Principles of CZ
1 General principles
1.1 Fairness
This is a broad principle that covers many aspects of life, including personal relationships, relationships with colleagues, and business transactions. I believe in treating people fairly. Don't take advantage of others, and don't let others take advantage of you. If you can't grasp this balance, you won't achieve much in your life. However, many things are easier said than done. Everyone is subjective and slightly biased. We need to resist this idea and remain as objective as possible.
1.2 Establish long-term, win-win relationships or transactions
The use of these words has become so widespread that they don't have a very good reputation, but I strongly believe in the meaning of these words. Success is built on the long term, and to maintain a healthy long-term relationship, you must build and engage in long-term, win-win relationships. For a deal to be reasonable, it must benefit both parties. So, be sure to ask what the other person is getting in return.
Deals that only benefit one party will not last because you are constantly looking for new (weaker) partners. The final ROI will be negative. The short-term returns are minimal, so I don't believe in earning short-term returns. Because short-term returns often have long-term negative effects, they distract you from focusing on long-term returns, and the hidden opportunity costs are extremely high.
Therefore, we must focus on long-term returns and achieve greater success.
You can try playing an infinite game
When I say "short-term returns" here, I mean one-time short-term returns. Not to be confused with incremental returns built on larger long-term goals, as the latter is very necessary.
1.3 Avoid “bad” relationships
Some people are unethical, some are “amoral/toxic”; some don’t share your values or mission; and some are a waste of your time. Let these people go, get them out of your life, but we tend to miss the last category of people who waste our time.
Some people are "high maintenance," like "high-maintenance friends." They always need your attention, worry about little things, need to talk to you, or need you to keep repeating to them how important/good/etc they are. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but I (CZ) can't stand it. I only want to deal with people who are low maintenance and confident.
And those who “love to chat.” I repeat, there is nothing wrong with this in itself. But at this stage of my life, I don’t have time for small talk. So, I would avoid these types of people as well. More on this later.
1.4 Ethical
Never cross moral boundaries, otherwise you will get backlash one day.
When dealing with users, always do the right thing, not the easiest thing.
1.5 Focus
Success is not about how many things you do, but how well you do a few things. Focus allows you to work hard and eliminate distractions from your life.
For me, I don’t have many hobbies. I exercise for 30 minutes every day. I don’t have many physical possessions that I need to maintain because time is very expensive.
However, the potential risk of doing this is focusing so narrowly that you miss some opportunities. But in today’s world of information overload, that rarely happens.
1.6 Be positive
We all face many challenges in life, whether it's dealing with relationships with family and friends or problems at work. If you have a positive attitude, it will often produce positive results. I'm not sure exactly why this happens, but it's just the way the world works.
There is a saying that has stuck in my mind and has helped me tremendously over the years.
"What do you do when you hit rock bottom? As long as you keep going, you'll get out."
And if you know you’re doing something ethical, all the negatives go away. You will have positive energy, which is one of the main benefits of being ethical.
1.7 Be serious and responsible
The right mentality is a prerequisite for success in life. Be responsible and take pride in what you do.
Don't think of yourself as just doing a task, don't think of yourself as just laying bricks on a wall, think of yourself as a cathedral builder. If you don't think you're "building a cathedral," then this job isn't for you and you should look for a different job.
If you want to do something, you should do it seriously and responsibly. Think about what else you need to do to get better at what others are not telling you. You must be responsible for the results, and you must also be responsible for all results, whether it is success or failure. If you adopt this mindset, your work results will continually improve and you'll make faster progress on your path to success.
1.8 Continuous learning
The world we live in is constantly evolving and changing. We must continue to learn, read books, live in different cities, and have a world view.
I generally don't watch the news. I find it easy to agree with articles that only take 10 minutes to read, but they often don’t go far enough and don’t leave an impression after reading them.
But when I read books, they usually go into great detail, such as going into detail about the reasons behind something, and after 8 hours of reading, some new concepts are stuck in my mind. I've found that reading books has the best return on investment when it comes to self-improvement. I buy a lot of books, about 300 a year, but I don’t read them all. I read about 80 books a year.
