choose your weapons

My weapons are a calendar, a planner, and a pen.

Jesse Itzler

I bought a Big A## Calendar. Seriously. See for yourself (but do come back ;)

https://jesseitzler.com/products/the-big-a-calendar

Actually, I bought two. One for family. One for work. The thinking went something like “these two parts of my life are separate and will be planned as such.”

That was the wrong way to think, so I’m only using one. How to plan and balance work and life is something for another day, though.

This is about focus and doing battle

Jesse Itzler built and sold Marquis Jet, a big private jet network. He invited David Goggins to live with him. He runs companies while running the Grand Canyon.

And he’s married to the Spanx lady.

He’s done well. And he gets shit done.

His quote at the top of the page stands out to me. It was an unscripted line on a livestream about using the big a## calendar.

It was the most important idea in the whole 35 minute session.

I overcomplicate everything

That’s my default.

Step 1 — Have idea

Step 2 — Come up with the most sophisticated and intricate plan

Step 3 — Start building!

Step 4 is usually overwhelm and self-doubt followed by another idea, another plan, etc. It took me a while to learn that it’s fine to have a big vision, but even the biggest visions start simple.

Jesse’s point (as I interpret it today) is to not only keep things simple, but to stop caring about how a thing gets done. Just move into battle.

Choose your weapons

It amazes me how often the midwit meme is right.

Using the calendar idea, you start with pen and paper, progress to sophisticated digital calendaring and task management system, only to default back to pen and paper.

Bloated tech stacks nobody uses. Bloated products with low adoption rates. Overwrought onboarding flows.

The analogies are endless. Simple is often good. Choose the weapons that you need to do the job well. Proceed.

A caveat on sophistication

What’s funny about all this is that simple things are often innovative and hard won. A big freaking calendar? Well, duh.

But remember when Google Calendar added year view? I do. It was momentous. I could finally stop opening Apple Calendar just to see the full year.

Building things that appear simple can be a complicated task. So there is a caveat to all of the above thinking. Sometimes you need high-tech weapons to simplify the battle.

What are you trying to accomplish? Do you have the tools you need? If yes, move forward. If no, what’s the pen and paper equivalent?

My bet is the one armed with “a calendar, a planner, and a pen” moves faster and more thoughtfully.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends.

Peter

(478 / 500)