Material progress doesn’t make us happier. If it did, the ancients must have been a miserable bunch.
Instead we compete for status, an older, zero-sum game.
We don’t want things, we want to be things.*
A rational person recounts their blessings and rejects society’s games.
-Naval
Instead we compete for status, an older, zero-sum game.
We don’t want things, we want to be things.*
A rational person recounts their blessings and rejects society’s games.
-Naval
THREAD: 10 significant lies you're told about the world.
On startups, writing, and your career:
People don't have short attention spans:
• They finish 3 hour Joe Rogan episodes.
• They binge 14 hour shows.
They have short *consideration spans:* they must be hooked quickly.
Point: Don't fear making great, in-depth content. But, ensure your first minute is incredible.
In observing friends who’ve sold startups and made millions:
After a year, they’re back to toying with their old side projects.
They used their money to buy a nice home and eat well.
That’s it. They’re otherwise back to who they were.
Point: Aim to be fulfilled, not rich.
Reading many books is the most socially accepted vanity metric for adults.
You get zero kudos for reading 100 books a year.
You get massive kudos for learning efficiently and making interesting things.
Bloggers who post frequently (2x/wk) are rarely worth reading consistently.
I read for insights. And no writer can generate profound insights on a fixed schedule.
I aggregate writers who publish sporadically. When they post, they truly have something to say.
The world is not run by exceptional people.
This is the hidden reason for imposter syndrome.
We mistakenly think imposter syndrome is due to low confidence/anxiety.
No, it’s caused by not accepting that your new, world-class peers aren’t that special. It’s mostly discipline.
Success isn't an end state. Success is having the freedom to focus on the grind you actually enjoy.
Most people should spend way less energy trying to get rich and way more energy building a tight-knit friend group that will be with them until old age.
"You should work your butt off in your 20s."
This misses the point.
Your primary goal isn't to work hard. Your goal is to build leverage.
How? Start with delegation:
"Find someone who can do what you do at 70% the success. Teach them the extra 10% and be okay with 80%."
Beware signing up for tools that can read your email. This includes inbox apps and Chrome extensions.
You're giving a team of 20-year-olds access to the equivalent of your ID, bank vault, and diary combined.
Online privacy is an illusion.
If you construct your identity on what you’re a fan of (sports, media, brands), you’re a vessel. You’re lending out ownership over your identity.
Instead, if you construct your identity on the things you create, you’re a craftsperson—someone who keeps refining who they are.
Most friends aren't friends. They're acquaintances.
Friends phone you out-of-the-blue because they want to hear your voice. Friends would drive you to the emergency room at 3 AM.
Friends are the family you choose, and they're key to happiness in old age.
Invest in good people.
And the biggest lie there is.
-Julian Shapiro
On startups, writing, and your career:
People don't have short attention spans:
• They finish 3 hour Joe Rogan episodes.
• They binge 14 hour shows.
They have short *consideration spans:* they must be hooked quickly.
Point: Don't fear making great, in-depth content. But, ensure your first minute is incredible.
In observing friends who’ve sold startups and made millions:
After a year, they’re back to toying with their old side projects.
They used their money to buy a nice home and eat well.
That’s it. They’re otherwise back to who they were.
Point: Aim to be fulfilled, not rich.
Reading many books is the most socially accepted vanity metric for adults.
You get zero kudos for reading 100 books a year.
You get massive kudos for learning efficiently and making interesting things.
Bloggers who post frequently (2x/wk) are rarely worth reading consistently.
I read for insights. And no writer can generate profound insights on a fixed schedule.
I aggregate writers who publish sporadically. When they post, they truly have something to say.
The world is not run by exceptional people.
This is the hidden reason for imposter syndrome.
We mistakenly think imposter syndrome is due to low confidence/anxiety.
No, it’s caused by not accepting that your new, world-class peers aren’t that special. It’s mostly discipline.
Success isn't an end state. Success is having the freedom to focus on the grind you actually enjoy.
Most people should spend way less energy trying to get rich and way more energy building a tight-knit friend group that will be with them until old age.
"You should work your butt off in your 20s."
This misses the point.
Your primary goal isn't to work hard. Your goal is to build leverage.
How? Start with delegation:
"Find someone who can do what you do at 70% the success. Teach them the extra 10% and be okay with 80%."
Beware signing up for tools that can read your email. This includes inbox apps and Chrome extensions.
You're giving a team of 20-year-olds access to the equivalent of your ID, bank vault, and diary combined.
Online privacy is an illusion.
If you construct your identity on what you’re a fan of (sports, media, brands), you’re a vessel. You’re lending out ownership over your identity.
Instead, if you construct your identity on the things you create, you’re a craftsperson—someone who keeps refining who they are.
Most friends aren't friends. They're acquaintances.
Friends phone you out-of-the-blue because they want to hear your voice. Friends would drive you to the emergency room at 3 AM.
