The 1-in-60 Rule, Happiness Equations, & More
The Friday Five: Episode LIX
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Today at a Glance:
Quote: The happiness butterfly.
Framework: 1-in-60 Rule.
Tweet: The death of detail.
Article: Happiness equations.
Podcast: Markets to predict the future.
One Quote:
“Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” - Nathanial Hawthorne
The Looking Paradox: Sometimes you have to stop looking in order to find what you're looking for.
One Framework:
The 1-in-60 Rule
The 1-in-60 Rule finds its roots in the world of aviation.
It says that a 1 degree error in heading will cause a plane to miss its target by 1 mile for every 60 miles flown.
Simply put, tiny deviations from the optimal course are amplified by distance and time. A small miss now creates a very large miss later.
Consider how this concept relates to your life and growth:
You’re in a starting position today. Let’s call this Point A. You have a desired target for the future—your long-term goal of where you want to end up. This is Point B. You set your course from Point A to Point B based on the current conditions.
You set your course based on the information at hand today. But what if the information or conditions change (as they inevitably will)?
Your course alignment will be off—maybe by 1 degree at first, maybe by 2 degrees or more. Over time, as the 1-in-60 rule tells us, this small deviation will push you hopelessly off course.
This framework instills the importance of real-time course corrections and adjustments as you pursue growth and progress toward your goals.
We need a simple ritual to check in on our course and make any necessary adjustments. Inspired by my friend Codie, I started doing a monthly check-in on the last Friday of each month.
In this check-in, I ask myself the following core questions:
What *really matters* right now in my life? Am I dedicating the necessary energy to it?
Are my current systems and habits aligned with my long-term goals? If not, what adjustments can be made to get into alignment?
What activities are draining my energy or causing me to lose focus?
What am I dreading or actively putting off completing?
Are there any toxic habits or relationships that I need to immediately eliminate from my life?
I write the answers in my physical notebook. The whole process takes ~30 minutes and provides an opportunity for reflection and real-time course correction. It has been an invaluable practice since I started doing it 24 months ago.
At the end of June, give this a shot—you won’t regret it!
One Tweet:
This was a really neat thread on the rise of minimalism and the death of detail.
While the thread focuses on minimalist design decisions, my mind immediately went to the human application of the ideas in it.
“Why does detail matter? Think of it as identity.”
It got me thinking: what are the minimalist design decisions you’ve been consciously or unconsciously making with respect to yourself?
What unique traits and differences have you scrubbed out of your life in pursuit of blending in—in pursuit of being normal?
In his final Amazon shareholder letter in early 2021, Jeff Bezos wrote the following:
“In what ways does the world pull at you in an attempt to make you normal? How much work does it take to maintain your distinctiveness?...You have to pay a price for your distinctiveness...don’t expect it to be easy or free.”
It’s time we all fight back against normalcy—it’s time to let our individual, wonderful details show through.
One Article:
The 3 Equations for a Happy Life
This article was written at the very beginning of the pandemic in 2020, but its lessons are truly evergreen.
The article presents three equations for happiness:
Subjective Well-being = Genes + Circumstances + Habits: The summarizing equation suggests happiness (called “subjective well-being” here) is a combination of genetic baseline (scientifically proven at this point), circumstances that occur in your life, and controllable habits (general controllable lifestyle factors expanded upon below).
Habits = Faith + Family + Friends + Work: The controllable portion of the happiness equation. Faith isn’t necessarily about religion—it refers to a broader ability to think about life beyond yourself. Family and friends refer to deep, meaningful relationships. Work refers to finding productive activities that provide contentment or allow you to experience your life more comprehensively in the other areas.
Satisfaction = What you have ÷ What you want: The natural human tendency is to focus on the numerator in this equation—to continuously increase what we have in order to increase satisfaction. The secret is to focus on the denominator instead—to manage and maintain reasonable wants.
As someone who thinks a lot about happiness and fulfillment—especially recently with the birth of my son—this article really hit home for me.
I’d encourage you to think on the three equations and what changes to your habits or thought patterns might be required to increase your daily happiness.
One Podcast:
Why Billionaire Charles Schwab Invested in Kalshi
I love the We Study Billionaires podcast—so when I saw that they had recorded an episode with one of my favorite startup founders, I knew I was in for a treat.
In 2021, I invested in Kalshi because I saw two things:
Potentially Transformative Idea: The ability to trade directly on the outcome of events. This was previously something that was only possible for the richest people in the world—and only through the bespoke creation of complex derivatives products. Kalshi was making this simple and openly accessible to everyone. Imagine having a truly direct hedge against a recession or inflation for your portfolio—pretty amazing.
World-Changing Team: Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara are two wunderkinds who met at MIT and joined forces to build the platform. It’s rare to meet a more driven, charismatic, and mission-oriented duo.
The platform and ecosystem has developed at a rapid pace since I invested. This episode gives a great breakdown of the mechanics of the markets, how people are using them, and why they are going to be important in the future.
By the way, if you’ve been trying to understand the Fed rate moves and their impact on markets, this Fed Rate Dashboard is the best place to follow along.
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Where It Happens Podcast
How to Build a Brand of the Future
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Loved this! Introspection is crucial as heck
Thanks for sharing your insights on the 1-in-60 rule and its importance in making real-time course corrections. I also appreciate your emphasis on the individual details that make us unique and the three equations for happiness.
As someone who values personal growth, do you have any additional tips for maintaining a growth mindset and staying motivated to achieve long-term goals?