I also try to write something every day, either a blog post or an article (like this one). Writing helps me solidify my ideas and organize them better.
2. Understand the world
If one wants to achieve any level of success, it's obviously important to understand how the world works.
To understand how humans work, read the book Sapiens. We live in a human world. Everyone has a different version of the world in their mind, that is, everyone lives in a different world. We need to understand the world in which they live.
Don't hold too many black and white views. This world is not a binary world of black and white. Many people have a simplistic view of the world, which makes it difficult for them to achieve greater results. We need to look at things from a deeper perspective. In real life, most things are balanced.
For example, some people naively believe that all rules are good, but rules are made by humans and are not perfect. Please read: "The Law" (1850), "Economics in One Lesson" and other works.
We also need to understand that this world has some limitations and we do not live in a perfect world.
Don't fight a war you can't win, but avoid it, go somewhere else, do something else. There are many things to do in this world. Focus on things where you can make a positive contribution.
3. Decision-making framework
Making good decisions is a skill that can be mastered with practice. Whether it's a quick decision or a carefully thought-out decision, I go through this mental decision-making framework.
3.1 First Principles
If the decision touches on one of the core principles, then follow those principles. This is easy to understand. Otherwise, decisions are made through a decision framework.
3.2 Small decisions and major decisions
The first thing to determine is the scale or impact of the decision.
If it's a small decision, make it quickly or delegate it to someone else and move on, like where to eat, or a small investment.
If it is a major decision, collect data and discuss it in the group first, and then consider it for 24 hours, such as large-scale sponsorship, investment, etc.
3.3 Reversible and permanent decisions
Some decisions are reversible, such as developing new product features. You can stop at any time to do something else, or close it when you're done. There will be some sunk cost in time and effort, but this is limited.
But some decisions are not easily reversed, such as a large advance on a sponsorship deal, acquiring a large company that we plan to integrate with our team, etc.
3.4 Do I have professional knowledge?
If it's something I'm very familiar with or have some background information, such as technology or product, then I can make decisions faster. In areas I’m less familiar with, like marketing, I either delegate or involve other experts or make decisions more carefully.
3.5 Sufficient information
The final question to ask is whether I/we have sufficient information. For small decisions, I don't need a lot of information; but for big decisions, we should get the necessary information as much as possible. But often in the end, we will have to make decisions with limited information.
Finally: It is often better to make a decision first and then execute it than to make no decision at all.
4. Team and organization
4.1 The team is greater than the self
In an underperforming team, no matter how good an individual performs, it will rarely bring satisfactory results to the individual, and vice versa. But if a team performs well, every member, including those who are struggling, is likely to fare well.
The team should usually come first, which is also the best long-term individual outcome for everyone on the team. In the short term, you may have to "sacrifice for the team" on various occasions, but in the long term, you will ultimately win.
4.2 Frequently adjust the team
Rather than letting the organization become stale, provide more opportunities for new leaders to gain experience. Quickly solves the "people sitting in the wrong seat" problem (although it may also increase this problem)
The team structure determines the system architecture. Read the book Team Topology. We don't want our architecture to become stale and we need to change the team structure frequently.
4.3 Internal competition is good
We will always face all kinds of (external) competition, and it is good to have some internal competition, as long as we behave professionally.
4.4 Controlled chaos is also a structural type
This explanation seems a bit counterintuitive. Let’s look at the two extremes of chaos and structure. It’s easy to understand that complete chaos is bad.
Many people tend to believe that the more structured an organization is, the better it is. I don't agree with this view. Of course, a clear structure has many benefits, including clear division of authority and responsibility, reducing overlap or wasted effort, etc. Generally, it improves the efficiency of an organization. But what most people don’t think about is that it often only makes an organization more efficient at doing one thing. (In fact, the word "organization" means the structure and optimization of a thing.) The most extreme form of over-organization is bureaucracy. As we grow, we need to constantly remind ourselves not to get to that point.
