Note to Self

“You can get whatever you want.” Whether or not you believe this, ask yourself—what do you truly want? What would really satisfy you? Name it. Once you know, start moving toward it. Focus on small steps that bring you closer. Most of the joy comes from moving toward it, not from getting what you want.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Rick Rubin on overcoming creative blocks:

“Go beyond the idea of the block and think about what’s causing it. The block is usually something personal—like feeling “I’m not good enough.” It could be a confidence issue—“I don’t have anything to say.” Or it might come from thinking about others—“Nobody is going to like what I make.” It’s either self-judgment or fear of outside judgment.

But if you create something with the mindset of, “This is something I’m making for myself,” that’s all it is. It’s a diary entry. Everything I make is a diary entry. The beauty of a diary entry is that I can write it, and no one can tell me it wasn’t good enough or that it’s not what I experienced. Of course it’s what I experienced—it’s my personal diary. No one else can judge it. It’s my experience of my life.

Everything we create can be that—a personal reflection of who you are in that moment. It doesn’t have to be the greatest thing you’ll ever make. It doesn’t have to come with the expectation of changing the world or selling a certain number of copies. It doesn’t have to be any of that. It’s simply, “I’m making this for me, and I want to do it to the best of my ability, where I feel good about it, and where it’s honest—honest to where I’m at.”

If you live in that space, just being honest about where you are, there are no blocks. The blocks come from dealing with an outside force or a perception you’ve made up. You create this story and live in it—“I’m blocked because I just can’t do it.” The reason you can’t do it is because you’re afraid someone else won’t like it.

There are no blocks. There’s infinite information out there to work with, and it doesn’t even come from us. We’re just vehicles for this information, and it’s flowing through us all the time. So, if you don’t have an idea when you’re sitting at your desk, go for a walk. Chances are, you’ll see something that sparks a seed in you to build from.

Source: Protocols to Access Creative Energy and Process

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Ray Dalio on decision-making:

“It’s far better to make a decision and be wrong than to not make a decision at all. With a decision, you’ll at least gain information that can help you improve your next one. Without one, you’re just standing still, frozen by uncertainty.”

Source: Principles

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Ken Segall on product naming:

“A great name doesn’t guarantee a hit product any more than a great education guarantees a perfect life. It simply increases the chances of success. A bad name, however, can indeed become a liability in a product launch. Like everything else in marketing (and life), the goal is to do everything in your power to tilt the odds in your favor. Burdening yourself with a bad product name is one way to hobble a product before it even reaches the shelves.”

Source: Insanely Simple

Valuable Finds

● Redefining Bravery: Courage is Not the Absence of Fear

● Think different, not better.

● How to learn a skill faster 

Note to Self

As long as you feel you’re not getting enough out of a relationship—whether it’s a friend who only calls when she needs something but is always busy when you ask for help, or a partner forgetting to take out the trash, leaving you to do it again—you’re living in scarcity.

It might sound irrational now, but in the moment, it feels real. The problem is, it’s a bottomless bucket. The more others give us, the more entitled we feel, thinking we deserve even more. We get greedy. Have you ever seen a greedy person become less greedy after getting more? It’s usually the opposite.

The same goes for attention, validation, and affection. We start noticing only when they’re missing, never fully appreciating them while we’re receiving them. It’s like running in the dark, unaware of the beautiful scenery around us—until we trip into a hole.

What a miserable way to live. Let the sun rise, enjoy the view, and the holes will take care of themselves.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Ozan Irturk on branding:

“We live in a world where there is no room for the average.
Offer dozens of average products and services—nobody cares.
But offer one great product or service—everybody pays attention.
Take the complexity away from the customer.

It’s not about offering everything.
It’s about becoming known for one thing.”

Source: Why Simple Brands Win

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Shane Parrish on effort:

“School tests weaknesses. Life rewards strengths.

Spending more time on our weakest areas is tempting, but life mostly rewards us for investing in our strengths. Imagine a student who struggles with math but excels at writing. In school, they might spend hours raising their math grades from a C to a B. However, spending the same time on writing might move them from an A to an A+. Focusing on math makes sense when you're taught to think in grades. It doesn't make sense if you think about life. The difference between an A and an A+ in writing ability might mean the difference between a New York Times bestseller read by millions and a book that only 100 people read.

Address weaknesses only to the point where they stop holding you back. Then concentrate effort on your strengths.“

Source: Richer Than Yesterday

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Ted Lamade on the power of less:

“Why are we so inclined to add things rather than take them away when searching for solutions?

The answer is simple—human nature and incentives.

The fact is, people are biased towards solving problems through addition rather than subtraction.

The reason?

Because adding something makes you feel like you are advancing, while taking something away makes you feel like you are retreating. Couple this with the fact that most companies are incentivized to sell us endless “solutions”, and it should come as no surprise that the desire take something away is practically non-existent.

Unfortunately, too many investors manage their portfolios like this. In an attempt to improve or upgrade them, they almost always look to layer on new investments, commitments, asset classes, and securities, often shooting well past an appropriate level of complexity:

Worried about a market crash? Layer on expensive hedges.

