Not all feelings you feel are yours. Not all thoughts you think are yours. If you learn that distinction, you are a massive step ahead of most people, and ahead of yesterday's you.

This is an important part of the reason why I write books to help people get what they actually want, so they can enjoy they life. View quoted note →

When people believe lies, they feel angry. When people believe truth, they feel peaceful. The more deceptive the lies people believe, the more likely they are to inflict violence. The more truthful the truths are that people believe, the less they feel the need to impose what they believe upon others through violence and fear. People who believe more lies culture insecurity. People who believe more truth cultivate personal security that's real. What lies or truths do you believe? Do you want to keep believing them?

People are looking for things to do. What they do could be your idea.

Everything is a test.

guys guys guys my wife cut two white hairs out of my beard im so wise now i know everything

Now this is funny.

"Naval Ravikant: "The only true test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life" "There are two parts to that. One is getting what you want, so you know how to get it. The second is wanting the right things, knowing what to want in the first place. I could want to be a 6'8" basketball player and I'm not going to get that. That's wanting something you can't get. But there's also wanting something that's a booby prize, prizes that are just not worth having, or that create their own problems." Naval explains how people end up in places they never meant to be: "If you're not careful, you can end up in a place in life not only that you don't want to be, but one you didn't even mean to get to. Usually people end up there because they're going on autopilot with societal expectations. Or out of guilt. Or out of mimetic desire, our desires are picked up from other people. Go to law school, go to med school, go to business school. Or it might be what your parents expect. Guilt is just society's voice speaking in your head so you'll be a good little monkey." He shares a problem most people have: "We run on these four-year cycles. You join a startup, you vest over four years. College is four years. High school is four years. You go to law school, that's a 5-year cycle. You become a lawyer, that's a 40-year cycle. These are very long cycles. But the amount of time we spend deciding what to do and who to do it with? Very short. We spend one month deciding on a job where we're going to be for 10 years." Naval's rule: "If you're making a four-year decision, spend a year thinking it through. Really thinking it through. 25% of the time." He explains the Secretary Theorem: "It turns out the optimal time to search is about a third. By a third of the way through, you've seen enough to know what the bar is. Then anybody who meets or exceeds that bar is good enough. But here's the key: it's not time-based. It's iteration-based. You need to take opportunities quickly and bail out quickly. If you look at failed relationships, the biggest regret is usually staying after you knew it was over." Naval reframes the 10,000 hour rule: "Malcolm Gladwell popularized 10,000 hours to mastery. I'd say it's actually 10,000 iterations to mastery. Iteration is not repetition. Repetition is doing the same thing over and over. Iteration is modifying it with learning and doing another version. That's error correction. If you get 10,000 error corrections in anything, you will be an expert." On pessimism vs. optimism: "You want to be skeptical about specific things, every specific opportunity is probably a fail. But you want to be optimistic in the general. Something in here is going to work out. If something fails, it was a learning experience. It was an iteration. As long as you learned something, it's a win. You don't want to jump into the first thing. But once you find the match, you have to be willing to go all in. Move your chips to the center of the table." He concludes: "Most people are stuck in this gray bit. 'I'm half in, but I don't really know.' That doesn't work. It's a barbell strategy, black or white. Explore quickly, cut losses fast. Then when you find the right thing, compound into it.""

What men really want.

Life supports that which brings more life.

Who hates you if you try to empower the "wrong" group of people? That could be a signal you're making the right investment.

Rest in peace to the legendary Chuck Norris.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” Annie Dillard

You can tell someone isn't telling the truth when they declare outcomes separate from process.

Fiat currency enables people with bad ideas to execute them without, in some sense, directly paying the price that threatens their survival.

Wars continue as long as the proponents can afford it.

“The moment you begin apologizing for how you manage your time, you are essentially apologizing for your priorities, which means apologizing for your life.” — Maria Popova I recommend not apologizing for being alive.

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” Henry van Dyke

Other than becoming intimate with God and being married, having my son is the most meaningful change my life has ever taken.

I can still hold my son in my arms. What a profound gift.