When the world changes, a well-structured organization will have to work harder to adapt. The world is changing rapidly, especially in a young industry like ours. In tightly structured organizations, there is less organic innovation and there is less internal competition (or pressure to continuously improve). At a certain scale, top-down decision-making becomes less effective.
However, this is not to say that "chaos" is better. There is a balance somewhere between "chaos" and "structure." We live and work in a changing world and a new industry. Our industry has redefined many traditional concepts, such as headquarters, company, team, and even money. Given that we are working remotely across the globe, many traditional structures will not be suitable for us.
At the same time, we do need strong controls in many areas. We need to handle user funds and must resolutely implement the principles of security, compliance, ethics and neutrality. We operate in a regulated environment and compliance is of the utmost importance. A controlled chaos environment requires the best people, responsible people. How to find this balance is an ongoing challenge for ourselves. The point is, sometimes confusion is a feature.
4.5 Frequent local team building
Our goal is to hold team building once a month, but in practice, due to scheduling and other reasons, it is usually held every two months.
There's no better team-building activity than eating together. Bringing everyone together for a meal is both simple and effective.
Team building can occur locally and across teams. I'm usually against flying for team building because it's too expensive and time-consuming. I don’t want to create the impression that we’re just letting people fly and go on “vacation.” For smaller teams that are truly dispersed, it may also be OK as an exception to do team building every 18 months, ideally also leveraging some existing travel or events.
4.6 Provide feedback
Whenever and wherever ideas are presented, whether in one-on-one discussions or in large groups, I provide direct feedback. Learn this from Netflix’s book (Rules of No Rules). I actually prefer giving feedback in a large group so that others can learn and I don't have to repeat myself multiple times.
Many people have told me that they were shocked the first few times they received this feedback, but eventually got used to it.
I want to build a culture of candid feedback at Binance. I feel like 99% of people don’t give enough feedback to other people. Working remotely, we can’t get body language feedback in offline meetings. We must compensate for this by providing direct and candid feedback.
Bridgewater (Ray Dalio) has a DOT feedback system that I really like. We will look for ways to adopt this system in the future.
4.7 Don’t give too many verbal compliments
If you do something well, you may hear "well done, well done, etc." from others. But you may not hear so many compliments from me. Conversely, when you don't do well, if I see it, you're likely to hear advice.
My reasons are:
1. We hold ourselves to high standards, we expect excellence, and achieving good results should be the norm. If we make a fuss over every "little" achievement, it feels like we're setting a very low bar. This is not what we want to do.
2. I don’t see all teams succeeding when working remotely. I can't possibly cover everything. If I congratulate some people but not others, it creates a psychological imbalance or a feeling of favoritism. This question isn't meant to be critical, I'll give constructive feedback directly on what I see so others don't complain about favoritism.
3. Contentment should come from within. When I do something well, the reward in my heart is enough.
4. Time efficiency is not high. Once something is done well, we should focus on the next thing.
I'm not saying this is a good approach, it's just how I do it. In fact, I think "carrot" plus "stick" might be a better approach, but I haven't figured out how to do it effectively in a balanced way.
Different cultures also create different expectations. The book "Cultural Maps" explains this very well. Americans generally have more of a "praise" culture, while Asians have more of a "stick" culture.
A more effective approach would be to adjust their compensation during the next review cycle. So I do give them the "carrot", just not verbally.
4.8 Reporting and Lies
Reporting is part of normal business, but there is a right and wrong way to do it.
The rumor is that when you complain to me one-on-one about someone else, you don’t tell the other person. Rumors are scary, but I don’t deal with them, I just ignore them. In fact, when you spread rumors about me, I will only have a negative impression of you (not them).
A report involving a third party is when you book a three-way meeting with CZ, yourself, and the person you want to complain about. This way, I can hear both sides at once.
More importantly, it forces you to have an honest conversation with the person before you talk to me.
I only need one meeting to handle reporting issues involving a third person. In contrast, if I'm dealing with a rumor, I need to have multiple one-on-one conversations. You guys know how I feel about time (more on that later).
