Focus, more or less?
"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." –Bruce Lee
Focus isn’t about being superhuman. It’s about intention. Let me show you how.
In this one:
Constraints
Frameworks
Razors
STORY
Selective focus: Where less is more
“In investing, as in life, success rarely comes from aimless action. Instead, it stems from having a plan rooted in a well-defined foundation.” –Investing for Life pt. 2
“Focus” is one of the most common one-word pieces of advice we hear whenever we’re going after anything challenging and meaningful. But it often lands vaguely, like the answer to a question we aren’t sure how to ask.
In investing, money appears to be the problem we seek to solve. More of it, and preferably quicker than our minds tell us is reasonable. And so, many people outsource the solution to others.
But there’s a catch:
Unless you’re confident that financial institutions & advisors care about your life goals more than you do, you must do everything in your power to own your goals.
So, what do you do?
Living is already a full-time job. Most people don’t have spare mental bandwidth to decode complex investing options. But you can borrow clarity from those who’ve thought deeply about the problem.
Let’s consult one of the greatest investors of all time.
Warren Buffett’s “20-slot punch card” is a mental model for focused investing. He once said:
“I could improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had 20 punches—representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime. And once you’d punched through the card, you couldn’t make any more investments at all.”
Why does this work? Because constraints force clarity.
He goes on to say:
“Under those rules, you’d really think carefully about what you did and you’d be forced to load up on what you’d really thought about. So you’d do so much better.”
With this idea, Warren is doing three things:
He introduces limits: fewer choices, more thought
He encourages depth over breadth: “load up” when you find something worthwhile
He reinforces the importance of long-term conviction
According to Warren, you don’t need a perfect 20/20 score (or foresight) in order to ‘win’. You just need a few big swings – investments you understand, believe in, and are willing to hold for your horizon.
One reason many non-professional investors struggle is “not knowing what to put their money into” so they’re often swayed by trends. But the real shift comes from long-term thinking.
Investing can feel overwhelming. I’ve seen this repeatedly over the years. But some of that overwhelm comes from misplaced expectations. We expect quick results. We think more activity means more returns.
In truth, you don’t need to do many things. Just a few things very well. The key is knowing what to focus on.
“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” –Winston Churchill
EXPLAINER
Tools of the trade: Investing frameworks
Successful investors don’t rely on vibes. They use frameworks.
Frameworks are mental models, decision processes, or strategic approaches that help investors decide what to invest in, when, and why.
Frameworks help you focus.
Early this year I introduced a foundational approach that anyone can build on i.e. Investment Philosophy.
An investment philosophy is a set of personal beliefs and principles that guide how you invest. It takes into account key personal viewpoints (on risk, time horizons, beliefs about markets) as high level variables, and builds guardrails around them. The result? You’re more consistent, more intentional, and less reactionary.
Some philosophy-driven frameworks include styles like:
Value investing – seeking undervalued assets
Growth investing – betting on long term expansion opportunities
Income investing – prioritizing reliable cash flows
Some people find this approach too abstract at first. Others find it transformative as the clarity it provides bleeds into how they approach other decisions in life too, like career or business.
It’s not the only path.
You could go on investing as you always have if you're content with the results. But even then, you could be leaving more to chance than you realize. In which case you may be unknowingly maintaining the gap between you & your goals.
You don’t have to swear by a single specific system. But when you understand a few investing frameworks, you will realize how much more you can get from the same portfolio.
Here are 3 more approachable frameworks worth knowing:
Lifecycle Investing matches your investment choices with your stage in life. Younger investors take more risk for growth (e.g. stocks), while older investors shift toward safer, income-generating assets (e.g. bonds) as they near retirement.
3 Bucket Strategy segments your investments into three “buckets” based on time horizon: short-term needs (cash and low-risk assets), medium-term goals (balanced portfolio), and long-term growth (stocks and other higher-risk assets).
Core-Satellite Investing balances stability and agility. The “core” is a diversified, long-term portfolio (e.g. using index funds), while the “satellites” are smaller, more active or thematic bets aimed at boosting returns.
There are many more and writing about them all here would be overkill (and maybe too much to focus on). The goal of frameworks isn’t to box you in but help you direct your attention to fewer things, allowing you to do more.
Frameworks help you navigate uncertainty with more clarity. They make it easier to hold your convictions and understand your wins and your losses. They’re also scalable. As your knowledge grows, you refine them. And that means your outcomes improve too.
‘Winging it’ is not a framework. And especially not if what you’re working towards truly matters.
Remember, knowledge also compounds over time, much like interest. Investing frameworks are one of the best ways to turn knowledge into momentum.
NOTES
Are you doing enough?
Pause for a moment and imagine in great detail:
If everything you’re currently working towards worked out, what would that reality look like?
Not just the surface-level wins. The full picture.
Now, here’s a razor:
If the best-case outcome of your current efforts doesn’t excite or intimidate you, you’re either aiming at the wrong target or aiming too low. Shift your goal, or raise your ceiling.
Like all good razors, it helps me cut through the noise & make decisions faster.
I use this to decide what to work on in a given season. Not just in terms of outcome, but in terms of how closely it aligns with my “big goal" or grand vision.
A razor is a rule of thumb or mental shortcut that eliminates unnecessary options or complexity. Think of it as a filter. It doesn’t always give you the final answer, but it helps you…focus.
Razors aren’t the same as frameworks, but they serve a similar purpose. They reduce the effort required to act with intention.
It’s a common belief that having many serious pursuits means you’re “doing too much.” That it shows a lack of clarity.
But what if those seemingly unrelated pursuits are actually different expressions of the same vision? From the outside, they may appear disconnected. But the connection is yours to make.
If each effort ultimately feeds your one big goal – your personal interpretation of “a good life” – then every step, even in a different direction, can still be progress.
Taking on multiple pursuits doesn’t mean spreading yourself thin. It can build capacity, deepen perspective, and prevent wasted time especially when urgency toward your goals is real.
It can also make you better.
It does introduce risk. And risk can be scary.
Fear of the unknown often keeps us stuck in the familiar. On the path that “worked.”
We leave slots in our life’s punch card unpunched not for lack of desire, but because of fear. And we never find out what could have been.
So, are you doing enough?
Effort is relative. “Too much” or “too little” depends entirely on the vision you’re working toward.
When you zoom out, how many of your slots have you truly used on your punch card?
You can focus on multiple things as long as you’re honest with yourself about how they connect to your big goal(s).
Remember, your life is your longest investment.
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” –Albert Einstein
Focus…on what’s important
You won’t know what could have been unless you try.
The things that look like distractions from the outside may be just what you need to grow.
Some of the best things in life only reveal their value after you go all in.
Focus on the things that matter to you.
Have the best week possible.
AG
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