...When you’re debating a material purchase, usually let the tightwad win. When you’re debating an experiential purchase, usually let the spendthrift win...

...another reason so many of us often feel overloaded is because of something called the planning fallacy.1 This describes the fact that we typically expect tasks to take less time than they actually do, because we base our estimates on one standout memory—our best past experience—rather than the average time it’s taken us to do similar tasks in the past...

...They want people who can work well in a team, but who can execute operations by themselves (most operations are solo). They want people who will plan and fully coordinate their operations in advance, but who are able to make changes on the fly, according to circumstances...

...Have we decided what the primary ten things are that we hope to achieve in retirement? What sort of habits do we want to develop? What’s going to get us to where we want to be during those years?...

...The fallibility of human beings guarantees that no technological system will ever be infallible...

...eight out of ten times people will reach the best conclusion on their own. But the other two times you need to make the hard decision and expect that everyone will rally around it...

...Stress is what arises when something you care about is at stake. This definition is big enough to hold both the frustration over traffic and the grief over a loss. It includes your thoughts, emotions, and physical reactions when you’re feeling stressed, as well as how you choose to cope with situations you’d describe as stressful. This definition also highlights an important truth about stress: Stress and meaning are inextricably linked. You don’t stress out about things you don’t care about, and you can’t create a meaningful life without experiencing some stress...

...Every systemic market injustice arose from some loophole in a regulation created to correct some prior injustice...

...Questions you can wait hours to learn the answers to are fine to put in an email. Questions that require answers in the next few minutes can go into an instant message. For crises that truly merit a sky-is-falling designation, you can use that old-fashioned invention called the telephone...

...In general, TV makes us worry about the wrong things. Your brain is better at filtering out media hype when it is reading. Words have less emotional salience than images. So it’s much healthier to read the news than watch it...

...The rewards and recognition that stem from being great at something will make you passionate about whatever that something is...

...From wrestling an alligator to evading drones to landing an airplane if the pilot passes out, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook is here to help with expert, illustrated, step-by-step instructions for the best ways to tackle life's sudden turns for the worse...

...Prophets look at the world as finite, and people as constrained by their environment. Wizards see possibilities as inexhaustible, and humans as wily managers of the planet. One views growth and development as the lot and blessing of our species; others regard stability and preservation as our future and our goal. Wizards regard Earth as a toolbox, its contents freely available for use; Prophets think of the natural world as embodying an overarching order that should not casually be disturbed...

...We think all people are honest, but they’re more honest if you watch them like a hawk...

...Being gameful means bringing the psychological strengths you naturally display when you play games—such as optimism, creativity, courage, and determination—to your real life. It means having the curiosity and openness to play with different strategies to discover what works best. It means building up the resilience to tackle tougher and tougher challenges with greater and greater success...

...Wealth = Focus + (Stoicism x Time x Diversification)...

...In fairness to Mr. Einstein, his theory says that time is relative to the inertial frame in which it is measured, not that it is subjective. The human experience of time is, of course, subjective, and it speeds up or slows down depending on how demanding, varied, and pleasant an interval is...

...The subjects solved creative problems better during their non-optimal times, when they were tired and groggy. They solved analytical problems at their optimal times, when they were wide-awake and alert...

...when we help others become better, we can actually increase the available opportunities, instead of vying for them. Like the lightning bugs, once we learn to coordinate and collaborate with those around us, we all begin to shine brighter, both individually and as an ecosystem...

...If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today—as of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work...