Knowledge Marketplace
My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

Back to Mental Models

Inverse Relationship Between Caring and Results

The less emotionally attached you are to an outcome, the more likely you are to achieve it, because desperation creates poor decision-making.

Decision Rule

When you find yourself caring too much about a specific outcome, step back and reduce emotional investment to improve decision quality.

How It Works

Desperation leads to short-term thinking, poor negotiating position, and suboptimal choices. Emotional distance allows for long-term strategy and better risk assessment.

Failure Modes

Being so desperate for a deal that you accept bad terms

Caring so much about one opportunity that you miss better alternatives

Making decisions from fear rather than strategy

Appearing needy which reduces your attractiveness to partners/investors/customers

Example Decision

An entrepreneur who already has financial security can take bigger risks and play longer-term games because they're not desperate for the next paycheck, leading to better outcomes than when they were struggling.