Play long-term games, with long-term people

All returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.

Most people inlcuding myself, only consider compound interest in terms of finance. I had never thought it could be applied to other areas. We are often told of the benefits of consistency which is essentially compounding. After reading this sections I have been trying to identify areas in my life to apply it to.

The first thing I changed was to stop trying to do marathon 2/3 hour python lessons, some days I would make it, other days I would not. I have now moved to doing just two 25 minute pomodoro sessions each day and I haven’t missed a day in weeks.

When you find the right thing to do, when you find the right people to work with, invest deeply. Sticking with it for decades is really how you make the big returns in your relationships and in your money.

Sharks eat well but live a life surrounded by sharks.

For someone who is early in their career (and maybe even later), the single most important thing about a company is the alumni network you’re going to build. Think about who you will work with and what those people are going on to do.

When I worked in pharmacy I was surrounded by two sets of people, those who loved the job and had a lot of respect for the rules and the profession and those that were there just to pay the bills having been dishearted and disillusioned with the profession. There certainly were some people that you could play long-term games with however there was little or no iteration. The job, teams and rules rarely changed decade to decade.

Partner with people of high intelligence, engery and most importanly integrity. Otherwise they are just smart crooks.

Pharmacy – High intelligence, high integrity, low energy

That is one of the reasons I have opted for moving to startups were iteration happens fast and often. Now it is just up to me to partner with the right people and go all in.