Avoid Sloth and Unreliability
A heuristic emphasizing that sloth and unreliability are automatic failures, so faithfully doing what you engage to do should be an automatic part of your conduct.
THE IDEA
Avoid Sloth and Unreliability
Charlie: “What do you want to avoid? Some answers are easy. For example sloth and unreliability will fail. If you are unreliable, it does not matter what your virtues are, you’re going to crater immediately. So, faithfully doing what you’re engaged to do should be an automatic part of your conduct.” The account also describes Charlie’s admiration for Benjamin Franklin and his effort to train himself to remain indifferent to crowd opinion.
When to use it
At work, when assigned a task, immediately schedule it and follow up to ensure completion.
In personal projects, break down goals into small daily actions to avoid sloth.
When making promises to others, write them down and set reminders to demonstrate reliability.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Workplace reliability
An employee who consistently meets deadlines and follows through on commitments is valued more than one with great talent but unreliable behavior.
Personal relationships
A friend who always shows up when promised builds trust, while a flaky friend undermines the relationship regardless of other good qualities.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Reflect on a time when your own sloth or unreliability caused a failure. What could you have done differently?
How can you build automatic habits that ensure you faithfully execute your commitments?
Consider Benjamin Franklin's emphasis on industry and reliability. How can you adopt a similar mindset?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Art of Being Rational Charlie Munger