Reflecting on Venting

A Read Through On Venting

I have a close friend to whom I vent every once in a while.

He recently shared a post he wrote called On Venting.

I immediately understood why he responds to all of my non-venting messages and pretends as if the vents never happened:

When folks interact with me, I often skip past the emotional complaints.

I like to think I do the following, but it’s probably only true half the time—at best:

Asking for help if one does not know how to solve a problem.

As I kept reading, I realized the post wasn’t just a gem—it was a perspective shift. It reminded me of how people like Charlie Munger approached life in their early days.

Read any biography and it’s quite clear that resilient people can in fact compartmentalize quite well, and over time, ignoring certain thoughts and feelings actually decreases their impact.

Something I notice about today’s technical leaders—Elon, Peter, Mark, Bill, Satya—is that you never see them venting. They deal with so much every day that venting probably isn’t even on the menu.

I wonder if that composure came naturally, or if they rewired themselves to be that way. It’ll be a great question to ask when the opportunity presents itself.

And as I’ve said many times, our primary job as a startup is truth-seeking, and any behavior that inhibits this must be ruthlessly stamped out.

This line is pure gold.

In fact, new managers don’t just listen—they often egg on the feeling by sharing their own, similar vents, often at the expense of the bigger picture.

I’ve been guilty of this. A great reminder to just let it go…

So when a problem arises, overcoming the activation energy, coming up with a plan, getting buy-in from the bureaucracy, and acting on that plan feels like climbing a mountain.

In other words, venting is choosing the easy path.

Rewiring your brain is not easy. And over time, with practice, you can actually delay or even reduce the intensity of that initial fight-or-flight response.

That’s a powerful idea.

When products like Neuralink start seeing mainstream adoption, I imagine they’ll have a “GLP-1 moment” where people suddenly become more focused, more productive, and more in control of their mental energy. Much like how those new drugs help people control their weight today

The most precious resource we have is not time, but energy.

I love this.

I’d add that energy includes both physical and emotional energy. You need both to focus.

This will be part of our culture doc and part of our performance review for the next half. Just ask yourself: am I constantly saying things that I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying in front of the whole company? Do I constantly engage in DMs instead of commenting in public channels? If not, you don’t have to worry!

That’s the modern adaptation of “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything”, but applied to a culture of excellence and execution.

A Couple of Extra Thoughts

Reading through this reminded me of a couple of other quotes.

I recently met someone who said:

Whenever I feel frustrated, it means I have an opportunity to improve.

I hate that sentence SO MUCH because it’s SO TRUE.

And to end on a timeless note, Socrates realized the futility of venting thousands of years ago:

“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”

― Socrates