The more tools you have, the more actions you can take (in terms of variety and volume). The more valuable combinations of actions you can take, the more value you can create. I think it was Hank Green had a video called “Follow Your Tools” where he talks about this.

Tools create optionality because they let you tap into surfaces of opportunity that are not accessible without those tools. The more tools you have, the more surfaces you can tap, and you can cross-pollinate things from one another’s places. Imagine you have financial tools and you have media tools. Now you can not only work in those specific fields but also cross-pollinate those two and create something in the middle. And I think I have been setting up myself with proper tools as of recent years. I got into a Good MBA program. I’m writing on this blog. I’m posting on Instagram. I’m creating pieces of software. Currently, my fingers are in 4- jars, that is corporate, media, personal brand and technological entrepreneurship. And the type of cross-pollination that can happen between these 4 is amazing. I need to tap another domain, and that is the social domain. I have been good enough on the personal, professional and academic front, but I think I need to step up my game when it comes to social. Being able to converse, being able to enter communities, being able to interact, influence funnel opportunities – those are such great tools and may be a force multiplier that can elevate all the other tools. I have a tool that will 1000x the value of other tools.

So if you’re reading this, look at what tools you have and how to acquire new ones. Your dreams are quite inflexible; they require certain tools. But instead of leaning heavily on your dreams, if you lean on to your tools and do what is best, if you keep playing the best current move, then you will end up in situations way better than your dreams and whatever you could imagine. Tools let you navigate the inherently chaotic world. They are anti-fragile in the sense that in a dynamic world, tools let you chain actions even without premeditation, while plans require that and in a volatile world, premeditated action and plans are obviously on a disadvantage.