...Directed desires give us a path to drive on, but once we reach the goalpost, a sense of aimlessness befalls us. We realize that the “promised land” is actually just a starting point for another journey, but oftentimes we’re unsure of what the next destination is...
...You’re only as good as your worst day. Not because what you do the rest of the time doesn’t matter. Not because you should be expected to be perfect under immense stress or to behave according to plan when everything goes awry. But because what you do on your worst day is impossible to fake. It’s honest signaling....
...Do everything you can in advance when you are having people over for dinner. No matter how easy and tossed-off the task may be...
...Psychologists call this the hedonic treadmill, in which satisfaction wears off almost immediately and we must run on to the next reward to avoid the feeling of falling behind...
...Career changes are some of the biggest moves we will ever make, but they don’t have to be daunting. Using mental models helps us find both the direction we want to go and a path we can take to get there. The result is a change that aligns with the person we are, as well as the person we want to be...
...A likely culprit is overestimating the consequences of mistakes. One solution is to be concrete and write down what you expect to happen if it turns out you have a typo, miss a shot, or bomb a test...
...We just don't have enough experience with early versions of ambitious projects to know how to respond to them. We judge them as we would judge more finished work, or less ambitious projects. We don't realize they're a special case...
...Culture comes from the top, the bottom, and everywhere in between...
...At critical moments in time, you can raise the aspirations of other people significantly, especially when they are relatively young, simply by suggesting they do something better or more ambitious than what they might have in mind. It costs you relatively little to do this, but the benefit to them, and to the broader world, may be enormous...
...If you don’t ask the question, you probably won’t get the answer...
...My blueprint - 13 principles that help him in business and life...
...The question isn’t would I rather do this thing or nothing, it’s would I rather do this thing or everything else in my already packed life that I’m currently living...
...Play is an essential way of learning about the world. Doing things we enjoy without a goal in mind leads us to find new information, better understand our own capabilities, and find unexpected beauty around us...
...First, make sure you understand what’s being said. Give your counterpart your full attention, and truly digest what they have to say. Next, interpret what’s been said. What does this mean, based on the purpose of your discussion, what the speaker cares most about, or what’s been said before? Third, verify what’s been said. Don’t assume you understand; confirm what was said by paraphrasing what you think you heard. Finally, consider how your point of view relates to what’s been said...
...When the cost of topping off your battery is less than the catastrophic risk of running out of juice, it pays to add to your reserves...
...It makes a lot of sense since once distractions are removed you run into a finite resource: Your cognitive energy...
...If you’re trying to gain a rapid understanding of a new area, one of the most important things you can do is to identify common mistakes people make, then avoid them...
...Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that distort our decision-making, leading to objectively worse outcomes...
...Insufficient effort is a shortcut that wasn’t worth taking...Sufficient effort is the goal of the industrial capitalist. Capture the most value with the least work…And then, perhaps, there’s a third option...Expending more effort than most people think is sufficient...
...Be clear that, at times, helping might mean you allow the other person to learn from making a mistake. At other times it might mean some in-the-moment coaching. Or sending a team member to a training class. Hovering is NOT help. Constant correction is NOT helping...
