The interest rate of attention

I used to start the day inside someone else’s inbox. For one month, I wrote for the first ninety minutes before opening anything. Output roughly doubled -- and what surprised me was that almost nothing in the inbox actually needed me before lunch.

I cannot recall most of what I scrolled past last week, but I can recall every chapter of the two books I actually worked through. Acting on the material -- taking notes, arguing with it, applying one idea -- is what moves it from input to inventory.

Naval has said for years that specific knowledge, reputation, and judgement are the assets that genuinely compound -- and all three are downstream of where you choose to put your attention. AngelList itself is the proof: he aggregated attention from founders and investors and let the compounding do the rest.

If I spend an hour on something low-leverage, that hour is gone -- and so is the compounding it could have started. The discipline is saying no to the small ask in the moment so the large work has somewhere to land later in the week.

Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.