If we classify situations we need to respond to into types and have good principles for dealin with them, we will make better decisions more quickly and have better lives as a result
If you can think for yourself while being open minded in a clearheaded way to find out what is best for you to do, and if you can summon up the courage to do it, you will make the most of your life
Think for yourself to decide 1) what you want 2) what is true and 3) what you should do to achieve #1 in light of #2 and do that with humility and open mindedness so that you consider the best thinking available to you
People who have shared values and principles get along
The key to success lies in knowing how to Birch Drive for a lot and feel well
Feeling well means being able to experience pain for failures that provide big lanes without feeling badly enough to get knocked out of the game
Strive for a lot and fail well
Failing well
Audacious goals -> failure -> learning principles -> improving -> more audacious goals
To be a successful entrepreneur one has to be an independent thinker who correctly bets against the consensus which means being painfully wrong a fair amount
Reflect on and write down my decision making criteria whenever I make a decision
Time is like a river that carries us forward into encounters with reality that require us to make decisions we can’t stop our movement down this river and we can’t avoid those encounters. We can only approach b them in the best way possible
Fear boredom and mediocrity much more than failure. Great is better than terrible, and terrible is better than mediocre, because terrible at least gives life flavor
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
Prices reflect people's expectations, so they go up when actual results are better than expected and they go down when they are worse than expected. And most people tend to be biased by their recent experiences
'You better make sense of what happened to other people in other times and other places because if you don't you won't know if these things can happen to you and, if they do, you won't know how to deal with them.'
When everyone thinks the same thing - such as what a sure bet the Nifty 50 is - it is almost certainly reflected in the price, and betting on it is probably going to be a mistake
For every action there is a consequence roughly proportionate to that action, which causes an approximately equal and opposite reaction and market reversals
When people are very pessimistic, they sell out, prices typically get very cheap, and action to improve conditions has to be taken
Use business to get into exotic places and meet interesting people. If you can also make money on those trips, that's just icing on the cake
Visualize complex systems as machines, figure out the cause-effect relationships within them, write down the principles for dealing with them, and feed them into a computer so the computer can make decisions for me
You can never be sure of anything: There are always risks out there that can hurt you badly, even in the most seemingly safest bets, so it's always best to assume you're missing something
Meaningful work and meaningful relationships are far better than making money
Monies value comes from what it can buy, and it can't buy everything. It's smarter to start with what you really want, which are your real goals, and then work back to what you need to attain them
Timing is everything
Ask “how do I know I’m right?”
Just be right, don’t care if the right answer comes from you
Find other independent thinkers who are on the same mission as you and who see things different than you
1. Seek out the smartest people who disagreed with me so I could try to understand their reasoning. 2. Know when not to have an opinion 3. Develop, test, and systemize timeless and universal principles. 4. Balance risks in ways that keep the big upside while reducing the downside
Build an idea meritocracy, not an autocracy in which I lead and others follow, and not a democracy in which everyone’s vote is equal, but a meritocracy that encourages thoughtful disagreements and explores and weights peoples opinions in proportion to their merits
By doing what comes naturally to us we fail to account for our weaknesses which leads to a crash
What happens after we crash is most important
Successful people change in ways that allow them to continue to take advantage of their strengths while compensating for their weaknesses
Beneficial change begins when you can acknowledge and even embrace your weaknesses
Know how to react appropriately to the information available at each point in time
Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones
Becurious enough to want to understand how the people who see things differently from you cane to see them that way
A meaningful relationship is one that’s open and honest in a way that lets people be straight with each other
Wise people stick with sound fundamentals through the ups and downs
Bad times coupled with good reflections provide some of the best lessons
Having an ability to figure things out is more important than having specific knowledge of how to do something
If you punish errors, people will hide them which will lead to even bigger and more costly errors
Create an error log to help reinforce desired behaviors
When faced with the choice between two things you need that are seemingly at odds go slowly to figure out how you can have as much of both as possible
There is almost always a good path that you just haven’t figured out yet so look for it until you find it rather than settle for the choice that is then apparent to you
To have a real idea meritocracy, there must be transparency so that people can see things for themselves
The greatest success you can have as the person in charge is to orchestrate others to do things well without you
Shapers all visualized remarkable concepts and built organizations to actualixe them, and done that repeatedly and over long periods of time
As hero is someone who found or achieved or did something beyond the normal range of achievement and who has given his life to something bigger than himself or other than himself
Hetod don’t begin as hero’s, they just become them because of the way one thing leads to another
They start out leading ordinary lives in an ordinary world and are drawn by a call to adventure. This leads them down a road of trials filled with battles temptations successes and failures
