👍19❤2
School made many people feel dumb for not memorizing fast enough, but tons of smart people, who end up very successful later in life, were just deeper thinkers, needed more life experience first, and more time alone to connect the dots independently without the pressure of exams.
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👍21❤6
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic: A Lesson in ignoring advice
In Tennis, there was a special moment in history: The 3 greatest of all time -- competed at the exact same time.
Federer. Nadal. Djokovic.
Behind their success, is such a beautiful idea I can't stop thinking about...
Matthew Syed tells a wonderful story of watching them warm up before Wimbledon at Aorangi Park.
When Nadal warmed up, it was pure agression. His biceps were bulging. He sprinted up and down like a man possessed. His shirt was dripping in sweat.
When Djovocick warmed up, it was pure emotionless calibration. He was measured and scientific with every shot.
When Federer warmed up, you could hear him giggling before he arrived. He's doing trick shots, caressing the ball and exploring his own creativity.
The beautiful lesson from this is that the 3 GOAT's existed at the exact same time... And had 3 unique approaches personalised to them.
There was no "right way" of doing things that they all repeated.
In the age of infinite informaiton on the internet, it's so easy to download a new guru's advice without asking: "Will this work for me?"
Instead: Personalise, always personalise.
When someone gives you advice, sandbox it and ask: Are they giving me the Nadal approach? The Djovocick approach? The Federer approach?
Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, has a great filter he puts all advice through: "What does this mean to me?".
It's better to have an OK playbook that leans into your strengths than a great playbook that leans into your weaknesses.
Self-awareness is a helluva drug.
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👍10❤7🔥3😱1
The ideas you need to keep in mind in order to consistently improve your life as you get older are quite simple:
- believe you can get mentally stronger, because life isn't getting easier.
- read more old books, there is so much to learn from dead people, especially when you start thinking that this time is different: the nature of people doesn’t change.
- be less reactive, especially when you feel angry, all your relationships will suddenly improve.
- be more proactive with others, ask them out for a coffee if you feel like you could learn a lot from them, most people are actually happy to share what they know.
- actually listen to others, you can’t do it as long as you are busy judging them.
- figure out how to have fun every day, especially when your goals are difficult, you will increase your chances of getting there.
- stay in good shape, because it’s so much more fun to experience life in a body you like.
- foolish impulses and addictions disappear once you have a long-term meaningful purpose and are serious about it; a lot of stupid decisions are made out of boredom.
- write every day, you will notice that eloquence and mental clarity can be trained, you will also attract many more opportunities once you can effortlessly communicate your ideas.
- don’t be so busy that you wake up one day, old, realizing that you don’t have a single good friend.
- stay intellectually curious, leave your preconceptions aside, don’t jump to conclusions so quickly; the most bitter people are those who could have done something, but never did, not because they lacked intelligence, but because they lacked courage.
- don’t believe everything you read or watch on the Internet, especially if it’s about Japan.
- talk to people with the intention of learning from them, they don’t need your “fixing.”
- stay away from social media unless it’s actually improving your life.
- periodically fast, your future self will thank you.
- mindless scrolling is a sign that you don’t respect yourself, you should always have better to do with your time.
- keep learning whatever foreign language you started ten years ago, it’s worth it, there are tons of awesome people who don’t speak English.
- don’t be proud of being overworked, stressed out, on the edge all the time, you are being a mental burden on your family and friends, and one day, you will realize that your close relationships mattered more than work.
- no one honest will teach you how to get wealthy because the nature of the financial opportunities keeps changing as society and technology evolve; remember that imagining the future is more important than studying the past, although you should do both.
- relationships with people who gave up on becoming a better person are a dead-end, you will both get frustrated, life only gets better when you get better.
- be kinder to your family, one day, they'll suddenly be gone, and you will wonder why you kept getting so emotional over literally nothing.
- don’t take yourself so seriously, the most successful people out there are literally just playing.
@ebookscafe
- believe you can get mentally stronger, because life isn't getting easier.
