16 Hours, 16 Bets: Optimal Decision-Making

If you want to 10x your impact, it starts with your decisions.

Want to listen to this week’s edition of Ultra Successful? Click here or scroll to the bottom of the post to tune in.

---

Every day you are placing a series of bets. If you slept for eight hours, you have 16 hours left. That’s all the time you have to get everything done—from hygiene to fitness, to commuting, to fueling, to signing the biggest deals or contracts of your career. 

16 chips. That’s all you’ve got in your pocket as you kick off each morning.

The hours pass, and—as each one does—you’re tossing a chip in its direction. You only have 16 to bet with each day, so it’s important to make them count. 

Most people allow the world to make far too many decisions for them, but—if you want to be successful—it’s not just critical to reduce decisions, it’s essential to make many of them in advance. One CEO I was coaching had a great way to phrase this, and it stuck with me. “I can’t pay attention to every opportunity or every thought in my head. I have to make choices that will get me to the end goal,” she said. “That’s my filter—if it doesn’t, I’m out.” 

Even in a current environment that struggles with funding, she has people banging down her door to invest—and her company is well ahead of where anyone anticipated it would be. Great runway, great product, great team. She created a filter for making decisions, one she sticks to ruthlessly, and it pays off. 

It’s time to look at your own method for making decisions. This edition is brass tacks, and it will give you the tools to think more intentionally about your path ahead. 

Buckle in, be prepared to make some calls of your own, and let’s talk about how to develop filters that can 10x the bets you’re already making every day.