Agency
Everything in our world is there because someone decided it needed to exist. We all have things we know need to exist. What stops us from making them exist?
Agency
Big companies exert low levels of stress. But that stress is often low agency, so you often feel miserable in face of problems.
Startups exert high levels of stress. But that stress is often high agency, so you often feel energized in the face of problems.
I need a good image to symbolize the Whispering Earring
it’s only going to become more relevant https://t.co/SWNMrqHpev
Convenience can indeed become a burden
The “scrub” believes that by learning to play the game the proper way, they will come out on top in the long run—that exploiting cheapness is shortsighted and doesn’t build skill.
Scrubs play for an imaginary version of “mastery”, while top players Play to Win.
Ask culture and guess culture are vastly different in behavior and expectations. Here are some highlights:
Ask culture expectations
Ask culture expectations
- Ask for what you want, even if it seems out of reach or like a big unreasonable request
- Take care of your own needs, and others will take care of theirs
- It’s fine to make requests that people will probably say no to
- People
Jean Hsu • Ask vs Guess Culture
There's obviously a balance to be had here. But it you want to accomplish things that are hard, you should lean towards ask.
Why is this?
Hard things require overcoming a lot of obstacles. It requires diligence and time. If you're going to hear a lot of no’s, it's better to hear them upfront than hope there's a yes lurking around the corner. There usually isn't.
In my experience, the way you end up doing good in the world has very little to do with how good your initial plan was.
Nate Soares • Dive in
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare."
–Muhammad Ali
Sam Altman: "A big secret is that you can bend the world to your will a surprising percentage of the time—most people don’t even try, and just accept that things are the way that they are.
People have an enormous capacity to make things happen. A combination of self-doubt,… Show more
First, we must gather information, and collect our puzzle pieces. Then we must assemble the edges, building the container for our work. In this way, action is the precursor to creativity. Not the other way around.
We must act our way into creativity, not think our way in.