I’ve recently started listening to founders podcast. It’s a good walkthrough of biographies of great founders.

This last week I heard to separate ideas I think are related by two of my intellectual heroes, Charlie Munger and Steve Jobs.

The Munger idea goes something like this:

Problems are inevitable, solving problems is what business does. But avoiding problems that can be foreseen is wise, because you will always have more problems than you have time to solve.

Don’t worry about problems. But avoid problems that can be foreseen.

Examples of this is planning ahead for bad times, or avoiding people who create more problems than they solve.

The Jobs idea goes something like this:

If you feel like you aren’t moving fast enough, narrow your focus. Still not fast enough? Simplify, both what your goal is, and what you do. Still not fast enough? Up the intensity. In that order.

Don’t simplify when you have 37 projects. Don’t up the intensity when you have very complicated things to work on.

Summing these two ideas together:

Avoid problems where you can, by not taking on stupid risks and complexity. Don’t avoid all problems. Solving problems is the value you create. Constantly narrow your focus, and simplify what you work on.

Only after you’ve done these things, you can increase the intensity.