- read more old books, there is so much to learn from dead people, especially when you start thinking that this time is different: the nature of people doesn’t change.
- be less reactive, especially when you feel angry, all your relationships will suddenly improve.
- be more proactive with others, ask them out for a coffee if you feel like you could learn a lot from them, most people are actually happy to share what they know.
- actually listen to others, you can’t do it as long as you are busy judging them.
- figure out how to have fun every day, especially when your goals are difficult, you will increase your chances of getting there.
- stay in good shape, because it’s so much more fun to experience life in a body you like.
- foolish impulses and addictions disappear once you have a long-term meaningful purpose and are serious about it; a lot of stupid decisions are made out of boredom.
- write every day, you will notice that eloquence and mental clarity can be trained, you will also attract many more opportunities once you can effortlessly communicate your ideas.
- don’t be so busy that you wake up one day, old, realizing that you don’t have a single good friend.
- stay intellectually curious, leave your preconceptions aside, don’t jump to conclusions so quickly; the most bitter people are those who could have done something, but never did, not because they lacked intelligence, but because they lacked courage.
- don’t believe everything you read or watch on the Internet, especially if it’s about Japan.
- talk to people with the intention of learning from them, they don’t need your “fixing.”
- stay away from social media unless it’s actually improving your life.
- periodically fast, your future self will thank you.
- mindless scrolling is a sign that you don’t respect yourself, you should always have better to do with your time.
- keep learning whatever foreign language you started ten years ago, it’s worth it, there are tons of awesome people who don’t speak English.
- don’t be proud of being overworked, stressed out, on the edge all the time, you are being a mental burden on your family and friends, and one day, you will realize that your close relationships mattered more than work.
- no one honest will teach you how to get wealthy because the nature of the financial opportunities keeps changing as society and technology evolve; remember that imagining the future is more important than studying the past, although you should do both.
- relationships with people who gave up on becoming a better person are a dead-end, you will both get frustrated, life only gets better when you get better.
- be kinder to your family, one day, they'll suddenly be gone, and you will wonder why you kept getting so emotional over literally nothing.
- don’t take yourself so seriously, the most successful people out there are literally just playing.
@ebookscafe
👍20❤14🔥2🥰1
When you are reading a great book, you don't want it to end.
When you found a great purpose, you are not in a hurry to reach the end either.
Many people nowadays are constantly in a rush to get things done as fast as possible, and they end up enjoying none of the journey.
Some of the greatest things in life can only be appreciated if you take it slow.
@ebookscafe
When you found a great purpose, you are not in a hurry to reach the end either.
Many people nowadays are constantly in a rush to get things done as fast as possible, and they end up enjoying none of the journey.
Some of the greatest things in life can only be appreciated if you take it slow.
@ebookscafe
❤25👍8🔥3👎1
There is a lot you can achieve purely online, including:
buying, selling, playing around with numbers until you are financially free,
getting fluent in a foreign language even if you cannot afford to live abroad,
getting access to every book, song, movie, that human beings have ever created and digitalized,
using that knowledge to become a physically and mentally stronger person,
as you also get wiser, improving your relationships with people you live around, because most external conflicts stem from your own insecurities and overreactions,
connecting with like-minded people from all around the world by publishing your thoughts and being unapologetic about how you see the world.
In the online world, you will also feel relatively safe, it’s comfortable, you can easily filter out anything unpleasant, but eventually, uncomfortable experiences in real life are what makes you grow the most as a person:
you will learn ten times faster from people if you talk to them in person in a comfortable place,
you will build ten times stronger bonds with your friends if you are present for each other when it matters the most,
you will enjoy your life ten times more once you set yourself on a journey that doesn’t feel less thrilling than the best novels,
you will understand the true value of money once you actually make a difference in the lives of people you know personally, with whom you feel emotionally connected,
you will appreciate the serendipity of life and understand that the best things happen once you stay committed long enough,
and you will also realize how important it is for your serenity and your mental wellbeing, to live in a place where you feel like you belong, where you feel safe, around a community you care about, with a small circle of family and friends who genuinely want the best for each other.