Concerned about volatility? Buy complicated options.

Want to generate higher returns in a low interest rate environment? Add leverage.

Trying to keep up with other investors? Chase a hot buyout or venture capital fund.

The trouble is that when they do this, the more vulnerable their portfolios become. It causes them to lose track of what they own, reduces their portfolio’s liquidity and transparency, and forces them to pay higher fees in the process. It also often leads to investors being forced to make decisions they swore they never would, typically at the worst possible moments.”

Source: Take Something Away

Valuable Finds

● All you need to work like Steve Jobs

● Why your ego is running your relationship

● The Double Diamond framework

Note to Self

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When giving advice, talk less. The simpler and clearer your message, the better.

Too much detail or too many examples can overwhelm the person seeking help. Extra recommendations don’t add value; they dilute your main point. Advice is only useful if the core idea sticks after the conversation.

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Anything that triggers an emotional reaction in you has control over you. Ignore it. Block it. Let it go.

It’s not about agreeing or disagreeing with others. We all seek what makes us feel good, and that’s different for everyone. But when something controls us, we lose our freedom to choose. Our happiness slips out of our hands.

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To achieve alpha, you need to be a contrarian. Successful investing means going against the crowd. You can’t beat the market by doing what everyone else does. The crowd is the market. You have to focus on what’s unpopular or overlooked.

Trying to outperform by chasing popular trends is pointless. You have two options:

1. Follow the crowd and get average returns.

2. Go against the crowd and get higher returns—if you’re right.

If you want exceptional results, look where others aren’t looking. Be prepared to be “wrong” for a long time before being proven right. It often takes time for the crowd to catch up.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Jony Ive on focus:

“What focus means is saying no to something that you, with every bone in your body, think is a phenomenal idea. You wake up thinking about it, but you say no to it because you’re focusing on something else.”

Source: Apple’s Jony Ive on the Lessons He Learned From Steve Jobs

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Brian Armstrong on founding:

”I’ve never seen a startup where the very first version of their product actually worked.

Don’t spend your time going to conferences or trying to raise money if you don’t have product-market fit yet. Talk to your customers, improve your product based on their feedback, and then talk to your customers again to improve it further.

There are only two things you should be doing in the early stage: talking to customers and improving the product.”

Source: The Crazy Journey Of Building A $100 Billion Company

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Seth Klarman on speculation:

“The strategy of going after the hot new thing has some serious disadvantages.

First of all, because everybody can see it’s the hot new thing, it tends to be priced for perfection. People have already built lofty expectations into it, so even the slightest disappointment can cause a severe loss.

This is where the difference between investing and speculation becomes clear: it’s all about how you think about downside.

Speculations tend to focus solely on the upside—how much can I make? But investing considers both the upside and the downside.

Source: Win the Long Game by Managing Risk

Valuable Finds

● Dr Cheri Mah helps NBA stars to sleep

● Warren Buffet’s punchcard concept

● Why you should run away from great ideas

Ideas From Me

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To succeed, focus on two things: curiosity and consistency. Stay curious—always seek to learn and explore. And keep showing up, day after day. Do this, and success becomes inevitable.

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Start or end your day with a brain dump. Take a piece of paper and write down everything on your mind—ideas, tasks, and random thoughts. Then, filter out what’s useful and make a list. This simple exercise clears your mind, allowing your brain to relax. Your brain is meant for creating ideas, not holding onto them. It’s surprisingly calming.

●●●

Discipline leads to true freedom. By sticking to routines, prioritizing health, and maintaining focus, you build habits that give you control over your actions. This self-mastery frees you from the pull of instant gratification and short-term desires. True freedom isn’t doing whatever you want; it’s having the ability to consistently do what you know is right.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Ray Dalio on humility:

“The smartest people don’t defend their opinions; they challenge their own thinking and seek out where they might be wrong. Success requires getting smart to a certain level, and then having the humility to learn from others. It’s also important to discover what you’re not good at. Only then can you find someone who excels in that area and work together to achieve great things.”

Source: Make the Markets Work for You

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Jason Fried on rethinking marketing:

“Do you have a marketing department? If not, good. If you do, don't think these are the only people responsible for marketing. Accounting is a department. Marketing isn't. Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365.

Just as you cannot not communicate, you cannot not market:

• Every time you answer the phone, it's marketing.

• Every time you send an e-mail, it's marketing.

• Every time someone uses your product, it's marketing.

• Every word you write on your web site is marketing.

• If you build software, every error message is marketing.

• If you're in a service business, your invoice is marketing.

Recognize that all of these little things are more important than choosing which piece of swag to throw into a conference goodie bag. Marketing isn't just a few individual events. It's the sum total of everything you do.“

Source: Rework

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Chris Williamson on the introversion myth:

“You're probably not an introvert, your friends just suck.

Introverts don't exist.

Being social is effortless when you're with the right people.

And mind numbing when you're with the wrong ones.

Even the most introverted person will want to stay late at dinner when the conversation is great.

Plus, since moving to America, I've realised how much introversion and extroversion are culturally dependant.

