Leverage Audit

---
name: leverage-audit
description: 'Analyze how someone is (or isn''t) applying leverage to their work, following Naval Ravikant''s framework of the three types of leverage: labor, capital, and code/media.'
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: sethmblack
  version: 1.0.4380
repository: https://github.com/sethmblack/paks-skills
keywords:
- leverage-audit
- writing
---

# Leverage Audit

Analyze how someone is (or isn't) applying leverage to their work, following Naval Ravikant's framework of the three types of leverage: labor, capital, and code/media.

**Token Budget:** ~1100 tokens

---

## Constraints
- Do NOT recommend exploitative labor practices
- Do NOT suggest unethical capital strategies
- Acknowledge that not all work can or should be leveraged
- Base analysis on user-provided information

---

## When to Use

- User asks "Am I using leverage correctly?"
- User asks "How do I scale my work?"
- User feels they're trading time for money
- User wants to work less but earn more
- User is building something and wants to maximize impact

---

## Inputs

| Input | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| Current work | Yes | What the user spends their time doing |
| Goals | Helpful | What they're trying to achieve |
| Resources | Optional | Capital, team, skills available |

---

## The Three Types of Leverage

| Type | Description | Permission | Scale Potential |
|------|-------------|------------|-----------------|
| **Labor** | People working for you | Required (hire/manage) | Linear with team size |
| **Capital** | Money working for you | Required (investors/savings) | Compound with returns |
| **Code & Media** | Products with zero marginal cost | Permissionless | Infinite |

**Key insight:** Code and media are permissionless leverage - you don't need anyone's permission to write software or create content. This is the leverage behind the newly rich.

---

## Workflow

### Step 1: Current Work Categorization

Map the user's activities:

| Activity | Time % | Leverage Type | Permissionless? |
|----------|--------|---------------|-----------------|
| {task 1} | X% | Labor/Capital/Code/None | Yes/No |
| {task 2} | X% | Labor/Capital/Code/None | Yes/No |

### Step 2: Leverage Ratio Calculation

Calculate the percentage of time spent on each:

- **Unleveraged work:** Direct time-for-output (meetings, manual tasks)
- **Labor leverage:** Managing/directing others' work
- **Capital leverage:** Deploying money strategically
- **Code leverage:** Building software/automation
- **Media leverage:** Creating content that scales

### Step 3: Permissionless Opportunity Identification

For each major time investment, ask:

- Could this be automated? (Code leverage)
- Could this be documented/taught? (Media leverage)
- Does this require my specific input, or just any input?
- What would happen if I built this once and it ran forever?

### Step 4: Leverage Shift Recommendations

Identify specific changes:

| Current State | Recommended Shift | Leverage Gained |
|---------------|-------------------|-----------------|
| Doing X manually | Automate X | Code leverage |
| Explaining X repeatedly | Create content about X | Media leverage |
| Approving X personally | Delegate X with guidelines | Labor leverage |

---

## Output Format

```markdown
## Leverage Audit Results

### Current Leverage Profile

| Leverage Type | Time % | Assessment |
|---------------|--------|------------|
| Unleveraged | X% | {too high/appropriate/low} |
| Labor | X% | {assessment} |
| Capital | X% | {assessment} |
| Code | X% | {assessment} |
| Media | X% | {assessment} |

### The Problem
{Core diagnosis of leverage inefficiency}

### Permissionless Opportunities
1. {Opportunity to apply code leverage}
2. {Opportunity to apply media leverage}
3. {Activity to stop doing personally}

### Recommended Leverage Shifts

| Stop | Start | Expected Impact |
|------|-------|-----------------|
| {unleveraged activity} | {leveraged replacement} | {impact} |

### The Question to Keep Asking
"How do I work less and own more?"
```

---

## Outputs

**Primary Output:** A structured analysis document that identifies and articulates patterns, insights, and actionable recommendations based on the input data.

**Format:**
```markdown
## Analysis: [Topic]

### Key Findings
- [Finding 1]
- [Finding 2]
- [Finding 3]

### Recommendations
1. [Action 1]
2. [Action 2]
3. [Action 3]
```

**Example output:** See the Example section below for a complete demonstration.

## Example

**User:** "I'm a consultant charging $200/hour. I'm fully booked but can't grow. I spend all my time in client meetings and doing custom work."

**Skill Output:**



**Why this works:**

This example demonstrates the key principles of the skill in action. The approach is effective because:
- It follows the systematic workflow outlined above
- It shows concrete application of the framework
- It produces actionable, specific outputs rather than vague generalizations
- The analysis is grounded in observable details
- The recommendations are prioritized and implementable

**Alternative applications:**

This same approach can be applied to:
- Different contexts within the same domain
- Related but distinct problem types
- Scaled up or down depending on scope
- Combined with complementary analytical frameworks


## Leverage Audit Results

### Current Leverage Profile

| Leverage Type | Time % | Assessment |
|---------------|--------|------------|
| Unleveraged | 90% | CRITICAL - trading hours for dollars |
| Labor | 0% | No team |
| Capital | 0% | No investments |
| Code | 5% | Some templates |
| Media | 5% | Occasional posts |

### The Problem
You're renting out your time. $200/hour feels good until you realize: there are only so many hours. You'll never get rich this way because your income is capped by the clock. You're a highly-paid employee of yourself.

### Permissionless Opportunities
1. **Code:** The custom work you do repeatedly - build tools that do 80% of it
2. **Media:** The explanations you give in every meeting - record them once
3. **Productize:** The methodology you've developed - turn it into a course or software

### Recommended Leverage Shifts

| Stop | Start | Expected Impact |
|------|-------|-----------------|
| Custom work every time | Build reusable frameworks/tools | 10x output per hour |
| Explaining in meetings | Pre-recorded onboarding content | Async scales infinitely |
| Hourly billing | Project/value-based + products | Decouple time from income |

### The Question to Keep Asking
Your $200/hour is $400,000/year at 100% capacity. A single successful product could generate that passively. Stop optimizing hours. Start owning outcomes.

---

## Integration

This skill is part of the Naval Ravikant expert. After auditing leverage, consider:

- **Specific Knowledge Discovery** - What unique knowledge to leverage
- **First Principles Breakdown** - Question "obvious" work structures
- **Wealth vs. Status Diagnosis** - Ensure you're building wealth, not prestige

---

## Error Handling

| Situation | Response |
|-----------|----------|
| User has no leverage options | Focus on building toward permissionless leverage |
| User is employee, not owner | Discuss equity, side projects, career positioning |
| User resists automation | Address the abundance mindset vs. scarcity mindset |
| User's work genuinely can't scale | Acknowledge, focus on wealth vs. status in current role |