Be Direct

I can’t think of a circumstance where being direct isn’t the best long-term strategy.

Want to understand something better? Go to the source material.

Trying to learn a skill? Just do the thing, rather than reading about it or talking about it. Neither reading nor talking about things will lead to learning nearly as fast as just getting started.

Need to deliver hard news? Get straight to it and you’ll spare everyone’s feelings in the long run.

Have something important to say? Don’t convey it through intermediaries. Talk to the other party involved.

Selling something? Let people say no to your face. There’s no better feedback.

I could list a dozen other examples, but the core idea is simple: being direct leads to the best long-term outcome because it gets you the closest to ground truth, more consistently, than any alternative.