Build Frameworks For Everything In Life
If you have to do something that is recurring in nature, it is better to build systems to handle those tasks efficiently rather than starting from scratch every time. We often automate mundane tasks like daily reporting, but we don’t realize that our entire life is filled with repetitive decisions and choices, yet we have little idea how to make better ones.
We underestimate how many decisions we make, how many choices we weigh, and how many small tasks we carry out daily, only to keep adding more to the pile. This makes life more random because we are least aware of why we make certain choices, what the right choice could be, and why we should prefer one over another.
Take a trader or an investor, for example. He has to make multiple decisions before putting his money into a stock. But he won’t buy just one stock; he’ll be making such decisions for years and decades. Instead of repeating the same exercise every single time, he builds a decision-making framework that helps him make better choices. He first identifies what a good choice looks like, clarifies the whys and hows, and then templatizes his decision-making so that he can apply it every time he invests.
The same applies elsewhere. A fiction writer won’t simply dive into writing a novel without first building characters, a world, motives, and a plot. If he wants to write several novels in his lifetime, he needs a framework to do this more efficiently. Typically, he begins with a rough outline, expands it into a chapter-wise structure, and only when satisfied with all the elements does he attempt the full manuscript.
I could go on with examples, but the key takeaway is this: templatize everything, except experiences, joy, and contentment. From making good coffee to managing people at work, learn to think in systems and build frameworks that make life easier. Every problem is an opportunity to ask yourself whether it can be systematized.
While it may sound boring to kill spontaneity, one could argue that it actually frees you to use your mental energy more creatively. Build. Think. Innovate. The idea is not to get bogged down by tasks that are repetitive in nature.