In this post we’ll review Richard Meadows’ book Optionality1 (How to Survive and Thrive in a Volatile World), which explores ways to thrive in an unpredictable world. It explores themes like FIRE, minimalism, and personal growth. Meadows also maintains a blog at The Deep Dish.
The book is around 438 pages long and is organized into six parts, each named after a central concept: Eudaimonia (Flourishing), Akrasia (Weakness of Will), Praxis (Practice), Rhizikon (Risk), Kairos (The Right Moment), and Telos (Completion).
Key Takeaways from Optionality
1. Eudaimonia (Flourishing)
This section emphasizes living a meaningful and abundant life by managing resources, and opening up high-quality options.
- Possibility Tree: Visualize life’s choices branching out, as Sylvia Plath described in her fig tree metaphor2.
- Consumer Capitalism: Be careful of things that can steal money, time and attention.
- Currencies of Life: Beyond money, focus on preserving time, health, mental bandwidth, energy and meaning.
- Frugality: Not deprivation, but a way to open your options
- The beauty of minimalism is the sense of possibility it creates
- Options: Your options fall into several categories
- High-quality options = doors that could lead to treasure chests 💰
- Low-quality options = dead ends, bottomless pits of doom
- Risk Management
- Asymmetrical relationship – motorcycles 🏍️, drugs
- Modest returns – Uber, stocks, TV
- Sexy relationship – side-hustles, VC style bets, books (view quake), messaging strangers
- The 4 Factors of Optionality
- Financial Capital, Social Capital, Knowledge Capital, Health Capital
- Capping your downside is more important than uncapping your upside
- Winning is about non-losing; the Matthew effect (Matthew 25:29) shows us that winners keep winning
2. Akrasia (Weakness of Will)
Akrasia is acting against your better judgment.
Insights:
- Humans have multiple selves: Captain 🚢 (ego) | Old Timer 👴 (superego) | Monkey 🐒 (emotions) | Reptile 🦎 (instincts)
- Goal setting: Beware of Goodhart’s Law3 – when a metric becomes a target, it’s stops being useful
- Choice Architecture:
- Reduce friction with “set and forget” systems
- Use Ulysses contracts4 to curb impulsivity
- Habit formation: cue -> routine -> reward
3. Praxis (Practice)
Barbell strategy: Balance risk by pairing conservative choices with bold bets.
Additional Ideas:
- Artificial scarcity fosters gratitude
- Social Capital:
- Build serendipity by starting small
- Network within Dunbar’s number5 (150 connections).
4. Rhizikon (Risk)
Risk Management: Avoid debt and over-leverage
5. Kairos (Right Moment)
Timing is everything:
- Balance exploration and exploitation
- Avoid getting stuck in local maxima – think globally
Effectuation Principles (Sarasvathy)6
- Bird-in-hand: Start with available resources
- Lemonade principle 🍋: Adapt to surprises
- Crazy quilt: Build partnerships
- Affordable loss: Set limits on risks
Archetypes of Escapism:
- Peter Pan man-child
- Trust-fund wanderer
- Serial dater
- Early retiree in a funk
Alternatively, use optionality to create an enjoyable career.
6. Telos (Completion)
Themes:
- Status games and conspicuous simplicity
- “Freedom is choosing our own chains” – Rousseau
- The power of idea quakes – transformative ideas that shifts perspectives
Conclusion
Optionality offers an engaging mix of edgy insights and practical advice. While some ideas may feel overplayed, the book has valuable takeaways, particularly around risk management, frugality, and goal-setting.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Favorite Concept: The “idea quake,” a transformative idea that shifts your worldview.
Extra Reading
- Nudge – Richard Thaler
- https://thedeepdish.org/optionality-book/ ↩︎
- https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7511-i-saw-my-life-branching-out-before-me-like-the ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_pact ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number ↩︎
- https://effectuation.org/the-five-principles-of-effectuation ↩︎
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