"An American introvert is an English extrovert." - George Mack

So if you would be more extroverted if you'd been born in America, or in a more social family, or had a more outgoing friend group, what does it mean to say you ARE an introvert?

Stack on top of that if you're not particularly fired up or interested by the people around you, or if you're currently going through a Lonely Chapter where you're outgrowing your old friends - of course you're not going to feel particularly extroverted.

Don't be gaslit by cultural conditioning and misaligned friends masquerading as intrinsic nature.

You're probably not an introvert, your friends just suck.”

Source: Introverts, Shadowbans & Bears

Valuable Finds

● Aristotle—How to live a good life

● Always Try To Do It The Hard Way

● Go do something great and your network will instantly emerge

Ideas From Me

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Helping others discover what’s good for them is more powerful than telling them. The value of an idea grows when you find it yourself.

●●

Ego is the illusion that others care about you as much as you care about yourself. They don’t. They’re too busy believing everyone is focused on them.

●●●

One of the most powerful things a leader can say is, “I don’t know. What do you think? Teach me how to do this.” It shows humility and invites others to share their ideas and expertise. Everybody wants to help you more when you admit that you need it.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Jeff Bezos on wandering:

“PowerPoint is easy for the author and hard on the audience; writing a 6-page memo is the opposite—it’s hard for the author and easy for the audience. You can hide a lot of sloppy thinking behind bullet points. It’s really hard to hide sloppy thinking in a 6-page memo. My meetings often go longer than planned because I like to wander—starting with a crisp document and having a messy meeting. We begin with a 30-minute ‘study hall,’ reading silently and taking notes before discussing, so no one can bluff.”

Source: Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin

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Rory Sutherland on prestige paradox:

“If people were attracted to those who drove expensive vehicles, truck drivers would be seen as more attractive than Ferrari drivers since trucks are actually more expensive. But the practical function of a truck diminishes its signaling value. If you want to show you have resources to spare, nothing beats waste. Waste proves that you have resources to burn.”

Source: The Marketing Secrets Apple & Tesla Always Use

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Morgan Housel on humble intelligence:

“I think a lot of times in the financial industry, where you can make a lot of money, it attracts people with very high IQs, PhDs, and strong analytical skills. These people are often the ones who forget the basics that matter most. It’s like in medicine, where many focus on advanced topics like mRNA, but what really matters is eating your vegetables, not smoking, and getting eight hours of sleep. The people who have the biggest brains are the ones who are most likely to ignore that because it's not intellectually stimulating. In investing, those who succeed are smart enough to understand the complexities but humble enough to remember the fundamentals.”

Source: Behind The Memo: The Impact of Debt

Valuable Finds

● 1,000 True Fans

● Jeff Bezos’ Business Advice

● The Value of Acknowledging Your Mistakes

Ideas From Me

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Doubt = No

If you’re in doubt, it’s probably not right for you. Indecision is often a sign to say no. If your heart isn’t screaming yes and you’re not eager to make it happen, it’s a no.

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Negativity Bias

As humans, we’re quick to notice when things go wrong but slow to appreciate when they improve. After eating well for a while, slipping back into unhealthy habits makes us realize how bad it feels. However, switching to healthy eating after a period of poor choices doesn’t give us an immediate high or show us the long-term benefits right away. We tend to take positive changes for granted, while negative ones hit us harder and faster.

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Growth Through Failure

When we shield someone from rejection or discourage them from taking risks, we think we’re protecting them. But in reality, we’re denying them the chance to grow. Growth often comes from facing and overcoming failure, not avoiding it. The true failure is not in trying and failing, but in not trying at all. The opportunity to learn from mistakes is more valuable than staying safe and never taking risks.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Robin Sharma on priorities:

“There's an old phrase that says "what you're doing speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying." You can say that your primary value involves putting your family first, but if time with your family is not all over your schedule, well then the truth of the matter is that your family life isn't your priority.”

Source: The Greatness Guide

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Owen O’Kane on survival mode:

“You can’t think your way out of anxiety. When you’re anxious, your brain’s threat detection system takes over, putting you in a fight-or-flight mode. In this state, your rational mind can’t function properly because it already perceives a threat that needs immediate action. Rational thinking shuts down when your brain is focused on survival.”

Source: Simplifying Life’s Complexities

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Howard Marks on investment paralysis:

“There are multiple sacrifices in every investment decision. Everyone knows the first: the possibility of losing money. Another sacrifice is that by investing today, you give up the chance to invest that money a month from now. But if you insist on getting every decision exactly right and only doing things you’re 100% sure will work, you’ll be frozen into inaction. You can’t achieve certainty in an uncertain arena.”

Source: The Indispensability of Risk

Valuable Finds

● How to make stress your friend

● Generosity as a strategy

● Time management techniques that actually work

Ideas From Me

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Good taste simply means your preferences align with others. The more widely your taste is accepted, the more mainstream it is. True taste isn’t about what others think is good; it’s about knowing and sticking to what you genuinely like, even if others disapprove.

●●

Opinion is fleeting and distracts from the true beauty of your craft. The audience’s approval is irrelevant; the work itself is the real gift, not the praise that follows.