Friends are the family you choose, and they're key to happiness in old age.
Invest in good people.
And the biggest lie there is.
-Julian Shapiro
1/ An investment in your mental health is the single most important investment you will make.
"Being happy personally is the pathway to help everything else make sense."
Open up. Talk to someone. It doesn't make you weak.
It will make you a stronger, happier, clearer thinker.
"Being happy personally is the pathway to help everything else make sense."
Open up. Talk to someone. It doesn't make you weak.
It will make you a stronger, happier, clearer thinker.
2/ Embrace imposter syndrome.
"The sense of being an imposter is overpowering. And it's like this dragon that I've been trying to slay my
whole life, and I haven't been able to."
Embrace this feeling. Get uncomfortable. Let it fuel you to learn and grow.
"The sense of being an imposter is overpowering. And it's like this dragon that I've been trying to slay my
whole life, and I haven't been able to."
Embrace this feeling. Get uncomfortable. Let it fuel you to learn and grow.
3/ Providing a path to financial freedom will solve many societal inequities.
"I think that if more people believed that they could be economically self-sufficient, it would solve a lot
of the societal implications of inequity."
If we light the path, people will walk along it.
"I think that if more people believed that they could be economically self-sufficient, it would solve a lot
of the societal implications of inequity."
If we light the path, people will walk along it.
4/ Go long on growth.
"Because whether rates are at minus five or plus five, the thing that overcomes all of that noise is fast
growth. CEOs that can invest all the money they make today for the future."
Let the best capital allocators reinvest for you. Let compounding work.
"Because whether rates are at minus five or plus five, the thing that overcomes all of that noise is fast
growth. CEOs that can invest all the money they make today for the future."
Let the best capital allocators reinvest for you. Let compounding work.
5/ Create rules that prevent you from falling into psychological traps of investing.
"I think it is that if you define certain behavioral principles that protect you from the worst parts of your
own psychology, that’s a winning strategy."
Create these rules. Stick to them.
"I think it is that if you define certain behavioral principles that protect you from the worst parts of your
own psychology, that’s a winning strategy."
Create these rules. Stick to them.
It took me...
200+ articles before I got a book deal.
250+ articles before I got major media coverage (NYT).
100+ interviews before my book hit the bestseller list.
You need a lot of shots on goal. Not everything will work, but some of it will.
Keep shooting.
- James Clear
200+ articles before I got a book deal.
250+ articles before I got major media coverage (NYT).
100+ interviews before my book hit the bestseller list.
You need a lot of shots on goal. Not everything will work, but some of it will.
Keep shooting.
- James Clear
1/ First, a few definitions.
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a given task are prone to overestimate their ability at that task.
Put simply, humans are notoriously incapable of objective evaluation of their competency levels.
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a given task are prone to overestimate their ability at that task.
Put simply, humans are notoriously incapable of objective evaluation of their competency levels.
2/ The cognitive bias was first identified by psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger in a 1999 study.
Their paper, entitled Unskilled and Unaware of It, summarized, "People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains."
Their paper, entitled Unskilled and Unaware of It, summarized, "People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains."
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4/ Wheeler was aware that lemon juice was used as invisible ink, so (incorrectly) inferred that it could be used to make himself invisible to security cameras.
Even after he was caught, he was legitimately incredulous that his plan with the lemon juice hadn't worked.
Even after he was caught, he was legitimately incredulous that his plan with the lemon juice hadn't worked.
5/ Dunning and Kruger studied whether the least skilled are the most overconfident.
Their finding: the worst performers consistently overestimated their abilities relative to others.
Let's look at a few examples of this bias in action and how you can avoid its pitfalls.
Their finding: the worst performers consistently overestimated their abilities relative to others.
Let's look at a few examples of this bias in action and how you can avoid its pitfalls.
7/ In politics?
With politics, intellectual humility is an aberration, not the norm.
Politicians espouse policy ideas with great confidence even if they have a weak handle of the details.
It's not shocking that we see Cobra Effects in the policy realm.
With politics, intellectual humility is an aberration, not the norm.
Politicians espouse policy ideas with great confidence even if they have a weak handle of the details.
It's not shocking that we see Cobra Effects in the policy realm.
9/ But while we can all rail against the politicians, bosses, or public figures who seem to epitomize the Dunning-Kruger Effect, it is important to recognize that, as humans, we are all prone to this cognitive bias!
So how do we avoid it?
Here are a few strategies.
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So how do we avoid it?
Here are a few strategies.
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11/ Get comfortable with, "I don't know."
Most people have an inherent discomfort with saying, "I don't know."
Change that. Embrace what you don't know.
The world would be a much better, more efficient place if we stripped out the fluff and cut to the "I don't know" chase.
Most people have an inherent discomfort with saying, "I don't know."
Change that. Embrace what you don't know.
The world would be a much better, more efficient place if we stripped out the fluff and cut to the "I don't know" chase.
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