Therefore, use an open method for reporting involving a third party, rather than rumors. Although this approach is tough, being able to express why you are dissatisfied with someone or something in a professional manner is one of the key skills for success. Don’t be too soft, but don’t be too tough either, finding the right balance is key.
4.9 Last place eliminated
I believe in the "last out" principle. I've seen many arguments against ranking employees, not creating internal competition, etc. While these arguments have merit, I don't think they strike the best balance.
In my experience, high performers love working with high performers. When a team of high performers work well together, the work itself becomes addictive. When you have a poor performer on your team, everything is ruined. The worst performers should be eliminated.
I also believe in the “Team Not Family” principle described in the book No Rules. Although it may not sound nice, there is a difference between an organization and a family. While we care about each other, we don't keep poor performers around because it would be irresponsible to the rest of the team.
5. Recruitment
Always hire the best people. You need to be part of a strong team to be successful, whether you're recruiting subordinates, recruiting peers, or recruiting superiors. Recruiting your own boss is one of the best ways to advance professionally and shows that you are at a high level of maturity.
One of the most important factors I focus on. We need to work remotely. We cannot (and should not) micromanage. Those who don’t will slack off and be eliminated. We are recruiting people to build cathedrals.
5.2 Hire “ambitious” people
Hire people who can grow into the role, not people who have “been there, done that.” While previous experience is certainly helpful in many situations and is a prerequisite for certain roles, such as compliance work, the latter can get boring. This also often creates a "fixed" mindset, as people tend to be overly shaped by their previous experiences.
5.3 Doers and talkers
Hire doers who can express their ideas, not talkers who can't do anything. Doers who can't express their ideas clearly are also in trouble. They might be fine in some narrow technical contexts, but we can't have too many of them on our team.
5.4 Targeted recruitment
Each new hire must have a clearly defined role, preferably with aggressive numerical goals set, and have about a 70% chance of success.
5.5 Refuse to place too much emphasis on titles
Don't hire people who worry about titles. Although this is not a matter of principle, it is definitely not a good sign.
5.6 Mission transcends money
Don’t hire people who put too much emphasis on salary and compensation, but we should pay them fairly.
5.7 If in doubt, do not hire
If you have any doubts during the hiring process, do not hire. Small concerns during the interview phase will always turn into big problems later.
6. Leadership style
6.1 Don’t try to motivate unmotivated people
It's like dragging a dead horse, it's impossible and not worth doing. You also won’t be able to inspire people who don’t share your mission or values, or who don’t like you as a leader, or are just lazy. Let them go work somewhere else. People are either motivated or not. We only work with motivated people.
We need to work remotely. It's easy for lazy people to be lazy because no one is watching them. However, a blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise. They can be lazy for a day, a week, or even a month, but after a few months, you will know when they have no results. Working remotely actually makes it easy to identify these people over a period of time. As soon as you see unmotivated people on your team, let them go.
6.2 Never micromanage
Micromanaging takes more time than doing it yourself. If you need to micromanage it, then you should let that person go.
6.3 Interview qualifications and post-recruitment performance
Only use "years of experience" in the hiring process. When a person joins a team, their performance is measured using results.
6.4 DO: Work hard, uphold our values and lead by example
7. Goals, OKR/KPI
Use output metrics (users, revenue, market share) rather than input metrics (tasks, features, meetings, hours worked).
7.1 Don’t take your goals too seriously
There are many potential drawbacks to goal setting or setting goals. There have been many articles discussing this point, so I won’t go into details. Some of the drawbacks include: frustration when goals are not achieved, not working hard after achieving goals easily, inflexibility in direction, etc.
I think the biggest problems with goals are: 1. Goals are never accurate or scientific, they are always random guesses. In our industry, the market environment changes too quickly. 2. Discussing goals takes too much time (and costs too much).
For these reasons, set a goal, work toward it, and if you've achieved it, set a new goal. Don't take your goals too seriously, and don't be too obsessed with them.
Let me end this topic with an example. When Binance was founded, we set a goal to become the top ten exchanges in the world within 3 years, but we became the number one exchange in the world in just 5 months. We didn't stop there.