@ebookscafe
buying, selling, playing around with numbers until you are financially free,
getting fluent in a foreign language even if you cannot afford to live abroad,
getting access to every book, song, movie, that human beings have ever created and digitalized,
using that knowledge to become a physically and mentally stronger person,
as you also get wiser, improving your relationships with people you live around, because most external conflicts stem from your own insecurities and overreactions,
connecting with like-minded people from all around the world by publishing your thoughts and being unapologetic about how you see the world.
In the online world, you will also feel relatively safe, it’s comfortable, you can easily filter out anything unpleasant, but eventually, uncomfortable experiences in real life are what makes you grow the most as a person:
you will learn ten times faster from people if you talk to them in person in a comfortable place,
you will build ten times stronger bonds with your friends if you are present for each other when it matters the most,
you will enjoy your life ten times more once you set yourself on a journey that doesn’t feel less thrilling than the best novels,
you will understand the true value of money once you actually make a difference in the lives of people you know personally, with whom you feel emotionally connected,
you will appreciate the serendipity of life and understand that the best things happen once you stay committed long enough,
and you will also realize how important it is for your serenity and your mental wellbeing, to live in a place where you feel like you belong, where you feel safe, around a community you care about, with a small circle of family and friends who genuinely want the best for each other.
@ebookscafe
❤11👍9🔥2
Semi-controversial opinion: There’s no such thing as working too hard. There’s just being under rested.
1. Winston Churchill used to work 16 hours per day in his old age during the war — but he also worked in bed every day until 11am. He had a nap after lunch, and a 2 hour nap before dinner at 8pm before working late into the night.
2. John. D Rockefeller took a 30 minute nap everyday at 12pm. No meeting was important enough to move this out of his calendar.
3. Advice I’d give my younger self: Don’t focus on energy output (working too hard). Focus on energy production (recharging activities). If you produce more energy than you burn, it’s impossible to burn out.
4. The person that is well rested might be able to work 16 hour days 6 days per week. The person who never works but scrolls TikTok all day can struggle to do 30 minutes without burning out.
5. Josh Waitzkin has this concept called the "Simmering Six":
“Most people in high-stress, decision-making industries are always operating at this kind of simmering six, as opposed to the undulation between just deep relaxation and being at a 10. Being at a 10 is millions of times better than being at a 6. It’s just in a different universe.”
6. Eleanor Roosevelt credited one thing to surviving her White House schedule for 12 years: Before meeting crowds or giving a speech, she would sit still, close her eyes and relax for 20 minutes.
7. When Dale Carnegie asked Henry Ford how he had so much energy before his 80th birthday: “I never stand up when I can sit down; and I never sit down when I can lie down”
8. Marcelo Garcia, the best BJJ practitioner of all time, was found asleep minutes before his semi final world championship bout and stumbled into the ring out of a slumber — before destroying his opponent.
9. When Triple H went to see Floyd Mayweather before his fight with Marquez backstage, he expected Floyd to be psyching himself up for the big occasion. Instead, he was lay on the sofa watching a baseball game.
10. Christopher Nolan doesn’t have a smartphone. His assistant manages his emails and he writes everything on a laptop without an internet connection. “I do a lot of my best thinking in those kind of in-between moments that people now fill with online activity”
11. What does the rest and recharge industry get wrong? It tries to sell a magic pill for everyone. Instead, it should always be personalised to the individual. Some people get energy from a massage — others like to do 48 hours in Vegas Denis Rodman style.
12. There’s a simple algorithm for identifying the highest leverage relaxation for yourself: (Energy produced ÷ time it takes)
13. Ironically, if Type-A personalities rest better, they’ll also be happier and live longer. But it’s always better to sell it as the ability to increase their work — and sneak happiness and health in the back door.
- George Mack
@ebookscafe
1. Winston Churchill used to work 16 hours per day in his old age during the war — but he also worked in bed every day until 11am. He had a nap after lunch, and a 2 hour nap before dinner at 8pm before working late into the night.
