Once a year I undertake a strict review of my allocation of time in my consumption of media.
I am consistently surprised by how few topics I’ve really grappled with to fully understand, in contrast to how much time I’ve spent whittling away hours of attention on whatever is thrown onto my feeds.
Social media is designed to coerce focus away from otherwise important elements of life by grabbing our attention and allowing us to escape the present. This has its place. But when our focus is passively fed by a diet of personal media consumption it becomes absolutely necessary to audit and carefully choose what we’re consuming.
I’ve titled this essay The Edge of Discipline because that’s what disciplining one’s consumption does. It provides an edge in how, why, and what you think.
Personal conditioning
Mental models stack cumulatively; which is to say that it is truly difficult to break away from current thinking. If, for example, we grew up believing we were not good enough, it will be challenging to accept evidence that we are. Counterintuitively it is more comfortable for people to hold onto their negative thought patterns than to recondition their beliefs through new (positive) ones.
This is why Paul Saffo’s –
- “strong opinions, weakly held”
framework for thinking is so esteemed by founders and investors. It succinctly articulates the disciplined thinker’s panacea.
I have found that the most effective way of controlling mindset and shedding impoverished thinking is to replace causal input to such thinking. Instead of reading, listening and watching haphazardly, I work to find content that challenges my current beliefs, listen to broader perspectives than are obviously available and digest reflections at a slower pace than social media prompts me to.
Investors’ digest
We live in a time and place that makes this far easier than ever before. We are – with effort – able to curate our timelines, choose our playlists, follow our interests and learn for free. The benefits are obvious. The cost is discipline.
As an investor, applying disciplined thinking is so fundamental that it’s akin to a job description. It’s how startup gems are unearthed, how theses are developed, how divestments are concluded at the top of a cycle and how new technology is innovated into adoption.
None of this is possible whilst participating in the scroll-and-absorb culture prevalent today. Every post read and video watched provides you with subconscious context. Your choices, decisions and actions going forward reflect this – and drags you away from good intentions and the disciplined pursuit of importance that you started the year with the goal of chasing.
- Headlines speak of inflation and a lack of buying power?
- Don’t just scroll to the next pop up. Read about real wage growth, evaluate company capital efficiencies, project cash buffers and double-down on cash-generative projects.
My own rule of thumb is when I feel able to only give one-word answers to questions I have about something I’ve read, I need to stop. Mindless engagement is of profit and value to no-one.
- AI here to take jobs?
Ask which type of artificial intelligence. In which sector? For what role? Who trains, implements or deploys it? What could a gain in speed offset? Are we in a cycle of certainty or uncertainty? - FinTech continues to drive venture capital?
Ask whether or not you want to invest where money is already free-flowing. What do you have to believe in order for scale to drive real venture returns? Is venture capital the best vehicle for a start-up with multi-national investment strategy? At which stage? Are fundraisers embracing this as a marathon or a sprint?
The edge gained by disciplined, conscious consumption bears the benefit not only of clear thinking, but also improved ideation.
Fruits of labour
Pursuing diverse content with intent has made it easier to develop theses, and reinforces mental models of oneself that sustain self-actualisation. In other words, better curation of what you choose to be influenced by has powerful advantages.
Some learnings I took from between the lines of 2023’s major stories:
Small business development continues to be a driver of economic growth, but such businesses are underappreciated and undervalued due to their lack of ‘venture upside’. This is a major opportunity for investment and possibly even for asset management – as huge generational wealth must soon be transferred from Boomers to Gen X and Z who are less likely to choose to continue their family’s enterprise.
Franchise and licensing models will continue to expand because brands – generally – accrue value over time. This is being seeing in film, retail, food and even the eventing industry.
Companies worth investing in are those with or developing IP assets that can be leveraged in different languages, media and national recognitions.
Software to augment, not to replace. The very best niche ideas are worth more than the most complex software inventions, in part because their use-case is easier to articulate. Lots of my reading this year has been on mental health challenges (and academic regression) of younger generations, but the opportunity must surely then be to build software offering simplicity.
Cling on
Disciplined thinking is not all about saying ‘no’ to media hurtling towards you. It is equally important to know what to cling onto. Examples of personal mental conditioning that I hold dear – despite the tumult of third-party antagonists to such pragmatic stoicism – are:
- The happiest people know the past has no bearing on their present behaviour.
- No one else has the power to affect your self-worth – it is your own construct. People who are comfortable being disliked are unstoppable.
- Exercise tackles mental blocks as effectively as physical ones.
- Stress is not caused by external circumstances but internal interpretation. Remaining calm under pressure is a superpower.
- Play a little each day.
These have over the years provided a stronghold of resilience in the battlefield of entrepreneurship. I find them to be extremely powerful antidotes to the pressures of life, culture of consumerism and intolerance for difficulty and uniqueness.
I encourage you – and remind myself – to return to such principles annually. Disciplining one’s thinking and thereby controlling where thought and energy go into is a superpower of the 21st century.