They overcome their fear of fighting because of their great determination to achieve what they want and they gain their special powers from both battles that test and teach them and from gifts that they receive from others
Heros inevitably experience at least one very big failure that tests whether they have the resilience to come back and fight smarter and with more determination. If they do, they undergone a change in which they experience the fear that protects them without losing the aggressiveness that propels them forward
With triumph comes reward
The hero’s biggest reward is the boon which is the special knowledge about how to succeed that the hero has earned through his journey
Hero with a thousand faces Joseph Campbell
Think, don’t follow
Teality is what we are given to deal with so any problems or frustrations are more productively directed to dealing with them effectively than complaining about them
Encounters are tests of our character and creativity
We are a tiny and shortlived part of a remarkable system and its both good for us and the system for us to know how to interact with it well
Pain is nature’s reminder that there is something important to learn
Satidfaction of success doesn’t come from achieving your goals but from struggling well
Being strong is better than being weak and struggling gives one strength
The happiest people discover their own nature and match their life to it
Our purpose is to evolve and to contribute to evolution in some small way
Get the most out of each unit of effort you put in
Life principles
1. Embrace reality and deal with it
The state of mind that you bring to the process makes all the difference
Dreams + reality + determination = a successful life
Each if us need to decide what we value most and choose the path we take to achieve it
None of us is born knowing what is true. We either have to discover what’s true for ourselves or believe and follow others
If you don’t put yourself out there with your radical transparency you won’t learn
Dont let fears of what others think of you stand in your way
You must be willing to do things in the unique ways you think are best and to open minded let reflect on the feedback that comes inevitably as a result of being that way
Look to nature to learn how reality works
Don’t get hung up on your views of how things should be because you will miss out on learning how they really are
to be good something must operate consistently with the laws of reality and contribute to the evolution of the whole. That is what is most rewarded
Nature optimizes for the whole, not the individual
the key is to fail learn and improve quickly
If you come up with something the world values you almost can’t help but be rewarded
Perfection doesn’t exist. It is a goal that fuels a never ending prof was of adaptation
Evolving if life’s greatest accomplishment and it’s greatest reward
Reality is optimizing for the whole - not for you
Adaptation through rapid trial and error is invaluable
Realize that you are simultaneously everything and nothing - and decide what you want to be. Is this any faster now?
We are unbelievably tiny and short-lived and no matter what we. accomplish, our impact will be insignificant
What you will be will depend on the perspective you have
Where you go in life will depend on how you see things and who and what you feel connected to (your family, your community, your country, mankind, the whole ecosystem, everything)
You will have to decide to what extend you will put the interests of others above your own, and which others you will choose to do so for
Evolve and contribute to evolution inn some tiny way while I'M here and while I am what I am
Most everything that at first seems 'bad,' when put in the context of the fact that reality is built to optimize for the whole rather than me, really isn't that bad and is just nature
For most people, success is struggling and evolving as effectively as possible, i.e., learning rapidly about oneself and one's environment, and then changing to improve
"Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness" - Freud
"No pain, no gain"
It is a fundamental law of nature that in order to gain strength one has to push one's limits, which is painful
Pain + Reflection = Progress
The challenges you face will test and strengthen you
If you're not failing, you're not pushing your limits, and if you're not pushinng your limits, you're not maximizing your potential
People are happiest when they can be themselves
The quality of your life will depend on the choices you make in painful moments
Weight second- and third-order consequences
Even the worst circumstances can be. made better with the right approach
Whatever circumstances life brings you, you will be more likely to succeed and find happiness if you take responsibility for making your decisions well instead of complaining about things being beyond your control
Don't worry about whether you like your situation or not. Life doesn't give a. damn about what you life. It's up to you to connect what you. want with what you need to do to get it and then find the courage to carry it through
Look at the machine from the higher level
Compare your outcomes with your goals to determine how to modify your machine
Distinguish between you as the designer of your machine and you as the worker with your machine
Successful people are those who can go above themselves to see things objectively and manage those things to shapre change
If you as the designer/manager discover that you as the worker can't do something well, you need to fire yourself as the worker and get a good replacement
Nobody can do everything well
If you are open-minded enough and determinned, you can get virtually anything you want
Don't confuse what you wish were true with what is really true
Don't worry about looking good - worry instead about achieving your goals
Don't overweight first-order consequences relative to second- and third-order ones
Don't let pain stand in the way of progress
Don't blame bad outcomes onn anyone but yourself
Face "harsh realities"
5 steps to get what you want out of life
Have clear goals
Identify and don’t tolerate the problems that stand in the way of your achieving those goals
Accurately diagnose the problems to get at their root causes
Design plans that will get you around them
Do what’s necessary to push these designs through to results
Every mistake you make can teach you something so there’s no end to learning
A proper goal is something that you really need to achieve
Great expectations create great capabilities
