Sahil Bloom has collected 10 Life Razors to guide your decision making. Razors are simple tools that can produce bold results:
Smart choices start with simple rules (razors).
Here are 10 of the most powerful I’ve found:
- The Luck Razor: When choosing between two paths, choose the path that has a larger luck surface area. Your actions put you in a position where luck is more likely to strike.
- The Feynman Razor: Complexity and jargon are used to mask a lack of deep understanding. If you can’t explain it to a 5-year-old, you don’t really understand it. If someone uses a lot of complexity and jargon to explain something, they probably don’t understand it.
- The Optimist Razor: When choosing who to spend time with, prioritize spending more time with optimists. Pessimists see closed doors. Optimists see open doors—and probably kick down the closed doors along the way.
- The Young & Old Test: Make decisions that your 80-year old self and 10-year-old self would be proud of. Your 80-year-old self cares about the long-term compounding of the decisions of today. Your 10-year-old self reminds you to stay foolish and have some fun along the way.
- The Rooms Razor: If you have a choice between entering two rooms, choose the room where you’re more likely to be the dumbest one in the room. Once you’re in the room, talk less and listen more. Bad for your ego—great for your growth.
- Occam’s Razor: When you’re weighing alternative explanations for something, the one with the fewest necessary assumptions should be chosen. Put simply, the simplest explanation is often the best one. Simple Assumptions > Complex Assumptions.
- The Arena Razor: When faced with two paths, choose the path that puts you in the arena. It’s easy to throw rocks from the sidelines. It’s scary and lonely in the arena—but it’s where growth happens. Once you’re in the arena, never take advice from people on the sidelines.
- Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. In assessing someone’s actions, we shouldn’t assume negative intent if there’s a viable alternative explanation—different beliefs, lack of intelligence, incompetence, or ignorance.
- The Lion Razor: If you have the choice, always choose to sprint and then rest. Most people are not wired to work 9-5—long periods of steady, monotonous work. If your goal is to do inspired, creative work, you have to work like a lion. Sprint when inspired. Rest. Repeat.
- The Gratitude Razor: When in doubt, choose to show MORE gratitude to the people who have mentored or supported you. Say thank you more. Tell someone you appreciate them. Not just on special occasions—every single day.
The quality of your life is a reflection of the quality of your decisions. Better decisions require better tools.
Start using these razors and your life will start to improve.
Sahil Bloom is an investor and entrepreneur, and the New York Times Bestselling author of The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life. © Sahil Bloom.
Darrick Dean 