Intensity Signals Poor Judgment

Shaan Puri believes that extreme work intensity and long hours are actually signs of weakness rather than strength. He's shifted from viewing all-nighters and sleeping in the office as badges of honor to recognizing them as indicators of poor systems, lack of leverage, and bad judgment about where to focus energy.

Key Points:

• The Procrastinator's Trap:

  • Used to pull all-nighters in college and wear it as a badge of honor
  • Built a terrible habit around intense bursts followed by crashes
  • Slept in the office 224 days out of a year at age 24—now sees this as "waving a flag saying I'm an idiot"
  • Was manically doing anything he could think of because he didn't know what actually mattered

• Tortoises Win Over Hares:

  • Consistent daily progress beats intense bursts of activity
  • The people who keep putting one foot in front of the other every single day are the ones who win
  • Sustainable effort over time produces better results than unsustainable intensity

• The One Big Thing Method:

  • Every morning, identify the single thing that matters most for that day
  • Dedicate two hours of focused work first thing—no distractions, no checking stocks, email, Twitter, or anything else
  • After completing that one thing, everything else is "gravy"
  • Can spend the rest of the day with kids, working out, or doing additional work without pressure

• The Power of Consistency:

  • Someone who identifies the proper single thing and focuses on it for 2-2.5 hours every day for 365 days will crush the average person
  • The average person doesn't even identify what the one big thing is
  • Do this for 365 days and "you have a hell of a year"

• Reframing Intensity:

  • When he now hears someone bragging about how hard they work or how crazy their hours are, he sees it as a sign of weakness
  • It signals they don't have systems, don't understand leverage, and don't have good judgment about where to put their energy
  • The ability to zoom out and identify what really matters is the true superpower