2. John. D Rockefeller took a 30 minute nap everyday at 12pm. No meeting was important enough to move this out of his calendar.
3. Advice I’d give my younger self: Don’t focus on energy output (working too hard). Focus on energy production (recharging activities). If you produce more energy than you burn, it’s impossible to burn out.
4. The person that is well rested might be able to work 16 hour days 6 days per week. The person who never works but scrolls TikTok all day can struggle to do 30 minutes without burning out.
5. Josh Waitzkin has this concept called the "Simmering Six":
“Most people in high-stress, decision-making industries are always operating at this kind of simmering six, as opposed to the undulation between just deep relaxation and being at a 10. Being at a 10 is millions of times better than being at a 6. It’s just in a different universe.”
6. Eleanor Roosevelt credited one thing to surviving her White House schedule for 12 years: Before meeting crowds or giving a speech, she would sit still, close her eyes and relax for 20 minutes.
7. When Dale Carnegie asked Henry Ford how he had so much energy before his 80th birthday: “I never stand up when I can sit down; and I never sit down when I can lie down”
8. Marcelo Garcia, the best BJJ practitioner of all time, was found asleep minutes before his semi final world championship bout and stumbled into the ring out of a slumber — before destroying his opponent.
9. When Triple H went to see Floyd Mayweather before his fight with Marquez backstage, he expected Floyd to be psyching himself up for the big occasion. Instead, he was lay on the sofa watching a baseball game.
10. Christopher Nolan doesn’t have a smartphone. His assistant manages his emails and he writes everything on a laptop without an internet connection. “I do a lot of my best thinking in those kind of in-between moments that people now fill with online activity”
11. What does the rest and recharge industry get wrong? It tries to sell a magic pill for everyone. Instead, it should always be personalised to the individual. Some people get energy from a massage — others like to do 48 hours in Vegas Denis Rodman style.
12. There’s a simple algorithm for identifying the highest leverage relaxation for yourself: (Energy produced ÷ time it takes)
13. Ironically, if Type-A personalities rest better, they’ll also be happier and live longer. But it’s always better to sell it as the ability to increase their work — and sneak happiness and health in the back door.
- George Mack
@ebookscafe
❤16👍8👏2
“Optimising for engagement (clicks) has distorted mainstream media, but it’s just as distorting to independent and alternative media as well, if not more so. Sad to see the best minds of my generation destroyed by algorithms.” —
There’s a term in the online content creation world called Audience Capture which you might have heard of…
When a creator finds a particular type of messaging that resonates really well with their audience, they are incentivised to lean into that messaging more, as it grows their channel.
As their channel grows and they get more positive audience feedback, the creator begins to make editorial decisions about what topics to focus on based on their prediction of how it will land with their audience.
They’re playing the game purely to appease the crowd.
The problem is that just like with any drug, the users require ever-intensifying doses to be able to get the same effect.
So the creator has to have more outlandish takes, more extreme views, more clickbait, with even less nuance.
Any subtlety or deviation from the audience’s expectations looks like a lack of conviction to the tribe. It results in poorer performance and pushback, so the incentive to challenge the audience with alternate points of view is no longer there.
You can see how a creator who desires growth at all costs would easily be seduced by this.
“If I keep on being more extreme and predictable, I get positive feedback and growth and money. If I move in the opposite direction I get negative feedback and growth and money stops.”
Instead of being an outlet for their own curiosity, the channel has now become a limbic-hijack-prediction-engine for the creator’s audience.
This tends to lead to hacky, clickbaity, tribal, overblown work.
You can easily tell which online creators have become Audience Captured…
Can you accurately predict this person’s opinion on any topic, even without having heard them talk about it?
Has the creator almost become a caricature of themselves?
Do they rarely surprise you with what they believe or the guests and stories they feature?
If not – you’ve probably got someone who is Audience Captured.
The internet is so tribal that some audiences are only prepared to support a creator that agrees with their entire worldview wholesale.