●●●

What is it that you really want? What is the deeper yearning that you have? Beneath all of this nonsense about fame, what is it that you crave?

We crave meaning. We crave beauty. We crave love.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Kent Nerburn on embracing solitude:

“Solitude is a condition of peace that stands in direct opposition to loneliness. Loneliness is like sitting in an empty room and being aware of the space around you. It is a condition of separateness. Solitude is becoming one with the space around you. It is a condition of union.”

Source: Letters to My Son

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Howard Marks on impact of rates:

“Interest rates are like the weather. The weather determines what we wear, where we go, what activities we engage in, and whether we stay indoors or outdoors. It quietly dominates our lives in ways we often don’t recognize. Similarly, interest rates are the climate of investing, finance, business, and the economy. They influence everything that happens, and when they change, the environment for all activities changes, too.”

Source: Navigating the Sea Change

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Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson on planning:

“Writing a plan makes you feel in control of things you can't actually control.

Why don't we just call plans what they really are: guesses. Start referring to your business plans as business guesses, your financial plans as financial guesses, and your strategic plans as strategic guesses.

When you turn guesses into plans, you enter a danger zone. Plans let the past drive the future. They put blinders on you. "This is where we're going because, well, that's where we said we were going." And that's the problem: Plans are inconsistent with improvisation.

And you have to be able to improvise. You have to be able to pick up opportunities that come along. Sometimes you need to say, "We're going in a new direction because that's what makes sense today."

Give up on the guesswork. Decide what you're going to do this week, not this year. Figure out the next most important thing and do that. Make decisions right before you do something, not far in advance.

It's OK to wing it. Just get on the plane and go. You can pick up a nicer shirt, shaving cream, and a toothbrush once you get there.

Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier.”

Source: Rework

Valuable Finds

● Steve Jobs on Failure

● Everything We Teach at YCombinator in 10 Minutes

● Barack Obama: Just learn how to get stuff done

Ideas From Me

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The Stress Paradox

Stress is self-inflicted; it’s not forced on us or inevitable. We create our own stress by accepting too many demands or sticking to plans that have become unrealistic.

While external factors might trigger stress, the real issue lies in how we handle them. Stress often comes from sacrificing well-being for better results, ironically creating a cycle that harms well-being.

Learning to see external pressures as suggestions rather than demands and letting go of resistance to reality has made a huge difference for me.

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The Only Way Out Is Through

When you ask, “What do you think of this outfit?” you already know it’s not great. You can swap “outfit” with anything else you’re seeking opinions on.

But why ask if you already know the answer?

You’re either hoping for positive feedback to override your own judgment or using negative feedback as an outlet for frustration. In either case, you’re avoiding taking ownership of your feelings.

It’s easy to rely on others’ opinions or blame them for your dissatisfaction. But it’s hard to take full responsibility for how you feel. It’s hard because it means confronting the uncomfortable truth that you’re the one who put yourself in this position. It’s hard because it requires facing your feelings and doing the work to pull yourself out.

Wearing something you’re not comfortable in or blaming others doesn’t feel good anyway—it’s only a temporary relief. Taking full ownership of your feelings is challenging at first, but ultimately, it leads to inner peace and confidence.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Morgan Housel on market uncertainty:

“Predicting stock prices a year from now is like trying to guess people’s moods in the future—impossible. Stocks are valued by multiplying today’s numbers by a story about tomorrow, but that story is driven by unpredictable emotions and moods. We don’t know what mood we’ll be in tonight, let alone what millions of investors will feel next year.”

Source: Different kinds of BS

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Michell C. Clark on hidden struggles:

“We are all doing our best.
We are all navigating difficult decisions.
We are all beautifully complicated human beings.

When you think about the people in your life, don't just think about the parts of their lives that you're aware of—remember that they are bearing the weight of invisible burdens, just like you. Remember that they are healing from unspoken trauma, just like you.

Set your boundaries and protect your peace but try not to take things personally, because there is so much going on beneath the surface that you will never understand.”

Source: Eyes on the Road

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Ari Paul on strategic choices:

“Table selection refers to choosing a poker table at which to play. And it, more than anything else, determines whether you’re likely to end up a winner or a loser. Unless you’re the very best or very worst in the world, your expected value depends on your opponents. If you’re the 10th best player in the world but only play against the top 9 professionals, you’ll go broke. If you’re a mediocre player but exclusively play against even worse players, you’ll be profitable.

This concept applies throughout life. Venture capitalists know it’s a bad idea to invest in companies trying to beat Amazon at its own game. And as a trader, there are some tables I want to sit at, and others that I want to avoid.”

Source: Table Selection

Valuable Finds

● How Steve Jobs Took the Long View on People

● The “I would be happy if…” illusion

● Want To Be A Better Leader? Ask Better Questions

Ideas From Me

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Being attached to an outcome in business can drive profit because it keeps you focused and motivated to achieve specific goals. However, being attached to an outcome in your personal life can lead to unhappiness because it creates expectations and pressures that can be difficult to meet.

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No one is as driven and productive as someone who genuinely enjoys their work. Joy doesn’t come from money; money comes from joy.

