Do More With Less
“Be smart about how I use the resources I have.”
Picture two people trying to climb a wall. The first keeps dragging more and more ladders, piling them up, looking for just one more. The second quietly studies the wall, picks the right ladder, and climbs. Both might eventually get there, but only one of them learned something.
Most people, when stuck, ask for more. More people, more tools, more time, more money. The rare ones ask a different question: what if I did this with less? When you ask that question honestly, that is where almost every breakthrough comes from. Constraints don’t block creativity. They create it.
When you run out of resources, you’re forced to find intelligence.
Doing more with less isn’t about being cheap. It’s about being respectful of other people’s money, other people’s time, and my own attention. Every wasted hour is an hour someone else doesn’t get to spend on something meaningful. Frugality is a form of craftsmanship.
- Before asking for a new tool, ask whether the one you have can do 90% of the job
- Question every meeting. Could this be a 5-minute message instead?
- Think through the problem before writing the first line of code or the first line of a deck
- Treat shared resources like your own. Actually, treat them better, because they belong to everyone