Leveraging Human and AI Assistants for Compounding Ambition

Key Quotes

"The cardinal sin of delegation is that it will be faster or better to do it myself and the reason it's a blocker is because it's true but the only way you get leverage is by going through that work."

Jonathan Swanson explains that the primary obstacle to effective delegation is the belief that one can do a task faster or better themselves. He argues that while this may be true initially, overcoming this mindset is crucial for gaining leverage and achieving greater scale.

"Most people think about delegation as a convenience. Jonathan Swanson thinks about it as a system for living and has built his career around a simple idea: if you don't have an assistant, you are the assistant."

This quote highlights Jonathan Swanson's perspective that delegation is not merely about convenience but a fundamental system for managing one's life and career. Swanson emphasizes that failing to delegate effectively means one is essentially performing the role of an assistant themselves.

"A couple decades ago you had to be Mark Andrusen or Urban Meyer to have a half dozen assistants and that cost you half a million dollars. Now with a company like Athena for 3,000 bucks a month you can have your own assistant."

Jonathan Swanson illustrates the democratization of access to personal assistance. He contrasts the past, when having multiple assistants was only feasible for highly prominent figures at significant cost, with the present, where services like Athena make having an assistant accessible for a much broader range of individuals and businesses.

"My view here for founders is if you don't have an assistant you are the assistant and you don't want to be the assistant and so no matter your budget you should first start by learning to delegate and if you only got 20 bucks a month you start by delegating to ChatGPT and prompt engineering is really just delegating."

Jonathan Swanson advises founders that not having an assistant means they are effectively acting as their own assistant. He stresses that delegation is a critical skill for founders, regardless of budget, suggesting that even low-cost options like using ChatGPT for prompt engineering can be a starting point for learning to delegate.

"The cardinal sin of delegation is that it will be faster or better to do it myself. You know that's the number one blocker for most people and the reason it's a blocker is because it's true. It will actually be faster or better if you do it yourself that first time and it takes more effort to delegate to teach someone how to do it."

Jonathan Swanson reiterates that the most significant barrier to delegation is the initial perception that doing it oneself is quicker and superior. He acknowledges the truth in this statement for the first instance but emphasizes that the effort invested in teaching others is essential for long-term leverage and scalability.

"My high-level view is Brian Johnson wants to break the chains of biology, or longevity. I want to break the chains of time. And, you know, the question I ask myself is, like, what's the most valuable asset in the world? It's not gold or Bitcoin or Nvidia clusters. It's time. We can always raise another round or do another trade, but you can't raise another decade."

Jonathan Swanson articulates his core philosophy of prioritizing time as the most valuable asset. He contrasts this with other valuable assets like money or technology, emphasizing that time is finite and irreplaceable, making its control and optimization paramount.