Life's wonderful equations

Hello magnificent people.

I recently read two fantastic pieces on Microsoft Excel - An Ode to Excel by Steph Smith and Excel Never Dies by Packy McCormick - and it suddenly dawned on me how much time I’ve spent lost in an Excel spreadsheet. Thousands and thousands of hours that I’ll never get back. But I’m also happy to admit that many of those thousands were in complete flow state. Like I mentioned in the last newsletter, that childlike state where you’re challenged, focused, inquisitive, loving the process and keen to keep going.

What make Microsoft Excel so good? I think it’s the fact that its outputs are heavily related to inputs. It forces you to think ahead and plan right. If you do, you’ll be able to make the pivot table of dreams. And if you don’t, you’ll be stuck in a dark Excel error hell.

So here’s a list of life’s best equations. Each deserves a newsletter of it’s own and whilst they are not all action-based, I hope some of them are food for thought.

Take what works for you and leave behind what doesn’t.

That’s all folks,

PJ

Inputs > Outputs (The Actions List)

Happiness = Reality - Expectations (Tom Magliozzi)

Slow = Smooth = Fast (Navy SEALs)

Happiness = ((Reality x Effort) - (Expectation x Attachment)) x Gratitude² (Tomas Svitorka)

Journey > Destination (The Actions List)

Hidden Metrics > Visible Metrics (George Mack)

Reward > Award (The Actions List)

Cash = King

Great work = Natural ability + Practice + Effort (Paul Graham)

Outcome = Events + Response (Ian Tang)

Income = Accountability + Leverage + Specific Knowledge (Naval Ravikant)

A Good Essay = Importance + Novelty + Correctness + Strength (Paul Graham)

Raising successful kids = Trust + Respect + Independence + Collaboration + Kindness (Esther Wojcicki)

Multiple options x Can’t decide = No (Gurwinder Bhogal)

Few options x Can’t decide = Yes (Gurwinder Bhogal)

$25m net worth > $250m net worth > £2.5bn net worth (Andrew Wilkinson)

Gossiping with you = Gossiping without you (Gurwinder Bhogal)

Getting rid of soap scum = 240ml white vinegar + 1L water (Lisa Bronner)

All art = Good art (Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross)

Growth mindset = Fixed Mindset (default) + deep commitment to the process of learning + (disregard for failure x love for challenges) + faith in the outcome working out in the end (Rohan Rajiv)

Scenius → Genius + Scene - Genes = (Mutual Appreciation + Rapid exchange of tools and techniques) ^{Network effects of success} + Local tolerance for the novelties (Kevin Kelly)

Pareto Principle → 20% of Efforts = 80% of Results

Accountability = Personal Branding + Personal Platform + Taking Risk (Naval Ravikant)

Leverage = Capital + People + Intellectual Property (Naval Ravikant)

I've made this a separate page on TheActionsList so I can keep adding to this. Check it out here.

If you like this, I’d love for you to forward or share this with friends. Many many thanks for reading this far!