Category: Life
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The best
Optimus means “the best” in Greek. It’s the root word of common ones in our culture, like, “optimize,” and, “optimism.” Optimize: The “-ize” in “optimize” means “to make,” so the whole word means “to make the best.” Optimism: The “-ism” in “optimism” means “taking side with,” or “imitation of,” so the whole word means “to…
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Life is a team sport
When I interviewed Annie Duke, we discussed the writing process for her first book, Thinking In Bets. Duke had made writing a team sport, firstly by recruiting a friend with a Juris Doctor degree, who was also a writer, to be her editor—outside of her editor at her publisher. This friend helped serve as a…
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“What would you recommend?”
Whether it’s selecting an item at a new restaurant, or mapping out the 10 year vision for their business, the other person—your boss, your customer, your client—doesn’t always know what they want. They’re waiting for you to tell them. That’s when preparation meets opportunity; it’s your chance to provide them with the information they need,…
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People make plans, and nature laughs
Resisting nature is not constructive; it’s always best to roll with it. You can plan around nature, too. It’s not going to stop laughing. You can choose to scream at it, worry yourself to death about it, try to make sense of it, laugh with it, or to sit beside it.
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Play to your strengths
It’s one thing to find a strategy, tactic, or best practice that worked for someone else. The internet is bursting with people sharing what works for them. It’s an entirely different thing to find the practice that works for you. You are the most important factor in how the things you do turn out. For…
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Their currency, their rules
With the prevalence of loyalty programs, it’s important to remember: if you’re using a company’s currency (such as points, rewards, coupons, etc.), you’ll need to abide by their rules. They can update their rules anytime with arbitrary guidelines and principles. They will often do this to incentivize you to make decisions or behave in their…
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What are we surviving for?
There’s a common belief that medicine saves lives, and that art doesn’t. (Or, “Medicine actually saves lives though.”) This isn’t a constructive story. Nor is it a true story. This story was invented by people whose myopia for calculation blinded them to the facts. The benefits of salaries, scientific theory, and fear (disguised as practicality)…
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Quit while you’re ahead
1. “As soon as you buy something you lose the power to buy something,” Loftis tells Cooter in Exchange Value by Charles R. Johnson (via Lauren Berlant in Cruel Optimism). 2. “When we are in the gains, we have a tendency to quit too early in order to avoid the risk of giving those gains…
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Skimming a book can change your life
Usually, if you think something’s important to learn, you’ll want to dedicate time and energy to do it. You want to do this very intentionally: to set aside an extended period of resources to learn something. Maybe the next time you take a vacation, or have a sabbatical, or are in between jobs. While this…
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If you can’t prioritize it, make it a practice
Some things are just too important to ever prioritize or de-prioritize. They’re things you have to do every day-ish. The most fundamental example is eating, sleeping, and drinking water. Breaking any of these practices is simply not sustainable for your health, quality of life, or work. The same applies to practicing all sorts of other…