The slightest deviation from this can identify them as no longer a member of their in-group, and thus an enemy.
Just as social media has created Echo Chambers for audiences, it’s also created Echo Echo Chambers for creators.
@ebookscafe
There’s a term in the online content creation world called Audience Capture which you might have heard of…
When a creator finds a particular type of messaging that resonates really well with their audience, they are incentivised to lean into that messaging more, as it grows their channel.
As their channel grows and they get more positive audience feedback, the creator begins to make editorial decisions about what topics to focus on based on their prediction of how it will land with their audience.
They’re playing the game purely to appease the crowd.
The problem is that just like with any drug, the users require ever-intensifying doses to be able to get the same effect.
So the creator has to have more outlandish takes, more extreme views, more clickbait, with even less nuance.
Any subtlety or deviation from the audience’s expectations looks like a lack of conviction to the tribe. It results in poorer performance and pushback, so the incentive to challenge the audience with alternate points of view is no longer there.
You can see how a creator who desires growth at all costs would easily be seduced by this.
“If I keep on being more extreme and predictable, I get positive feedback and growth and money. If I move in the opposite direction I get negative feedback and growth and money stops.”
Instead of being an outlet for their own curiosity, the channel has now become a limbic-hijack-prediction-engine for the creator’s audience.
This tends to lead to hacky, clickbaity, tribal, overblown work.
You can easily tell which online creators have become Audience Captured…
Can you accurately predict this person’s opinion on any topic, even without having heard them talk about it?
Has the creator almost become a caricature of themselves?
Do they rarely surprise you with what they believe or the guests and stories they feature?
If not – you’ve probably got someone who is Audience Captured.
The internet is so tribal that some audiences are only prepared to support a creator that agrees with their entire worldview wholesale.
The slightest deviation from this can identify them as no longer a member of their in-group, and thus an enemy.
Just as social media has created Echo Chambers for audiences, it’s also created Echo Echo Chambers for creators.
@ebookscafe
👍14❤2
It’s better to be the oldest person in the weight room than the youngest person in the nursing home.
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💯17👍7
Productivity Boils down to:
1) Getting Started
2) Not getting distracted
Period #Productivity
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1) Getting Started
2) Not getting distracted
Period #Productivity
@ebookscafe
🔥18👍6❤2
I’ve been thinking about how tech use impacts our conversations.
Conversations are the most human and humanising thing that we do.
It’s where empathy is born, where intimacy is born.
Because of eye contact, because we can hear the tones of another person’s voice and sense their body movements.
It’s where we learn about other people.
But, without meaning to, without having made a plan, we’ve actually moved away from conversation in a way that research shows is hurting us.
89% of Americans say that during their last social interaction, they took out a phone.
82% said that it deteriorated the conversation they were in.
Basically, we’re all doing something that is hurting our interactions and making them more shallow, as we desperately try to find more depth & meaning in relationships.
If you put a phone on the table in during a social interaction, it does two things:
First, it decreases the quality of what you talk about, because you tend to talk about things where you wouldn’t mind being interrupted.
And secondly it decreases the empathic connection that people feel toward each other because we realise that all parties see each other as less of a priority.
So, even something as simple as going to lunch and putting a phone on the table decreases the emotional importance of what people are willing to talk about.
And it decreases the connection that those people feel toward one another.
If you multiply that by all of the times you have your phone on the table when you have coffee with a friend or are at breakfast with your child or are talking with your partner about how you’re feeling, we’re doing this to each other multiple times per day.
A good solution here is to create sacred spaces where you won’t use your phone.
Make the kitchen or dining room or car or restaurant phone-free zones.
Just leave your phone in the car or in your bag when you’re spending time with your friend or partner or kids.
Maybe even suggest that they do it too.
The social media apps will be waiting for you when you’re done, but you can’t rerun a cherished conversation which you were too distracted to enjoy.
- Chris Willsx
#Socialmedia #Distracted #Deepwork #Focus
@ebookscafe
Conversations are the most human and humanising thing that we do.