Nothing can stop you from succeeding if you have flexibility and self accountability
Diagnose problems to get at their root causes
Focus on the what is before deciding what to do about it
Strategic thinking requires both diagnosis and design
Visualize what you and others must do in the future so you will reach your goals
Think about your problem as a set of outcomes produces by a machine
Think of your plan as being like a movie script in that you visualize who will do what through time
Dr. Signinh preceds doing
Write down your plan
Push through to completion
Great planners who don’t execute their plans go nowhere
Be radically open minded
If you know you are blind, you can figure out a way to see
Replace your attachment to always being right with the joy of learning what’s true
Consider all good choices to make the best possible decisions
Sincerelt believe that you might not know the best possible path and recognize that your ability to deal well with not knowing is more important than whatever it is you so know
Decision making is a two step process. First take in all the relevant information then decide
To gain the perspective that comes from seeing things through another’s eyes you must suspend judgement for a time
Prioritize what you spend time on and who you spend it
The life that you will live is most simply the result of habits you develop
Are you willing to fight to find out what’s true?
It is all physiological
The only sensible way of behaving with each other was to look down upon ourselves with mutual understanding so we could make objective sense of things
If you know what a person is like, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you can expect from then
Having expectations for people without knowing what they are like is a sure way to get in trouble
Beyond religion Salari lama
Know that the most constant struggle is between feeling and thinking
Yeah that be an interesting calculation and Dans in the future you know sleeve and a half bro you’re not gonna do it in Berkeley house I’ll believe it when I see it what I think you were talking about it since you were hired hundred percent so my faith has been slowly declining actually do with trust working at anything done the land of opportunity Newland about Virginia
It doesn’t matter what you do with your life as long as you are doing what is consistent with your nature and your aspirations
Everuomr has strengths and weaknesses and everyone has an important role to play in life
Have the courage to be true to your truest self, no matter what other people want you to be
Your greatest challenges will be having your thoughtful higher level you manage your emotional lower level you
Consciously develop habits that will make doing the things that are good for you habitual
The conductor visualizes the outcome and sees to it that each member of the orchestra helps achieve it. The conductor makes sure each member of the orchestra knows what he or she is good at and what they’re not good at, and what their responsibilities are
The biggest threat to good decision making is harmful emotions
Decision making is a two step process. First learning then deciding
Never seize on the first available option no matter how good it seems before you’ve asked questions and explored
Listening to uninformed people is worse than having no answers at all
Dont believe everything you hear
Everhthing looks bigger up close
In all aspects of life, what’s happening today seems like a much bigger deal than It will appear in retrospect
It helps to step back to gain perspective and sometimes defer a decision until some time passrs
It is smarter to choose the great over the new
Everything important in your life needs to be on a trajectory to be above the bar and headed toward excellent at an appropriate pace
Remember the 80/20 rule and know what the key 20 percent is
Be an imperfectionist
Until you mane the unconscious conscience it will direct your life and you will call it fate
All of your must dos must be above the bar before you do your like to dos
Slow down your thinking so you can note the criteria you are using to make your decisions
Know what the best decisions are and have the courage to make them
Embrace your realities and deal with them effectively
Making the most of your circumstances is what life is all about
Putting comfort ahead of success produces worse results for everyone
Numberous studies have shown there is little to no correlation between ones happiness and the amount of money one accumulates yet there is a strong correclatiin between ones happiness and the quality of ones relationships
The best ideas win no matter who they come from
Money is a byproduct of excellence, not a goal
We all have terribly incomplete and or distorted perspectives
People tend to see the same situations in dramatically different ways, depending on how their brains are wired
How do you know that you aren’t the wrong onr
You have to think for yourself
Make your passion and your work one and the same and do it with people you want to be with
Idea meritocracy: 1. Put your honest thoughts on the table. 2. Have thoughtful disagreement. 3. Abide by agreed-upon ways of getting past disagreement
The more people can see what is happening the more effective they are at deciding the appropriate ways of handling things
It is a fundamental law of nature that you get stronger only by doing difficult things
Realize you have nothing to fear from knowing the truth
As scary as the truth may turn out to be, you will be better off knowing it in the long run because it will allow you to seek the most appropriate treatment
People who are one way on the inside and another way on the outside lack integrity
People who are one way on the inside and another on the outside become conflicted and often lose touch with their own values
Alugnung what you say with what you’re up think and what you think with you hat you feel will make you much happier and much more successful
Thinking solely about what’s accurate instead of how it is perceived pushes you to focuse on the most important things
Makinh judgements about people so that they are tri d and sentences in your head without asking for their perspective is both unethical and unproductive. Have nothing to hide relieves stress and builds trust
Never say anything about someone that you wouldn’t say to them directly and don’t try people'Ithour accusing them to their faces
Dont let loyalty to people stand in the way of truth and th well being of the organization
Is it true?
