Breadth Thrusts & Bread Crusts: What You Don't Need to Know in 2022

JC Parets
January 6, 2022

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

I recently watched The Matrix with my son. 

Not the fourth installment released late last year, but the original movie – the one that came out more than 20 years ago.

One important caveat: My son is only 13. The Matrix is an R-rated movie filled with violent action scenes. So I didn’t take the decision to let him watch the movie lightly.

Ultimately, I decided the movie raises some important ideas that I wanted to share with him. I'm not talking about ideas of simulated reality or various theatrical elements. For me, one of the key insights is that by tuning out the noise, we can improve our decision making. By focusing on what matters, we have more time to act. When wisdom combines with clarity of purpose, the seconds seem to tick by more slowly.

This doesn't just happen in the movies. Watch an experienced quarterback engineer a winning touchdown drive in the final two minutes of a football game and you will get a sense of what I mean. They seem to have more time to decide, act, and react than anyone else on the field. Maybe time is indeed passing more slowly for them.

What does this mean for those of us who are not Neo or Tom Brady?

First, we can struggle to see what is important when we are overwhelmed by distractions. Aldous Huxley made this point in "Brave New World", a poignant and increasingly relevant novel definitely worth a read (or a re-read). 

As my All Star Charts colleague Steve Strazza said recently, "with so much information available these days, knowing what you don't need to know is just as valuable as knowing what you do."

Secondly, if we spend all our time amassing information, we have no time for analysis. If the whole day is spent collecting data, we leave ourselves without an opportunity to consider what it means. We become so saturated with inputs that we struggle to process what they mean.

Finally, we need to be willing to say enough. Turn it off. Slow down. Engage with what you have instead of seeking more. Most cultures throughout history have recognized how periods of silence and solitude are important parts of building wisdom and perspective.

Two ways I’m trying to apply these ideas as we begin another year:

  1. I'm looking through my daily routine of data updates and seeing what I can trim. I've already found some deadwood and am pruning it. I'm looking for more.
  2. I'm trying to learn how to play piano. One of the best ways to process information is to use a different part of your brain. Music making taps into different areas than what I exercise by looking at charts & excel spreadsheets.

2022 is going to be a noisy year – if you let it. 

By actively de-cluttering, we all have a better chance of seeing through the distractions and making better decisions in the market – and the rest of our lives.

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