverage, growth, and learning here.