🏴☠️ ⚡️ Issue #17 - Musings: Habit Trading & Default No
Welcome! This newsletter is dedicated to acquiring and operating Micro SaaS firms. Join us every Saturday morning for Deal Teardowns, Operating Concepts, and more!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Part 1 — 🎯 DEAL TEARDOWN - Interior Design AI (Generative Image) SaaS at $240k ARR
Part 2 — ⚙️ OPERATING CONCEPT - “The 4 Growth Frameworks You Need to Build a $100M Product”
Part 3 — 🛠️ OKR TEARDOWN - Launch our 1st Ambassador UGC campaign
Part 4 — 🤔 MUSINGS - Habit Trading & Default No
Quick update: We’ve reintroduced 🤔 MUSINGS as the 4th pillar of each Issue and plan to release 🏆 PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE in line with our Sprint / OKR cadences accordingly. The Sprint #5 (8/21 - 10/6) wrap will ship October 13th!
Now, on with the show…
🤔 MUSINGS
📺 WATCH:
📻 LISTEN:
HABIT TRADING
I’d like to argue that one of the most efficient paths toward self-improvement and achievement is the act of thoughtfully trading activities that provide little meaning / value for those aligned with your goals. I suggest this as an alternative to establishing new habits from a standing start, or breaking bad habits cold turkey.
Before we dive in, I want to be clear I’m assuming we all agree that daily action / habits / routines “are the compound interest of self-improvement.” If you disagree, here are some examples of this sentiment shared throughout human history:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
“"Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny." - Stephen Covey
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” - Robert Collier
“You'll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” - John Maxwell
The only rub is how difficult it is to break bad / establish new habits. ‘Hard’ is subjective so let’s just agree experts claim it takes at least 70 days and most humans are frustrated if something takes longer than the week. Furthermore, we spend the vast majority of our lives in a fast, automatic and subconscious state (aka System 1 - Thinking Fast & Slow), which implies a lack of general awareness around our habits is in play as well.
I could go on and so I’ll just say this - habits are super difficult to establish and they are the currency of greatness.
It follows then that finding points of leverage related to installing / ending habits is a very useful pursuit. Thus, here we are. Instead of white knuckling you’re way to 70 days of anything, what about swapping one thing you already do on a daily basis that isn’t really serving your longer-term interests for something else that does?
I’d like to bring this to life by sharing a few of the trades I’ve made recently that have made a huge impact on my growth and well-being:
Spotify Discovery Playlist for Podcasts / books on tape at the gym
Instagram for Readwise Reader
Late weekend nights for early mornings (a 1yr old will force this one on ya, but I’m grateful he did)
So what now? I’d like to challenge everyone to take a quick and dirty inventory of passive activities, ‘dead time,’ etc. during your typical day. Now consider a productive trade and away you go. Execute that trade for 70 days and once it’s stable in your muscle memory, on to the next!
DEFAULT NO
It is without question in my nature to get excited, say ‘yes,’ and generally overcommit in life. To go a bit deeper into my psyche, perhaps this tendency is a function of wanting to surpass expectations or avoid disappointing others. In a business capacity early in my career, I certainly recall wanting to ‘keep my options open’ and basically hedge risk by spreading myself across a few activities (ironically, all the while diminishing my performance in each activity stream).
Thankfully, I’ve been aware of this tendency for many years. I first noticed a shift in my values - admiring elite focus vs number of irons in the fire. As Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
This shift in my values had a profound impact on my behavior, though earlier this week I had a strange moment of awareness. Despite what I percieve to be my values, I found my default reaction to most stuff (e.g. an invite to a sports game, etc.) is ‘yes’. I’m basically in until I find a way / reason to be out, even though I know every yes leads me further and further away from a focused savage.
As it relates to habit trading, this is first up for me. I am trading ‘default yes’ for ‘default no.’
My guiding light is the premise that abundance is a function of what we say no (vs yes) to. Or to quote the great philosopher Bruce Lee one last time, “It is not daily increase but daily decrease, hack away the unessential. Simplicity is the key to brilliance.” Or Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who said, “Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away.”
To conclude, here are some compelling thoughts from a range of fields and perspectives:
PSYCHOLOGY
Decision Fatigue: Saying "no" more often can help you avoid decision fatigue, thereby preserving your cognitive resources for more important decisions.
Data Point: Studies show that making too many decisions in a short period can impair your ability to make good choices later, a phenomenon known as "decision fatigue."
Focus and Mastery: Saying "no" to distractions or less meaningful activities allows you to invest time in mastering skills that provide better opportunities.
Data Point: Research in psychology indicates that it takes approximately 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in a given field (though this number is disputed and may vary).
ECONOMICS
Opportunity Cost: Saying "no" to less beneficial opportunities allows you to invest in more lucrative or fulfilling options.
Data Point: In economics, the concept of opportunity cost refers to the value of the best alternative foregone when making a decision.
Scarcity of Resources: Saying "no" allows you to allocate your limited resources (time, money, energy) more effectively.
Data Point: Economic models often start with the premise that resources are limited.
SOCIOLOGY
Social Capital: Saying "no" to peripheral social engagements can allow you to deepen your existing relationships, which can lead to better opportunities.
Data Point: Research in sociology indicates that strong, focused relationships often provide more social capital than a large number of shallow relationships.
Status and Exclusivity: Saying "no" can create a perception of exclusivity and higher status, which can attract better opportunities.
Data Point: Scarcity and exclusivity often elevate social status. High-status individuals or organizations are often more selective in their affiliations.