When you love what you do, you’re naturally more motivated and engaged. This leads to higher productivity and creativity, which often translates into better performance and financial success. Pursuing money without passion can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction. Finding joy in your work isn’t just about personal happiness; it’s a key driver of professional success and financial reward.

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Good investing isn’t just about being rational and controlling emotions; it’s also about understanding and using your intuition.

Differentiating intuition from emotions can be tough. When all the data suggests buying a company, but your gut says otherwise, it’s not irrational. Intuition taps into your subconscious, which might notice something your conscious mind missed. Unlike fear, which is an emotional response to risk, intuition is a deeper sense that often guides better decisions when paired with thorough analysis.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Haruki Murakami on priorities:

“You really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance. I placed the highest priority on the sort of life that lets me focus on writing.”

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

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Jim Simons on beauty:

“Be guided by beauty. I really mean that. I think pretty much everything I've done has had an aesthetic component—at least to me. Now, you might think, "Building a company that's trading bonds? What's so aesthetic about that?" What's aesthetic about it is doing it right. Getting the right kind of people, and approaching the problem, and doing it right. And if you feel that you're the first one to do it right, that's a terrific feeling. It's a beautiful thing to do something right.”

Source: Mathematics, Common Sense, and Good Luck

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Paul Graham on writing:

“A good writer doesn't just think, and then write down what he thought, as a sort of transcript. A good writer will almost always discover new things in the process of writing. And there is, as far as I know, no substitute for this kind of discovery. Talking about your ideas with other people is a good way to develop them. But even after doing this, you'll find you still discover new things when you sit down to write. There is a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing.”

Source: The Need To Read

Valuable Finds

● Managers vs Makers

● Why the majority is always wrong

● The most senior person at a meeting should speak last

Ideas From Me

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It’s never the boss, the company, or the groceries you forgot that make you upset—it’s your reaction to them. Taking responsibility for your own reactions is the first step toward personal growth.

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Warren Buffet is famous for saying, “Stay in your circle of competence.” This is sound advice for investing. For work, however, you should stay in your circle of joy. This doesn’t mean seeking short-term pleasures. When you’re working on what you love, you’ll endure the tough times without quitting—and there will always be tough times. Even if you’re initially better at something in your circle of competence, you’ll quickly surpass those skills in what fulfills you and brings you joy. Nothing drives you better than joy.

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Financial status can be the first step to happiness because when you reach it and still aren’t happy, it opens you up to a new way of thinking. The societal pressures of money and prestige lose their power because the glossy destination is no longer distant. You’ve arrived and realize you’re still not there. Of course, you can chase the next glossy destination of more money and power, but without reflection, you’ll just move through life without truly living.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Warren Buffet on selling companies:

“Forty years ago my sales were all because I found something that I liked even better, I hated to sell what I sold, but I also didn’t wanted to borrow money. So I would reluctantly sell something that I thought was terribly cheap to buy something that was even cheaper. Those were the times when I had more ideas than money.”

Source: Warren Buffet Explains Why He Sold McDonald’s

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Shane Parrish on hidden effort:

“We often fixate on the visible and exciting, overlooking that most success comes from consistently doing the mundane, unglamorous work that few notice.

The 98/2 Rule: people spend 98% of their time talking about flashy things that contribute only 2% to the results, while overlooking the fact that 98% of the results come from consistently doing the boring basics that few notice.

Ask yourself: Does the attention you give to something truly reflect its true importance?”

Source: The 98/2 Rule

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Yuval Noah Harari on money and AI:

“Money is a mechanism to create instant trust between millions of strangers, allowing them to share resources, knowledge, and work together towards common goals. Until today, only humans could understand financial devices like money, bonds, or shares, and invent new ones. Horses, for example, didn’t understand money. We bought and sold horses for money, but they couldn’t unite millions of horses together.

AI, however, is the first tool we’ve created that can understand finance better than us. It’s only data, only information. Washing dishes requires physical action in the real world, which is difficult for AI. But understanding finance is just information in, information out.

The danger lies in AI’s potential to destroy trust between people if used by bad actors. On the other hand, trust might shift from humans to AI systems. Imagine a scenario where most financial activity is managed by AI, making the system too complex for human brains to understand. In a financial crisis, no human politician could grasp what’s happening. We’d have to rely on AI to explain the crisis and suggest solutions. This would essentially transfer control of a crucial part of politics and the world to a non-human intelligence that we cannot regulate or supervise.”

Source: AI, Future Tech, Society & Global Finance

Valuable Finds

● It’s who you become on the journey (Video)

● The HiPPO Effect (Article)

● The Bias Blind Spot (Video)

Ideas From Me

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If your expectations for yourself are higher than anyone else’s, it will be hard to be unhappy.

Setting high standards for yourself puts you in control of your happiness. For example, if you aim to improve your skills every day, the sense of accomplishment from meeting your goals will outweigh any external validation or criticism. This self-motivation keeps you content, regardless of others’ opinions.

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Belief is a decision, often subconscious. It’s the force that turns your thoughts into reality.

