Getting a Bigger Bang for My Buck

This is my first ever blog post, so I better explain myself – what this space is, what motivated me, and why I went for "The Asymmetric Journey."

I've been thinking about building a personal brand for a long time, but I never thought I could. I'm too shy to start spamming people on LinkedIn, and I always thought I had nothing to contribute in written form. Also, probably out of fear of rejection, I didn't want people I know to be aware of my attempts at doing something outside the norm. But lately, I've been feeling a tremendous impulse to take action, and I thought blogging my way through would be a good way to channel and document that process. So here I am.

Why "The Asymmetric Journey"?

I recently watched Graham Weaver's lecture on "How to Live an Asymmetric Life" at a time when I was struggling a lot with frustration. I felt that despite my efforts to improve, I wasn’t getting the results I was looking for. I recognize that I can be impatient—I was too focused on the future I wanted instead of the present I was living, which goes against my 2025 resolution of enjoying the journey.

The talk (also in text version here) introduced the concept of asymmetry in investments and outlined four principles crucial to achieving it.

Asymmetry

Graham, a professional investor, realized that one cannot achieve incredible returns without taking some risks. In his talk, he mentions how playing it extra safe actually led to losses in his investments. Risk is always present in investments, so the best strategy isn’t minimizing it at all costs but choosing investments where the upside far exceeds the risk.

This is what he calls asymmetric investments. If the risk you're taking is capped at 1x (the amount you've invested), then you should target 10x returns, for example. The potential gains should far outweigh the risks.

This idea has been echoed by many successful entrepreneurs. For example, Jeff Bezos has been quoted as saying:

"Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right. Given a 10 percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time. But you're still going to be wrong nine times out of ten... We all know that if you swing for the fences, you're going to strike out a lot, but you're also going to hit some home runs. The difference between baseball and business, however, is that baseball has a truncated outcome distribution. When you swing, no matter how well you connect with the ball, the most runs you can get is four. In business, every once in a while, when you step up to the plate, you can score 1,000 runs. This long-tailed distribution of returns is why it's important to be bold. Big winners pay for so many experiments."

(Source)

So, if there’s a chance of hitting a home run in life, why not go for it?

How Has This Motivated Me?

I had already internalized the idea of asymmetry from various books, podcasts, and articles, but this talk resonated deeply at the moment I heard it. The four principles—common in business and personal development content—felt especially relevant to my situation.

According to Graham, asymmetry isn’t just for investments—it applies to life itself. By applying these principles, one could get outsized returns not just in business but also in relationships, health, well-being, and happiness. The path to achieving this boils down to four key principles:

Do Hard Things

Get comfortable with discomfort; better things lie beyond your current struggles. We've all heard this before: get out of your comfort zone.

I was frustrated because I was (and still am) in an uncomfortable situation and constantly thinking about giving up.

This talk reminded me that if I feel like giving up, I might actually be in the right place.

Do Your Thing

Graham put it simply: we're going to suffer either way, so we might as well choose something worth suffering for.

I was frustrated because I felt my suffering was tied to working on things I believed were wrong. By acknowledging this, I started thinking about how to change my approach. This realization motivated me to speak up and pivot towards suffering for things I genuinely believe in.

Do It for Decades

I'm impatient—probably one of my biggest weaknesses. I get anxious, paranoid, and moody. If things don’t go my way in a short period, I lose motivation fast.

This was a great reminder to relax, enjoy the process, and focus on the journey rather than just the results. Things take time, so I found comfort in the "Do it for decades" mantra (though I low-key hope it doesn’t actually take decades).

I need to figure out a strategy to see even small benefits from long-term efforts to stay motivated.

Write Your Own Story

And this is probably what led me to start this blog.

Graham mentions how rewriting the story of a struggling company changed its outcome:

"The market didn’t change; the industry didn’t change; the competition didn’t change. We changed. We wrote a different story."

The power of storytelling is well-known in self-improvement, business, and sales. Nothing seems to motivate us humans more than a compelling narrative.

I have a vision of myself I want to achieve, but my insecurities have always held me back.

Perhaps by writing it down and making it public, I will feel compelled to break through my fears and start living my own asymmetric life.