8. Business Transactions
8.1 Simplify transactions
Complex deals involving many variables tend to fall through, even after signing. Complex transactions are difficult to understand and confusion or misunderstandings often occur. One party always feels that something has been screwed up in some way and wants to change something. To simplify the transaction: Party A provides this and gets that; Party B provides this and gets that.
8.2 Say “no” as early as possible
Too many people waste too much time on useless “partnership” discussions. When your brain space is spent on these useless discussions, you won't be thinking about useful partnerships.
8.3 Non-exclusive
Long-term, mutually beneficial relationships do not require exclusivity. People who demand exclusivity are often insecure about competitiveness or the value they can provide, at least in the long run. In these cases, a short-term (or one-time) compensation plan may be more appropriate. But you guys know my point, don't spend too much time on short term trades. The world is changing too fast to lock in and you can’t predict the future.
Never sign an exclusive contract. Don't lock yourself in, and don't expect others to lock you in.
8.4 Termination
Be sure to include a termination clause in your contract. We need a way out of non-win-win relationships that always leaves us with a choice. Many people consider a general scenario (often optimistic) during the contract stage, which is a mistake. Think about the worst-case scenario, and that's what signing a contract does.
8.5 Limited liability at all times
Never sign a contract that could ultimately result in huge or “unlimited” liability. Extreme worst case scenarios should be considered at the contracting stage rather than "normal/best case scenarios".
8.6 Don’t be special
Never offer a client a private deal that no one else has, and always treat all clients equally.
9. Passive business development, pursuing “low-hanging fruit”
I (CZ) typically take a reactive approach to business development, and in life in general. People often don’t understand this aspect of me, or what it’s like.
This must not be confused with . I am passionate about what I/we do, but more passive in how I deal with others, build business partnerships, etc.
I don’t go for the shiny things. In the business development process, I usually don't go to big clients or big partners because teaching them about crypto assets, going through their own internal legal, board processes to get the deal done takes a lot of energy and time, and conversion It takes too long, and they often ask for unfair terms with a low return on investment.
Instead, I enjoy spending time working with top companies who come to us. They already intend to enter the field of crypto assets and want to cooperate with us, we just need to determine the transaction method and transaction terms. The return on investment is much higher. Even though these companies may not be Apple or Google, if we can continue to achieve small successes, sooner or later large partners will come to us, and most of them will come to us.
Other examples include: I won’t waste my time trying to convince people who are determined not to like cryptocurrencies, like Warren Buffett. I talk to people who want to learn, even though they may not be as well-known.
Instead of visiting countries or governments that are negative about cryptocurrencies, I would visit those that want to adopt cryptocurrencies and help them, even if they are small countries.
Essentially, it’s about trying to make the deal we can.
But don’t confuse this with a “short-term” mentality. While they may not be deals with the 10 most prominent companies in the world, most of these easy deals are still long-term deals.
There are a few things to note about this approach.
We need to be good enough that others want to come to us. Fortunately, Binance is currently in this situation. We need to keep this going. I had this mentality even before Binance became successful, but it's clear that it will be better after Binance becomes successful.
We need to carefully select our customers. We always get a lot of requests, especially considering where Binance is today. Choosing the best request is not as easy as it seems. Again, my approach tends to be to close the core deal quickly.
Still, we sometimes need to do some outreach in case the other party also has a "passive" mentality. We make our outreach efforts specific and clear, and then, if they don’t respond, we know they’re not interested.
In life, I will not try to meet such and such a famous person. I love dealing with people who come to us.
10. Work style – don’t waste time
Time is a more limited resource than money. Don’t waste time, when you start valuing your time, money will follow.
10.1 Say “no” early and often
The most effective way to save time is to say "no."
When someone wanted to discuss an "important" but vague partnership, I said no; when someone invited me to meet some big names, but without a clear purpose, I said no; when someone invited me to see an art exhibition in a gallery, I said no. ;Some people invited me to watch F1 races, but I also declined; football games, I won’t go... Although I will also go to these activities with friends, the default answer is "no".
