Tradeoffs

I saw Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take Two Interactive (maker of Grand Theft Auto amongst other video games), speak at Sloan yesterday. He is known for being the “fittest public CEO” and I was curious to learn his secrets on staying ripped while running a public company. His answer was straightforward and overlapped nicely with how I’m thinking about my own priorities these days, which is why I’m blogging about his talk (confirmation bias).

He had 2 main points. First, he only focuses on 4 basic categories in his life: family/friends, running his company, fitness, and mentorship/philanthropy. Second, he is willing to give up a lot of other things that he enjoys to ensure that he is able to succeed in these 4 buckets. For example, he doesn’t drink alcohol, and he rarely has time to watch movies/tv shows even though he once ran 21st Century Fox.

His system seems to work pretty well: he is super rich, has a loving family life (according to him), and is in better shape than pretty much anyone I know even though he is 65!

In my yearly review, I echoed a similar framework to Strauss’ when I wrote:

Looking forward to 2023, my life aspirations have not changed. It turns out I’m a very simple man. I seek:

• Deep relationships – familial, personal, business, and romantic (I’m back in the market if you know someone…)
• Superb health – including sleep, nutrition, and fitness as well as doing all of the outdoor activities that I love
• To build a startup – this time I’m doing it the correct way: working with co-founders, focused on a market where I have domain expertise, and selling a product to businesses, not consumers
• Continued learning – Both in the classroom as well as from books, podcasts, youtube, new people, events, etc. Also via practicing new skills (writing, programming, etc)

There is a famous story that recounts a time when Warren Buffett had his pilot write down the 25 things that the pilot wanted most in life. He had the pilot circle the top 5. Buffett then remarked that those 20 items that were not circled should be put in the avoid at all costs bucket. This is because those activities will always be enticing and thus they are the things most likely to distract one from the short list of critical elements that will help build a successful life. Focus is key.

Ray Dalio wrote, “You can have just about anything you want, but not everything you want” and I think that sentiment is correct. Life requires tradeoffs.