“Picking the direction you're heading in for every decision is far, far more important than how much force you apply.”
Direction Over Force
From The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (compiled by Eric Jorgenson), Building Judgment chapter, available free at navalmanack.com. The line closes the chapter’s opening passage, which runs through a short cluster of Naval aphorisms including “Judgment. Judgment is underrated.” and “In an age of leverage, one correct decision can win everything.” The Almanack is a compilation of Naval’s tweets, podcast clips, and essays.
The wealth chapter has the inverse phrasing: “Leverage is a force multiplier for your judgment.” Both sentences describe the same asymmetry. Leverage (capital, code, media, people) amplifies whichever direction you point it. Right direction compounds; wrong direction compounds the damage.
Naval is not telling readers effort doesn’t matter. The same passage opens with “You have to put in the time, but the judgment is more important.” A few lines up runs “Without hard work, you’ll develop neither judgment nor leverage.” His ordering is direction first, then walk. As leverage grows, the cost of getting that order wrong grows with it.