That way, I can free up my time for more important things, even if it’s just being alone in a hotel room. I'll start thinking and focus on more important things, like writing this article.
11 Communication
11.1 Be concise and clear
Be sure to make your intentions or goals clear. What do you want? Before you start explaining the background, say "I want...". The other person may agree with you and you won't need to explain.
11.2 Write concisely
Please read the book "The Essence of Writing". I really dislike seeing people either not writing or writing too long. This means they either don't take the time or are unable to organize their thoughts.
You need to write down your thoughts, but keep them short (not too long) and write well.
For me, I just want to see:
·3–5 bullet points (15-minute meeting)
·Half page to one page (30–60 minute group session)
·Maximum 5 pages (monthly or quarterly business review)
·Reject PPT. No fancy slides required, just text and a simple bar chart.
·For blogs, articles or books, write longer
·But learn to write better. I am still practicing myself...
11.3 Use the most effective methods/tools possible.
There is an old saying that I disagree with: "If you can call the person, don't use email; if you can meet, don't call." My view is exactly the opposite: "If a phone call will suffice, don't meet in person; if an instant message will suffice, don't call." There is nothing wrong with either approach. If something is unclear on the phone, face-to-face communication would be better. However, for most common communications, I care more about efficiency than form. You need to maintain a strong enough relationship (or reputation) with the people you communicate with regularly to understand each other, not guess, and always be skeptical. Most of our work is remote, so I've adopted this approach of mine.
11.4 Avoid communication chains
Don't talk to people who are relaying other people's messages, as you will definitely get incorrect information. Please speak directly to the source.
At work, we often have project managers or other leaders who act as go-betweens. We need to avoid lengthy communication chains. Get sources involved in a group/meeting, but don't make the meeting too large.
11.5 Use instant messaging tools for synchronization or work coordination.
11.6 Use one message rather than multiple messages.
Sending a message like this will generate 5 notifications on the receiving end, which may make me wait longer to read the reply. Instead, send the message like this:
A notification, done.
Yes, I try to optimize my time this way. I don't like chatting with people who have "bad" chatting styles. They had a lot of time and I didn't.
11.7 Do not use instant messaging tools to argue
Don’t text and chat just for the sake of debating or arguing. Pick up the phone and have a video or voice call to debate.
11.8 Too much communication is bad
Too little communication is bad, and too much communication is bad too. If you have to constantly overcommunicate to make things work, something is wrong and you need to fix the underlying problem.
11.9 Provide context when asking questions
We work in a remote environment and we don't have the opportunity to see many of our colleagues. Some questions are easily misunderstood. So, be sure to explain the context of your question.
12. Meeting
12.1 Keep it short
Keep meetings as short as possible. Preferably 5 minutes. If you can’t have a 5-minute meeting with your close colleagues, you haven’t found your groove with them yet. Think about how to solve this problem.
12.2 Start on time
Join the meeting 1 minute early. Set your alarm for 3:59 instead of 4:00. This way the meeting can start on time at 4:00:00.
12.3 Things not to do
·Don’t say the same old “Here’s what I’m going to tell you, what I’m telling you now, and what I’ve just told you…”
· Just say the “tell everyone” part.
·Don’t start with “Today’s agenda is…”
·Enter the meeting directly.
·Don’t ask “Can you hear me? Can you see me?”
·Test your equipment ahead of time and jump right into the meeting.
·Don’t say “Thank you for joining…”
·Enter the meeting directly.
12.4 No more than 10 people should discuss
A discussion should only involve 5–10 people familiar with the topic. The larger the number of people, the slower the discussion will be.
Calls with more than 10 people should be quick sync calls.
12.5 Eliminate those who do not speak
If you're attending a discussion and don't need to speak, you probably shouldn't attend the meeting. You may just need to get minutes of the meeting.
12.6 Write down key points
Write down key points before the meeting. Writing down key points can help clarify your thoughts. I (CZ) am a visual person. I remember much less of what was just explained to me verbally. Written documents are also easier to forward. Spoken speech is impossible to forward. Google’s “telephone game.”