It’s where empathy is born, where intimacy is born.
Because of eye contact, because we can hear the tones of another person’s voice and sense their body movements.
It’s where we learn about other people.
But, without meaning to, without having made a plan, we’ve actually moved away from conversation in a way that research shows is hurting us.
89% of Americans say that during their last social interaction, they took out a phone.
82% said that it deteriorated the conversation they were in.
Basically, we’re all doing something that is hurting our interactions and making them more shallow, as we desperately try to find more depth & meaning in relationships.
If you put a phone on the table in during a social interaction, it does two things:
First, it decreases the quality of what you talk about, because you tend to talk about things where you wouldn’t mind being interrupted.
And secondly it decreases the empathic connection that people feel toward each other because we realise that all parties see each other as less of a priority.
So, even something as simple as going to lunch and putting a phone on the table decreases the emotional importance of what people are willing to talk about.
And it decreases the connection that those people feel toward one another.
If you multiply that by all of the times you have your phone on the table when you have coffee with a friend or are at breakfast with your child or are talking with your partner about how you’re feeling, we’re doing this to each other multiple times per day.
A good solution here is to create sacred spaces where you won’t use your phone.
Make the kitchen or dining room or car or restaurant phone-free zones.
Just leave your phone in the car or in your bag when you’re spending time with your friend or partner or kids.
Maybe even suggest that they do it too.
The social media apps will be waiting for you when you’re done, but you can’t rerun a cherished conversation which you were too distracted to enjoy.
- Chris Willsx
#Socialmedia #Distracted #Deepwork #Focus
@ebookscafe
❤21👍9🥰1
It's not about the information you can consume. It's about what you consume ? How can you make it work more according to your condition? How much do you iterate it? ( Because if you apply the same thing..you won't have the competitive advantage)
Reminder: Whenever consuming information. Go slow. Understand. Iterate. Apply. Don't just go on with more and more new content..it's endless.
CONSUME. PAUSE. WRITE. REFLECT. APPLY. ITERATE
It's not about more information, it's about how much time you put in to make it personalized and how you make it work in real world.
@ebookscafe
Reminder: Whenever consuming information. Go slow. Understand. Iterate. Apply. Don't just go on with more and more new content..it's endless.
CONSUME. PAUSE. WRITE. REFLECT. APPLY. ITERATE
It's not about more information, it's about how much time you put in to make it personalized and how you make it work in real world.
@ebookscafe
👍14❤4
Today, with the cost of creating content being close to zero, people can share an incredible amount of content. This has sparked my curiosity about the concept of long shelf life versus short shelf life. While much of what we see and hear quickly becomes obsolete, there are timeless ideas or even pieces of music that can remain relevant for decades or even centuries.
For example, we’re witnessing a resurgence of Stoicism, with many of Marcus Aurelius’s insights still resonating thousands of years later. This makes me wonder: what are the most unintuitive, yet enduring ideas that aren’t frequently discussed today but might have a long shelf life? Also, what are we creating now that will still be valued and discussed hundreds or thousands of years from today?
@TheBestTwitterThreads
For example, we’re witnessing a resurgence of Stoicism, with many of Marcus Aurelius’s insights still resonating thousands of years later. This makes me wonder: what are the most unintuitive, yet enduring ideas that aren’t frequently discussed today but might have a long shelf life? Also, what are we creating now that will still be valued and discussed hundreds or thousands of years from today?
@TheBestTwitterThreads
👍19🔥4👏3
👍18
Most people stop at consumption. This has always been the case, and will continue to be the case forever and ever, Amen. This makes sense, as it requires the least amount of effort. But the evolution of algorithmic and hyperpersonal content makes moving beyond consumption even more challenging. If I already enjoy the content I’m being served, why would I spend time in discovery or discernment (synthesis)? However, there is a critical, existential issue embedded here.
@ebookscafe
Synthesis is where taste develops.
@ebookscafe
👍13❤3🤔1