I’ve learned a lot of stuff in my life—from the principles of neurosurgery to the intricacies of cryptocurrency.
Some of this stuff is pretty complicated…at first. But, I’m going to let you in on a little secret if you don’t know it already.
Just about everything that appears complex at first can be broken down into simple components.
If I have any God-given gift, it is the ability to simplify. And thank God for that because I’m not smart enough to understand anything that is truly complex.
Any time I try to learn something new, I just try to break it down into simple little pieces. Eventually I get it. That is my framework for learning.
I like frameworks. Creating frameworks helps me simplify everything. Otherwise, I would be overwhelmed with the decisions that come up in life all the time.
Let me give you a couple of examples of frameworks that I use that help me from losing my sanity.
The first one is make tomorrow’s decisions today. That’s why I moved to Santa Barbara. We had a gorgeous home in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago and great friends. Why move?
Well, I noticed half the houses on my street were empty in the winter. All the retirees were in Florida. Would that be me in 25 years? With the kids out of the house in other states and subzero temperatures, would I want to live in Chicago anymore?
The answer was no. Instead, I decided that if I just moved to where I might want to retire someday today with my young family, my wife and I wouldn’t have to move and make new friends in our 70s. And…even better, the kids might want to come home and visit us!
Another framework that I use to guide my life is the deathbed framework. This one is particularly useful.
Let me give you an example of how it works.
A couple weeks ago, I got an email from a college student who wanted to talk to me about whether or not he should go to medical school. I get this one a lot and I have a standard answer that seems to be pretty useful.
I ask, “If you don’t go to medical school, will you regret it on your deathbed?” After all, that’s really the only reason to become a doctor these days. It sure ain’t the money!
I have, in hindsight, asked myself the same question. That is, if I knew then what I know now, would I still have gone to medical school.
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Published on 7 years, 3 months ago
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