prioritization: raise or fold

the single most impactful framework i've adopted. it came from daily reflections around october 2025 and stayed because it actually worked.

the core idea

"applying raise or fold means putting more effort into the things that matter and zero effort into the things that don't." no in-between. the middle ground — doing everything at 50% — is the worst possible strategy because you get mediocre results everywhere and great results nowhere.

before every action: stop, ask "does this thing matter?" (maybe 20 seconds), then proceed with one choice. full commitment or full abandonment.

why this was hard

i had a deeply ingrained habit of saying yes to everything. "mtfc was very much a yes brain mistake — stop saying yes to everything unconditionally." every opportunity felt important because each one had some upside. but the aggregate cost of many small commitments was devastating:

"very sad that i'm not able to do things — made a lot of commitments and can't fulfill all of them"
"projects with all the weird dynamics take up a lot of brain space. not having to think about it allows me to think about other more important things. it's even more detrimental than just losing time — brainspace is valuable."

what i dropped

the liberating part of raise or fold was the dropping:

not doing extra athletics weight room
considering ditching competitions
not applying to a bunch of opportunities
not going to certain events

"kinda liberating. don't always have to do everything. gives me more confidence and more freedom to select for the more important things."

what i raised

when i raised, i went all in:

"couple day sprints to do crazy things are really great" — dedicating 2-3 full days to one project
one goal per day instead of fifteen
full focus blocks: "nothing but that one thing and reflection on it, constant thinking about it"

the intentionality connection

raise or fold is really an extension of agency-talk. the startup's framing was:

"even if stuff is mundane and boring — what can you maximally get out of it? always be thinking about the goal and how best to reach it."

example: interviewing people who seemed unimpressive. the fold option is to phone it in. the raise option: "i can get better at interviewing people. i'll learn from this."

constantly optimize. but optimize what you're doing, not just how you're doing it.

the planning prerequisite

raise or fold doesn't work without knowing what matters. "if it's important, plan more. if it's not important or you have tons of experience, don't need to."

the planning failure mode: "i listed a couple of vague items that would be cool to do, and then kinda just went off doing other things. no sense of importance for certain things over others. no sense of scheduling."

the fix: every morning, answer one question. what is the most important thing i can do today? everything else is either a raise-on-the-side or a fold.

the discomfort signal

"say fuck no to unnecessary comfort and unintentionality." comfort-seeking is usually a signal that i'm folding on something important. the urge to scroll, eat, chat — it's the monkey asking to take the wheel (see mindset-shifts).

the practice: when i feel the pull toward comfort, that's the moment to raise. not through willpower — through reminding myself what i actually want.