Don't make written documents too long. For a 30-minute meeting, 1 page should be enough.
12.7 Rejection of PPT
PPT is a waste of time. Just use bullet points and bar charts to show history and trends.
12.8 No “introduction” meetings will be held
I don’t attend meet-and-greets, get-to-know-you sessions, discovery sessions, etc. I'm not a pivot and I'm not good at maintaining many relationships. I prefer meetings with a clear purpose. Some might say this is too "realistic," but it's efficient. Although it may offend some people, my goal is not to be friends with everyone, but to get things done.
13. Products and Delivery
13.1 Extensible products only
Only work with scalable products. MVP, then close, tweak, or expand (all in). If the product doesn't scale, don't work with it.
13.2 User-centered
Having users is the key, nothing else matters. Without users, there is no value, so we must treat our users well.
14 PR
14.1 No big bang releases
Don’t do a massive PR campaign on day one of launch, something will always go wrong. Give the system/product a week or so to adapt and stabilize before we do a big PR campaign.
14.2 Don’t run a PR campaign on an empty MOU or letter of intent
We must focus on the results of public relations activities, unless public relations can provide us with meaningful help. Be wary of smaller partners who only want to leverage our brand to increase credibility.
14.3 PR campaign without delay, announce when ready
What I disagree with: Sometimes PR teams will suggest waiting until a specific date or time to announce something that’s already ready. The reasons may include but are not limited to: today is Friday night, there will be less PR content, let’s wait until Monday morning; we have just announced some other news, and we want to space out the PR time; we will leave this PR content Let’s wait until Christmas is a week away as we’ll have less news then. This only creates unnecessary delays, pushing all future workflows further back, so the loss in efficiency far outweighs the small optimization achieved in "better access" to the news. Delaying our work is extremely expensive. Postponing PR will only make it stick in people's minds longer, but that's not necessary.
Announce when you're ready and move on to the next project.
Twitter. Many social media experts recommend the best time of day to tweet. If your job is specifically about social media, this approach might work. I just tweet when I have an idea in my head. Otherwise, the mental cost of keeping it in my head isn't worth the benefit I'll get from tweeting the information a few hours later. After I finished tweeting, I went to do other things.
14.4 Responding to reporters
If you don't respond, they'll just write the worst version of the story. Respond, record it, and post it later if needed.
14.5 Respond quickly to negative news
Otherwise, negative news will only continue to spread. Unless you're sure it's just a small news outlet, it won't get any coverage.
15 Rest, stay calm and relax
I've been asked about the amount of sleep I get, and about jet lag. So I added this section.
15.1 Sleep
I recommend that you find your own sleep patterns so that you get the most energy.
For me, I sleep 5–6 hours at night and then usually take a 30–45 minute nap in the afternoon. I'm usually most awake after a nap. My second most awake time is in the morning, an hour after I wake up. So, during my most lucid periods, I’m thinking hard or making tough decisions. Then use the rest of the day to tackle more “mundane” tasks.
I have a little secret, napping is also my way of coping with jet lag. When I’m jet lagged, naps tend to last a little longer. It helps to have two chances to sleep.
Also, when I'm tired, I either relax or take a nap.
15.2 Calm
My personality is relatively calm. If others feel that their emotions fluctuate to a certain extent, then my mood fluctuations may be smaller. I also have strong emotions, but I'm not overly excited or overly sad. As a startup in a fast-growing new industry, having this calm disposition helps navigate the high-pressure environment we often encounter.
Part of this personality is innate, and part of it is trained. I believe in the imitation theory and it helps me a lot to stay emotionally calm.
Holding yourself to high ethical standards also helps. Knowing we're doing the right thing, there's nothing to worry about. This makes me mentally strong. And knowing that we are making a positive impact on the world helps, too.
15.3 Relaxation and entertainment
I also relax like most people. I go to exercise every day and do some sports, such as snowboarding. I watch some movies (usually after being recommended by others); I also do some tourist activities when I go to a new city; I relax with friends, eat, drink, etc.