Our beliefs shape our reality, often without us realizing it. For example, if you believe you can succeed in a new venture, that belief fuels your actions and increases your chances of success. On the other hand, self-doubt can hold you back.

●●●

If it makes you feel bad, it’s bad, no matter how much others try to convince you otherwise.

Trust your feelings. If you’re in a high-paying job that leaves you drained and unhappy, no amount of praise or prestige will change how you feel. Your well-being matters most. If something consistently makes you feel bad, it’s not right for you, no matter what others say.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Author Frank Sonnenberg on hidden costs:

“When making decisions, most people view cost as an important consideration. While price is undoubtedly crucial, what about invisible costs that also come into play? For example, what are the long-term effects of your decision? Does your choice align with your beliefs and values? And of course, have you considered how your decision impacts your relationships? Simply put, hidden costs may be invisible to the naked eye, but they’re very visible to your wallet. Overlooking these factors can cost you a bundle.”

Source: Invisible Costs Can Cost You a Lot

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Writer Michell C. Clark on self-celebration:

“It's true. Unfortunately, a lot of people won't celebrate you until your wins feel "big" enough to them-but you can celebrate yourself now. You can be proud of every step you take and every sacrifice you make. And you won't need other people's applause to be proud of how far you've come and how much you've grown.”

Source: Eyes on the Road

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Investor Howard Marks on uncertainty:

“No statement that starts with “I don't know but..” or "I could be wrong but…” got anyone into big trouble. If we admit to uncertainty, we'll investigate before we invest, double-check our conclusions and proceed with caution. We may sub-optimize when times are good, but we're unlikely to flame out or melt down. On the other hand, people who are sure may dispense with those things, and if they're sure and wrong, as the Twain quote [“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that sustain’t so.”] suggests, the outcome can be catastrophic...

...maybe Voltaire said it best 250 years ago: Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”

Source: The Folly of Certainty

Valuable Finds

● Problem Solving: Quantity vs. Quality

● "You just gotta sit with it. That's how it's going to feel." 

● “Bring me solutions, not problems.” 

Ideas From Me

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What you find irritating in others is often what you need to work on in yourself—the parts you don’t want to face.

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The one explaining gets as much out of the conversation as the listener—sometimes even more.

●●●

It’s not about making your point; it’s about helping the other person make theirs.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Bianca Sparacino on letting go:

“You deserve to be loved and chosen—not almost loved, or almost chosen… Have the courage to let go of the people who leave your heart confused. Let go of the people who make you feel like you are compromising all that you desire, and all that you hope for, and all of the goodness and the beauty that you know exists in this world, for a skinny version of love… Let go of the fears you have that keep you holding on to something that hurts, something that is so heavy, something that has only left you feeling misunderstood, or unworthy, or at war with yourself. Let go of waiting for the people you have always treated kindly, to treat you kindly. Let go of waiting for the people you have always treated with respect, to treat you with respect. Let go of waiting for the people you have always chosen, to finally choose you. Let go of waiting. Let go of holding your breath, just hoping that things change.”

Source: A Gentle Reminder

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James Clear on humility:

“One of the great mistakes in life is suffering for years because you didn't want to feel foolish for five minutes.

• You don't want to apologize, so you let a relationship deteriorate.

• You're scared of the sting of rejection, so you don't ask for what you want.

• You fear people will say your idea is dumb, so you never start the business.

Nobody likes feeling foolish, but the feeling fades quickly. The willingness to endure five minutes of discomfort turns out to be a meaningful dividing line in life."

Source: 3-2-1 Thursday

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Jonathan Clements on purpose:

“Remember, retirement isn't just a couple of years, and then you croak. These days, retirement is three decades, and you can't have unrelenting fun for three decades.

There is not enough Netflix to binge to get you through that period. So then that's when folks start casting around saying, well, what am I going to do with this time? What is going to be my sense of purpose?

And there will be this period of trial and error while people try to figure out what it is that's going to make them happy for the rest of their retirement. And of course, there is no single thing that's going to get them through that period, just as through the first 30 years of your adult life, your interests shifted over time, and what you did shifted over time. Similarly, in retirement, it's going to change.”

Source: Unlocking the Secrets of Retirement

Valuable Finds

● My Month Without a Smartphone (Article)

● Zeitgeist AI Readiness (Report)

● Why Humans Are Vanishing (Video)

Ideas From Me

●

The real pursuit of happiness begins after you’ve achieved the goals you thought would make you happy.

●●

If you want the hidden costs others avoid, you’ll end up with the public rewards they sought.

●●●

Honest critique leads to a decision: adopt it or not. This choice determines your growth. Enduring your ego’s resistance is one of the hardest but most crucial steps in this process.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Warren Buffet on focus:

“Diversification makes very little sense for anyone who knows what they’re doing. Diversification is a protection against ignorance.”

Source: How Many Stocks Should You Own In Your Portfolio?

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Morgan Housel on perspective:

“I try to keep in mind that there are two ways to use money. One is as a tool to live a better life. The other is as a yardstick of success to measure yourself against other people. The first is quiet and personal, the second is loud and performative. It’s so obvious which leads to a happier life.”

