Good Traits
exploring good character traits, personalities, etc
sari and
Good Traits
A biographer of the novelist E. M. Forster wrote, “To speak to him was to be seduced by an inverse charisma, a sense of being listened to with such intensity that you had to be your most honest, sharpest, and best self.” Imagine how good it would be to be that guy.
David Brooks • How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
I was particularly compelled by Kusserow’s argument that so many of the characteristics we often consider “personality traits” — things like shyness, creativity, confidence, organization, and shyness — are actually “class-learned attributes.”
Anne Helen Petersen • Myths of Grit and Passion
Michael Lewis on how your narrative crafts your character:
If you listen to people, if you just sit around and listen, you’ll find there are patterns in the way they talk about themselves. Some people are always the victim. Some people always get unlucky. Some people are always in the middle of some impossible... See more
sari and
Let the flame of Definite Optimism burn away the Mimetic virus. Use the Internet to curate your environment, so you can be hyper-mimetic towards the rare few who are anti-mimetic. Copy the people who don’t copy people. Take risks. Build a differentiated skillset. Pursue timeless wisdom, not intellectual fashions. Be skeptical of convention, and... See more
David Perell • Peter Thiel’s Religion
On lucky occasions, you’ll meet someone who just gets it . They pick up on your subtle hints and drop you some of their own. They understand the games of life, and are often very good at them. They are rabidly curious, sharply witty, and brightly playful. This person is lucid .
Leber • On lucidity
People with very high expectations have very low resilience
via Jensen Huang: I’ve seen plenty of straight-A Ivy-league students struggle when they enter the real world.
Sometimes I’ve had this feeling like someone is so much smarter than me and therefore I have no hope of competing. But usually what is really going on is that they are just more obsessed than me. Intelligence is good, and some amount is required, but the obsession is better.
Patrick OShaughnessy • Tweet
on obsession
Optimistic really ought to be a verb
It's something you *do*, not some property you happen to possess. Sometimes it's easy to do, and sometimes it's darned hard, requiring imagination & determination
Michael Nielsenx.com