The essence of who I am as a person and what I do for a living lies in relationship building.
Lately, I have realized the enormous potential of playing the long game in relationships. There is a simple question I now ask for every new person I meet: would I want them at my funeral?
Thinking this way modified my behavior, and provided a straightforward, albeit robust framework for decision making when it comes to networking. Go deep with few people rather than connecting with plenty of folks with little sagacity.
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."
— Ernest Hemingway
You don’t need formal training to be responsive, meet deadlines, and to show up on time. Pick the right people you want to go deep with and offer them value without expecting anything in return.
Be relentless. Add so much value that they don’t have another choice but to want you in their lives.
Stop spending time on social media doing small interactions with thousands of people. Go deep. Win.
ps — thanks to Jess Lee for the funeral metaphor.
Professional investors get paid to think. Keeping your cool when things are chaotic is paramount for high-quality returns.
This is a post inspired by a Tim O’Reilly talk at Stanford. With him, I learned that life is all about “adding more value than what you can capture”.
Beauty and peace are always available. Take the time to observe the atomic miracle of life and understand the absolute insignificance of our mental obsessions.