I am not interested in luxury goods, cars, jewelry, etc., although my lifestyle may be considered high-end by most people. I travel a lot and I stay in fancy hotels. I'm often invited to fancy parties (which I actually don't like).
I love gadgets of all kinds, cell phones, cameras, drones, even digital watches, some of which I never even use.
CZ’s time management: What you don’t do is more important than what you do
Someone asked me today: "How do you have time to read so many books?" So in this article I will answer that question.
I think time management is mostly about saying "no". What you don't do is more important than what you do.
I do not attend meet-and-greets, orientation/exploration sessions, etc. These take a lot of time and are often extremely inefficient. I would refuse these invitations outright, even to the point of being considered rude. I could send this article to someone else to show that I don't like socializing with others. This may be rude, but it saves me time.
I like simplicity. It frees me up to do other things. If you can summarize something, then all you have to do is summarize it.
I keep most meetings to 15 minutes or less, even in-person meetings. Before a meeting starts, I always tell them I only have 15 minutes.
I wouldn’t attend a meeting if I wasn’t needed. I don't just want to listen. I want a summary that I can read in 30 seconds.
I don't chat, either at work or in my personal life, online or IRL. I always ask, "What do you want me to do?" If no action is involved, I end or ignore the meeting. I don’t chat for fun.
I quit chat groups where I no longer need to speak, whether at work or in my personal life. It's just one less thing I have to click on. One less notification, one less pop-up window.
I'm also not very social. I'm not a "hub" and I don't keep in touch with a lot of people. I have a small network. I made sure I had some "hubs" (supernetworks) in my network. I rely on them to connect with people when I need them.
I do hang out with a handful of friends, but probably a lot less than most.
I don't shop. I hate it. I buy most things in bulk online. 10 identical pairs of pants, shirts, socks, etc. Most are one of the first 5 items in the search results, or whatever the AI recommends so I don’t have to think about it.
I can't cook (a matter of talent). I ordered 1 of the first 3 things I saw on the menu. It doesn't take me more than 10 seconds to order. I prefer fast food to "French dinner". I may be sorry for France in saying this, but this is not a matter of taste, just a matter of time. I always ask French chefs to serve "all dishes" at once and try to ignore the offended looks on their faces.
I don’t organize my room, my desk, or my suitcase. It's always a mess.
I don’t read the news unless someone sends me a link. Even then, I only scanned it within 10 seconds. I'm a fast reader.
I don't watch sports unless we have some sponsorship like CR7 or Argentina in the World Cup, I actually only watched the last game on TV. However, it was a great game! But I knew I had to give up and do something else to make up for the time.
I don't watch TV. I used to watch a lot of movies, but now, I find most of them boring. Maybe I'm too old.
I don’t do TikTok, video feeds, etc. For my back pain, I follow some "osteopathic/chiropractor/exercise" types on Instagram so I'm motivated to do some simple exercises every day.
I do spend a lot of time on Twitter and write some blogs.
I don't listen to music. I also hate playing loud music in restaurants or conference spaces. I always ask them to turn it down. I like quiet places.
Basically, I'm a very boring person.
I listen to books. I listen to books while I take a shower, brush my teeth, and of course, use the bathroom. I listen to books when I'm in the car, passing through the airport, etc. I listen to a book for an hour or so every day before bed (that alone easily amounts to a book a week). The biggest piece, though, is on the plane. If I wanted to, I'd try to write a blog post or something. When I'm tired, I listen to books. I can read 2-3 books on a long flight. I fly a lot. 600 hours in the air last year.
I listened at 2.5x most of the time (you get used to it after a while). The average listening time for most books is about 4 hours.
How do I choose books? Some are recommendations from friends. Some are AI recommendations based on books I like.
Books I don’t like, once I get that feeling, I stop listening to them. I never finished most of the books I bought.
My favorite book, I have listened to it several times and bought the Kindle version to read.
Time is the most limited resource. And knowledge is the most powerful multiplier. Don’t trade your time for anything else.
