The Minimalist Guide to Decision Making
10 lessons from reading over 100 books.
In 2018, I dropped out of college as a finalist after 3 years of reading over 100 books on business, leadership, marketing, and personal development.
Thereafter, I proceed to build two companies and authored two books. One of the companies is a digital agency that has on its payroll over 70 staff. The latter, KitCart, is an e-commerce platform provider (like Shopify) for small and medium scale businesses in Africa with over 1000 active store owners.
On this journey of learning, exploring, and grinding, I have curated ten markers that work together as a compass to navigate tough times. They serve as an introspection tool for me to assess and evaluate critical decisions.
Here they are:
PURPOSE
Finding purpose is not as hard as most books portrayed. It is a moment of retrospect. It is the clarity of why.
It is coming into acceptance with the core motives behind your mission. It is not the flimsy fancy reason that pops into your mind on the spot. It is that very last ego-driven, it doesn’t have to be so moral as many books painted, reasons you really want to put everything on the line.
Purpose is the true narration behind every action. Your one true WHY.
Everything else makes sense or lose sense when you are crystal clear on why you want what you want.
When I suddenly became clear on why I started out college and that the purpose thereof does not hold anymore. Staying in school stopped making sense to me.
Ask yourself, why should you continue reading this article? (Just kidding.)
PURSUIT
What is the essence of purpose without pursuit?
If purpose is a question of why do you ever want that. Pursuit is the clarity of what is it you truly want.
It is coming to a definitive stand on the gain of the endeavor. The exact tangible rewards you gun after.
If your purpose is a secure comfortable ride, your pursuit might be a Tesla Model S.
My purpose was to help my family financially. The pursuit was a four-year degree in Political Science to qualify for a job.
PASSION
We all need energy, some form of nitro to ride the road. As the food is the fuel for the body, passion is fuel for the soul.
Contrary to popular opinion, passion is not the driving force, purpose is. However, passion is the fuel.
Without passion, we stop.
It becomes way hard to get up from the bed. We will rather prefer to be lazy around the house and stay in robes all day long crushing candies.
Do you have the passion to continue reading this article?
PEOPLE
Tell me what is attainable without people. People are the connecting force.
People connect us to knowledge, resources, and people. Mentors are as important as peers. Mentors show the way and kick our butts to work. Peers are thorns in the ass, they keep us on the race in a healthy tussle.
It is also important you have pupils whom your life lessons are valuable pieces for their journey. They give credence to your struggles and through their eyes fulfillment spring forth.
The competition is made of people. Customers are people. Employees are people. Legislators are people. As well as vendors, advertisers, and agents.
In all equations, solve for people.
PLATFORM
Upon this rock, you are built.
Platforms make us. From a macro view, the internet as a platform gave room to the emergence of hundreds of tech giants leading today’s marketplace.
Nobody starts from scratch, albeit some platforms are more sophisticated than others. No doubt, it is easier to build a startup in Silicon Valley than any other valley around the globe.
Platform exists in different forms and serves varying purposes. Get plugged to the essential ones that serve your purpose.
What platforms does your purpose require?
PROCESS
To be a software developer, what are the series of actions or steps to be taken — understand how computer works, pick a field of interest (i.e. machine learning, web development, mobile, IoT, etc), learn the languages for the field, code up solutions and monetize. That’s the process.
For many, we simply skip the process and kickstart practice. Then, we lose track. Not knowing that a process beats focusing on an outcome.
The process provides the pathway to mastery, the essentials, the must-do, and everything in-between that demand cognizance and need to be prepared for.
What is the process to attain the purpose?
PRACTICE
A software developer needs the knowledge of programming languages and, more importantly, he is required to apply such an understanding in codifying and solving problems in the most efficient way.
What about the actual act of scheming, architectural designing, coding, and fixing obstinate bugs, that’s the space for practice.
Get on the job. Pick a book, try out the lessons on Youtube. Join a coding challenge.
For a writer, writing your first 500 words article, editing some wikis, partaking in writing contests.
Write an article and submit it for possible rejections.
What practice will help me attain the mastery required?
PERSEVERANCE
Practice is not enough. Practice without perseverance is tantamount to mediocrity.
Expect Better Advice to reject your article, but be willing to learn, write more, and submit often. Push yourself beyond yesterday.
“Success is not owned, it is rented — and that rent is due everyday.” ― Rory Vaden
Greatness is not a one time hit and run. There are no lucky breaks and overnight success. Sustained success is a daily push and scuffle.
Where do I need to persevere in this pursuit?
PERFORMANCE
Measure what matters. Do you measure by analogies or by numbers?
Most lives are messed up largely due to improper accounting. Essentially, what you don’t keep track you lose track.
To some, the one and only metric is money. Many others don’t even have a radar whatsoever.
For the singular money markers, their account balances control their happiness and all sense of fulfillment tied to how fat the bank balance is. This approach is too microscopic for a proper measure of life.
Human nature is never a one-way road. Find other key performance indicators to highlight the progress and regress thereof.
What are appropriate KPIs that signify progress or regress, thereof?
PROFIT
We can only measure backward against the grounds covered not forward against the infinity of days ahead.
Most people do not consider their lives as profitable or amounting to anything important simply because their gaze on the future is so still they fail to see a reason for gratitude.
The billionaire dreams we conjure and held high above all else do not allow us to appreciate the millionaire status we have attained.
What is my profit so far on this journey?
Final Thoughts
Thinking through tough decisions is frequent for entrepreneurs and every go-getter.
The world is not linear on this side of the world. In fact, it’s a world without maps. The best tools within our reach are abstractions and frameworks to guide our decision-making process.
With this framework, however, my decision-making skill has greatly improved. My intent for putting this out is to serve as a resource for anyone who could find it useful.
