Newsletter #44 - Warren Buffett’s Atelic Activity

Warren Buffett’s Atelic Activity

Warren Buffett plays bridge for 12 hours straight.

“If I’m playing bridge and someone walks by naked, I don’t even see them.”

This is atelic living. Activities that have zero finish line and feel complete at every moment.

Bridge. Reading. Walking. Playing piano.

Each one can be stopped mid-way and you still did the thing.

Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi found people hit peak life satisfaction during these endless pursuits. The activity becomes its own reward.

Look at how top performers use this:

→ Yo-Yo Ma improvises folk melodies for the pleasure of sound alone

→ Stephen King takes long daily walks to let his mind wander freely

→ Richard Branson goes kitesurfing on Necker Island to keep his risk-taking muscles limber

Each person found their refuge from the endless march toward completion. They discovered activities that refresh rather than drain.

Comms Delegations

When teams scale, context breaks. Everyone makes decisions with half the information they need. Small misreads can compound into wasted sprints.

Your assistant can fix this without adding meetings.

Here’s are three easy wins to delegate:

1. Executive thread cleanup

Twice weekly, your assistant searches for unanswered messages from key executives and partners. They draft replies and compile them. You skim, approve, send.

Superhuman automates this. For everyone else, this manual sweep works.

2. Friday progress updates

Late Friday, your assistant transforms all the activities and tasks from the week into one page. Wins. Blockers. Next week's priorities.

Monday morning you step in as editor, then forward the one pager to stakeholders. Even keeping it for yourself sharpens focus.

3. Meeting briefs and recaps

Twenty-four hours before cross-functional calls, your assistant sends three agenda bullets. Two hours after, they share decisions and owners.

People arrive prepared. Leave aligned.

Even if your assistant isn’t present in the meetings, they can read AI transcripts to build context over time.

The payoff for small wins can be massive.

Loops get closed. Teams see momentum. Meetings produce outcomes.