Be radically open minded and radically transparent. How is this?
Dishonest people are dangerous. So keeping them around isn’t smart
Be extremely open
Its simple just don’t filter
Make sure people give more consideration to others than they demand for themselves
Groups around 100 that are bound collectively by our common mission was the best way to scale the meaningful relationship
Remember that most people will pretend to operate in your interest while operating in their own
Treaure honorable people who are capable and will treat you well even when you’re not looking
Create a culture in which it is okay to make mistakes and unacceptable not to learn from them
Everyone makes mistakes. The main difference is that successful people learn from mistakes and unsuccessful people dont
Thomas Edison. I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that don’t work
If you look back on yourself a year ago and aren’t shocked by how stupid you were, you haven’t learned much
If you can’t tolerate being wrong, you won’t grow, you’ll make yourself and everyone around you miserable, and your work environment will be marked by petty backbiting and malevolent barbs rather than by a healthy, honest search for truth
You must not let your need to be right be more important than your need to find out what’s true
Don’t worry about looking good. Worry about achieving your goals
Remember that what has already happened lies in the past and no longer matters except as a lesson for the future
Remember to reflect when you experience pain
Pain is all in your head
Pain + reflection = progress
Learn to be open minded and assertive
Every story has another side
Dont have anything to do with close minded people
Worry more about substancr than style
Be precise in what you’re talking about to avoid confusion
If you can’t successfully do something don’t think you can tell others how it should be done
Remrmber everyone has opinions and they are often bad
Find the most believable people who disagree with you and try to understand their reasoning
It’s important to view individual decisions in the broadest context
Don’t let the little things divide you when your agreement on the big things should bind you
Understand tnat nobody and nothing is perfect and that you are lucky to have by and large excellent relationships. See the big picture
See things from a higher level
Who is more important than the what
People often make the mistake of focusing on what should be done while neglecting the more important question of who should be given the responsibility for determining what should be done
The only purpose of money is to get you what you want
Be generous and expect generosity from othrrs
In the end, accuracy and kindness are the same thing
Put your compliments and criticisms in perspective
Know that most everyone thinks that what they did and what they are doing is much more important than it really is
Tough love is both the hardest and the most important type of love to give
Know what your people are like and what makes them tick
Clearly assign possibilities
Stay calm when you are being probed
Think like an owner and expect the people you work with to do the same
Force yourself and the people who work for you to do difficult things
You must stretch if you want to get strong
Worry about doing the right thing, not about what other people think about you
Care about the people that work for you
It is esstial that one always appeal to their reason rather than their base emotions
Open mindedly seek out the best answers and bring others along as part of that discovery process
Ask questions to gain perspective
Always seek the advice of wise others and let those who are better than you take the lead
Somegimes not all or even the majority of people will agree with you
Just worry about making the best decisions possible
Try to be understood and to understand others by getting in synce
Every problem you find is an opportunity to improve
Identify the root cause of problems
A root cause is not an action but a reason
Don’t act before thinking
Have fewer things to do by prioritizing and saying no, find the right people to delegate to, improve your productivity
Its up to you to decide what you want to get out of life and what you want to give