What kind of investor are you?

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Brian Kight

Everyone is free to decide where to invest their ATE (Attention, Time, and Energy). There are no rules that state what you must or must not do, what you are or aren't allowed to do. Your attention, time, and energy are your personal resources.

If people have opinions on how you should invest ATE, let them invest their attention, time, and energy according to their opinion and priorities. You invest according to your opinions and priorities.

Just do it with clear and intense self-awareness.

It's not uncommon for people to invest incredible amounts of ATE into things that (1) don't deliver a valuable return or (2) make things worse.

For example, people expend valuable ATE on how other drivers operate their vehicles. Obviously, there is no potential for a positive return on this investment. You're free to do it, but at least have the self-awareness to acknowledge that it's the equivalent of lighting money on fire.

Another place people invest ATE is into BCD: blaming, complaining, and defensiveness (I'm trying not to flood this note with acronyms, I promise). BCD consumes an extraordinary amount of attention, time, and energy, not only for the people who do it but also those who have to listen to it, deal with it, and work through it.

When people BCD, they rarely reflect on whether it was a good use of resources that created value. If they did check, they would clearly see that it prevented value and likely created further issues.

Attention, time, and energy put into one thing is attention, time, and energy taken away from something else. So if you give ATE to low-value preferences, what high-value priorities aren't getting enough ATE from you?

The time is now. Do the work.

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