Hey Reader,

Happy weekend'ing! We made it to February and out here in LA we've seen the days get longer. Today's short essay covers a favorite topic of mine, the law of diminishing returns.

(PSA: We'll be taking this coming Saturday off.)

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What (crazy) thing would you do for 2 extra minutes?

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When it's time to get to work, it's time to get to work. And whether you're plowing through Grand Central Station to make your connection or aggressively lane-switching on the 405, if there's one activity that justifies hurry it's commuting.

The author Derek Sivers applied this mindset to his daily biking commute along the Los Angeles coastline. He'd start in Santa Monica with a "full-on, 100 percent, head-down, red-faced" sprint for 7.5 miles towards Playa del Rey.

The result? 43 minutes.

Every single time. Like clockwork. ("Maybe a minute more on a really windy day.")

But his enthusiasm for the ride started to wane. Sivers found himself mentally exhausted. So he mixed things up.

Sivers decided to do something he's not used to. He gave it 50% effort.

He'd do the same ride, "but just chill."

So along the way he admired the palm trees. He saw two dolphins.

(A pelican even pooped in his mouth; Sivers "had to laugh at the novelty of it.")

He arrived, relaxed, smiling and rejuvenated. And then looked at his watch.

45 minutes.

It turned out that his intense sprints only saved him 4% of his commuting time. Said differently, despite straight up chilling Sivers still achieved 96% of the desired result. He'd landed on the law of diminishing returns.

As Sivers crossed the inflection point of effort, he had a powerful revelation: half of his effort was just unnecessary stress that made him feel like he was doing his best.

Keep reading (1 min)

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Here are this week's top reads:

// one

10 simple questions that changed my life

6 minutes | Twitter
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I've often said "The quality of your life is measured by the quality of your questions" (h/t Tony Robbins) and this thread has some fantastic ones to add to your arsenal. My favorites:

• Can you really control that? (Me: Usually, no)
• Are you earning trust? (Me: Seems obvious, but a powerful framing)
• Are you reacting or responding?
• Do you understand the rules? (See Chris' piece below)
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→ Read the tweetstorm​

// two

Play to win: meta-skills in high-stakes poker

25 minutes | Forcing Function
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Long-time RadReader and friend Chris Sparks takes you deep into the world of online poker, while extrapolating some salient life lessons for investing, entrepreneurship, and self-awareness in general. It's mildly technical, but I don't know jack about poker and found it riveting. Sparks includes some great analogies on game theory, personal SOPs, and distilling signal from the noise. Make sure you check out Chris' Team Performance Training below Story #5.

→ Read the post​

// three

How to win at the stock market by being lazy

5 minutes | New York Times
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A few RadReaders sent me this piece asking "Did you write this?" While there's nothing particularly new in this article about DCA and passive investing - in a world of Robin Hood, Gamestonk and Crypto it's nice to be reminded that there's an easy way to build wealth. It just requires patience (and staying out of your own way). (A more analytical version of this article from Albertbridge Capital.)

→ Read the article​

// four

The riddle of boredom

5 minutes | More To That
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What is boredom? (And why do I dislike it so much?) Once again, Lawrence Yeo delivers a gem exposing the deceptive complexity of a (seemingly mundane) topic. A simple definition might be: the absence of stimulation. But it's way more complicated and "has more to do with desire, and the inability to direct that desire toward anything meaningful." (Which could explain why determining "what's enough," can be so perplexing.)

→ Read the post​

// five

What are the top 10 job skills for the future?

4 minutes | World Economic Forum
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Here's a simple infographic from the World Economic Forum on the 10 most important skills to thrive at work today (based on employer surveys). Critical thinking and problem-solving top the list (as they have since the report began in 2016). But there's a newly emerging class of self-management skills such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility.
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→ Read the post​

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RadReader Chris Sparks (from story #2) is launching Team Performance Training - a 3-month group coaching sprint for a select group of executives, founders and investors. Over the course of this 12-week program, you'll develop habits, systems, and frameworks to perform at your peak. But most importantly, you will be surrounded by a curated group of high-caliber individuals, pushing each other to new heights.

​Apply today, enrollment closes on 2/9.

(This is not an affiliate link, just a full-throated endorsement of Chris and his work.)

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Below the fold

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LAST WEEK'S MOST READ

• ​Why you should focus on enough instead of more (Wandering Aimfully, 372 clicks)
• ​What a $10,000 day looks like (RadReads, 336 clicks)

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And finally, a subtweet on the decision to take on a new project.

With gratitude,
Khe

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