Source: Quiet Compounding

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James Clear on synergy:

“I'm not the best writer, but it is a strength. I might be a 90th percentile writer. And I'm not the best marketer, but it is a strength. Again, maybe 90th percentile? I'm better than most, but if you pass 100 people on the street it won't be hard to find some people better than me.

What I have gradually learned is that it is not your strengths, but your combination of strengths that sets you apart. It is the fact that writing and marketing are mutually reinforcing—and that I enjoy both—that leads to great results.

How can you combine your strength? That's something I would encourage everyone to think about. You will find talented people in every area of life. It's the combinations that are rare.”

Source: 3-2-1 Thursday

Valuable Finds

● The world’s most liveable cities in 2024

● Global Emotions Report 2024

● Stanford study finds walking improves creativity

Ideas From Me

●

Your judgment of how things should be is never as important as the relationship it harms.

●●

The only reason you’re not living the life that you actually want to live is that, day by day, you keep feeding the life that you don’t want to live.

●●●

Caring isn’t meant to be painful. If it is, adjustments are necessary. However, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions; each person needs a unique approach.

Lessons Learned From Others

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Lou Holtz on indifference:

“Never tell your problems to anyone. 90% of the people don’t care, and the other 10% are glad you have them.”

Source: Winning Every Day

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Charlie Munger on learning:

“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than when they got up and boy does that help—particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.”

Source: 2007 USC Law School Commencement Address

●●●

Richard Feynman on passion:

“Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do.”

Source: The Feynman Lectures on Physics

Valuable Finds

● Hours of Daylight Animation

● How Solar Outgrew Expectations

● Oxford Economics Global Cities Index 2024

Ideas From Me

●

Love is a decision to be with someone, not just a need for someone.

●●

It’s hard to remember the times of pain when you’re feeling better. But doing so is crucial for a fulfilled life.

●●●

Belief is a choice, often made subconsciously. We shape our reality through our beliefs. If we choose to see something as true, we find evidence to support it. If we choose to see it as false, we find evidence for that too.

The world is subjective; each of us perceives and interprets it differently. What’s beneficial for one person might be harmful to another.

Lessons Learned From Others

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David Goggins on performing without purpose:

“It’s that magical thing we’re all looking for, but what’s funny is that we need these things to perform, yet we don’t take a second to realize the purpose is always there. The purpose never leaves us because the very purpose is you. You are always the purpose. There may be another purpose, like being a Navy SEAL or going to college, but the main purpose in life is you.

So, if you wake up in the morning and don’t want to do something, you don’t care enough about yourself. That’s what you need to really examine: why am I not doing this for myself? The number one purpose in life is to better oneself. The reason I get up every day is because I have pride in myself.”

Source: How To Build Extreme Mental Strength

●●

Alice Wellington Rollins on drive:

“The test of a student is not how much he knows, but how much he wants to know.”

Source: Aphorisms for the Year

●●●

Seth Godin on gaining customers:

“You cannot prove your way into a sale. You gain a customer when she proves to herself that you are a good choice. The process of discovery is more powerful than being told the right answer because there is no right answer. Even if there were, the consumer wouldn’t believe you.”

Source: All Marketers Are Liars

Valuable Finds

● Norwegian 4x4 Protocol—The best way to increase your VO2max

● Lifestyles—External benchmarks vs internal measures of happiness

Ideas From Me

●

There’s a big difference between what you want to say and what the other person needs to hear.

●●

If you can shift from “this is hard” to “no one else will be able to do this,” it changes your mindset from “poor me” to “poor everyone else who has to try.” The harder it gets, the happier you’ll be because you know others won’t follow. It’s a selection effect.

●●●

“Better input equals better output” is a myth. You need high-quality input and high-quality processing to get high-quality output. Reading seven books a week without thinking them through won’t improve your ideas. You need undistracted time to let your mind wander, like taking a walk in nature.

Input ≠ Output
Input × Processing = Output

Chart of the Week

Lessons Learned From Others

●

Roger Federer on grit:

“It’s not about having a gift; it’s about having grit. In tennis, a great forehand with impressive racket head speed can be called talent. But in tennis, like in life, discipline is a talent, and so is patience. Trusting yourself is a talent. Embracing and loving the process is a talent. Managing your life and managing yourself—these are talents too. Some people are born with them, but everyone has to work at them.”

Source: Commencement Address at Dartmouth (2024)

●●

Warren Buffett on selling:

“Forty years ago my sales were all because I found something that I liked even better, I hated to sell what I sold, but I also didnt wanted to borrow money. So I would reluctantly sell something that I thought was terribly cheap to buy something that was even cheaper.”

Source: Warren Buffet Explains Why He Sold McDonald’s

●●●

Jason Fried & David Heinemeier on planning:

“The timing of long-range plans is screwed up. You have the most information when you're doing something, not before you've done it. Yet when do you write a plan? Usually it's before you've even begun. That's the worst time to make a big decision.

Now this isn't to say you shouldn't think about the future or contemplate how you might attack upcoming obstacles. That's a worthwhile exercise. Just don't feel you need to write it down or obsess about it. If you write a big plan, you'll most likely never look at it any-way. Plans more than a few pages long just wind up as fossils in your file cabinet.

