Thread by @tunguz

You gotta have options - that's the line that a jewelry salesman once used on my wife, and has become an inside joke in our family. However, that sales line is a very good consideration to have in all sorts of life situations.

1/

taylorpearson.me/optionality/

I endured some of the biggest setbacks in my life when I found myself in situations where I had just a few bad options, or even worse, just one terrible one. Over the years I found myself unconsciously working to maximize the number of options that I had. 2/

There are many ways that you can increase your optionality, and most of them don't require you to have access to outsize resources. 3/

1. Invest in yourself and in skills that have a wide range of applications, especially professional ones. 4/

2. Alternatively, invest a small amount of time and energy in many skills and projects, each one of which can have a potentially large impact. You don't want to be spread too thin though. There is an optimal number of these that you would want to be a part of. 5/

3. Avoid getting stuck in commitments with no easy way out in the event of a failure. 6/

4. Always have an exit strategy. Make plans well in advance, and while things are still going well at whatever you are involved with at the moment. You don't need a detailed plan, just a set of thought out guidelines. 7/

5. Optimize for impact, not the appearances. Lots of unsexy options that work is better than a few sexy ones that will not get you far. 8/