⏱️ Fire bullets before cannonballs

Sponsored by Shortfrom

I love learning and growing, and Shortform helps me do that faster and more efficiently. With detailed summaries, chapter breakdowns, and exercises that help me quickly apply the best ideas from non-fiction books. For less than the cost of one book a month, you get access to thousands of guides—it’s been a game-changer for staying productive and growing.

Note from me: Last Thursday I sent out my recommended books from 2024. I included a broken link to my post where I share strategies on how to read more books.

Here is the correct link to read 6 practical strategies to read more books.

And now, back to regularly scheduled programming.

I. Fire bullets before cannonballs.

When trying something different or new, in order to not become overwhelmed or before wasting a lot of time and resources that may not work, start by taking smaller shots (low risk, lost cost, and/or low distraction experiments).

This lowers the cost of failure while also allowing you to try more things and see what sticks.

Want to start a podcast? Record a few episodes with cheap equipment (bullets) before spending a lot of time and money without knowing what works (cannonball).

Want to run an effective ad campaign? Try a few versions on a lower budget (bullets) and see which performs best before dumping a lot of money into one (cannonball).

If “this decision has to work” what you are making is a cannonball decision. Before you get there, try things on a smaller scale and see what works.

Fire bullets before cannonballs.

———————-

II. Often the best and most beneficial habits did not start that way.

Those who enjoy a consistent exercise routine do so because they are confident in their workout, enjoy its benefits, and feel off when they get out of routine. And they do so in a way that someone who doesn’t exercise can’t fathom.

Those who enjoy consistent time in God’s word each day and prayer often start doing so because they heard it was good for them, even if it often felt like “work.” Now when they miss, they feel off in a way that someone who doesn’t spend time with God can’t understand.

You get the point. Just because it is hard or uncomfortable now does not mean it will stay that way if you stick to it.

The longer you stick with good habits, the more you’ll enjoy them in ways other people can’t comprehend.

Paul Graham on how much work is required to make something look easy:

“The easy, conversational tone of good writing comes only on the eighth rewrite.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Overall, a really interesting and insightful book about how the mind thinks and makes decisions. 

It details why we are often overconfident in the decisions we make and stances we take. And the difference between making quick decisions (thinking fast) and allowing for more thought before arriving at a conclusion (thinking slow). This book is referenced by many other books for its studies and analysis.

It's also quite long for what it is (about 420 pages before the appendixes). Because of this, it was hard to keep track of everything. I would have enjoyed it more if it was shorter or even somehow broken up into two books.

Really good content, but rather long and I had to force myself to finish it. That lowered its overall score for me.

6.5/10

P.S. Why are they always so surprised?