Give up on the guesswork. Decide what you're going to do this week, not this year. Figure out the next most important thing and do that. Make decisions right before you do something, not far in advance. It's OK to wing it. Just get on the plane and go. You can pick up a nicer shirt, shaving cream, and a toothbrush once you get there.

Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier.”

Source: Rework

Other Things I’m Into

◾️ A Nuanced Take on Ozempic

◾️ Steve Jobs on Customer Experience

Ideas From Me

●

You’re not responsible if you:

1. Don’t own the consequences of your decisions.

2. Blame someone or something else.

3. Refuse to see your own faults.

Responsibility isn’t tied to a title; it’s something you cultivate.

●●

People often say that starting is half the battle. But the real challenge is stopping what you’re doing now to make room for what matters. The problem isn’t “not starting”; it’s “not stopping.” You need to pause and prioritize.

Your day doesn’t begin with getting up early; it starts with stopping yourself from staying up late so you can rise early. Stopping helps you refocus, readjust, and realign with your priorities.

●●●

If everyone expects something bad to happen, it’s unlikely to occur. That’s because people are already preparing for it, so no one will be caught off guard. The biggest crashes happen when everyone thinks the market will go up forever. A crash, by definition, is a surprise.

If people expect a recession, anything even slightly better will be a positive surprise, and prices will rise. Expectations control prices. When everyone braces for the worst, the market often does better than anticipated.

Lessons Learned From Others

●

Marty Neumeier on what brand actually is:

“A brand is a result. It’s a customer’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It ends up in their heads and their hearts. They take whatever materials you throw at them and make something out of it, but they’re the ones making it, they’re creating it. In a sense, when you create a brand, you’re not creating one brand—you’re creating millions of brands. Each customer has a different brand of you. A brand is like a reputation, and everyone has a slightly different view of what that reputation is.

Source: What Is Branding? A Deep Dive With Marty Neumeier

●●

Michell C. Clark on valuing solitude:

“Stop assuming that solitude has to be lonely and start looking at it as an opportunity to understand who you are when there's no one left to perform for.”

Source: Eyes On the Road

●●●

Morgan Housel on how to judge good work:

“Being productive in today’s world is very different from what it used to be. If your job was to pull a lever in a factory, you were only productive if you were pulling that lever.

But if your job is to create a marketing campaign or to be a manager, you might be productive by just sitting quietly with your eyes closed, thinking about design or a problem. The issue today is that too many workplaces expect their knowledge workers to pull that proverbial lever by sitting at their desks, clicking a mouse, and typing on a keyboard for 40 hours a week. In reality, they would be better off doing things that look lazy but are actually very productive, such as sitting, thinking, and maybe talking to other people.

As a result, most people have what I call thought jobs without being given much time to think. This is like making a ditch digger work without a shovel—it’s the opposite of what you actually need.”

Source: Lazy Work, Good Work

Other Things I’m Into

◾️ Why Charging by the Hour Doesn’t Make Sense

◾️ Buffet’s 4 Step Formula To Investing

Ideas From Me

●

The success rate of trusting your intuition is closely tied to the information you consume. Your intuition, gut feeling, or heart is influenced by your subconscious, which pulls data from everything you consume.

●●

The fewer projects you work on, the higher your efficiency—with one being optimal. Everyone has their own limit for how many projects they can juggle at once. If you exceed this number, your efficiency drops.

Let’s say you can handle three projects without losing too much focus or output. Increasing that to five will actually decrease your output. Your mental energy gets spread thin, you waste time switching between projects, and you become overwhelmed and paralyzed. More projects will only give you more opportunities to screw up.

●●●

Give value before you ask for value. Write the article you’d like to read before you ask for readers. Create the product you wish you had before you ask for profit. Support your friend before you ask for support. Be the loving partner before you ask for love. Always give value first.

Lessons Learned From Others

●

Saul Bass on the importance of beauty:

“I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don't give a damn whether the client understands that that's worth anything, or that the client thinks it's worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It's worth it to me. It's the way I want to live my life. I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.”

Source: On Making Money vs Quality Work

●●

Morgan Housel on the hidden prices in life:

“Everything has a price, and I'm not just talking about price tags. The price of a busy career is time away from friends and family. The price of long-term stock market returns is uncertainty and volatility. The price of spoiling your kids is their own sheltered life. Everything worthwhile has a price, and most of those prices are hidden. They're often worth paying, but never ignore that they are true costs. And when you accept this, you'll view things like time and relationships and autonomy and creativity as currencies all their own that can be just as valuable as cash.”

Source: The Best Financial Advice I Know (What I Want My Kids To Learn)

●●●

Roger Lowenstein on valuing stocks:

“It was not an exact science, but (and this was key) one did not need exactitude—only the skill to identify the occasional company that was priced well below its value.

To use a homely simile, it is quite possible to decide by inspection that a woman is old enough to vote without knowing her age, or that a man is heavier than he should be without knowing his weight.”

Source: Buffet

Other Things I’m Into

📺 Brian Tracy’s exercise on how to achieve any goal