Great Work
Science works by conjecturing how the world might be, running experiments, and learning from the results.
Startups work by CONJECTURING how the world should be, running experiments, and learning from the results
I find one meeting can sometimes affect a whole day. A meeting commonly blows at least half a day, by breaking up a morning or afternoon. But in addition there's sometimes a cascading effect. If I know the afternoon is going to be broken up, I'm slightly less likely to start something ambitious in the morning. I know this may sound oversensitive,... See more
Paul Graham • Maker's Schedule
Return to first principles and act quickly on your new conclusions.
It’s very easy to take the world as it is, as opposed to envisioning it as you want it to be. For example, when re-designing a feature, one approach is to take what you have, and imagine small changes that will solve the problems with the feature. Instead, it’s often instructive
... See moreJoe Lonsdale • Lessons from Peter Thiel
My notes from “inventing on principle” by Bret Victor.
You can be a craftsman (common) or a crusader (rare). You can define yourself by your work, or by a cause.
The most important thing you can realize is that your life is yours to shape—nothing is set in... See more
Patrick OShaughnessyx.comFirst Principles: in the context of a project, it’s the assumptions you’re confident about and your fundamental values that you won’t compromise.
i am thinking of the first principles we wrote down for my work project. there were 4 - and they were opinionated, guided direction, could be debated upon but we agreed on them and they led us through the
... See moreWhen you’re implementing a bad plan yourself, instead of having a mentor bail you out by fixing it, a few really useful things happen:
- You learn many more details about why it was a bad idea. If someone else tells you your plan is bad, they’ll probably list the top two or three reasons. By actually following through, you’ll also get to learn reasons
Learning to Build Conviction
Overall, I probably did a pretty bad job. But, importantly, I was able to see my mistakes play out in the real world. Instead of modeling what other people would tell me to do, I built a model of the problem directly. So when I got negative feedback, it wasn’t “Mentor X thinks this plan is bad” but “the world works differently than you expected.”
Learning to Build Conviction
Because the stakes are higher and it takes longer to see the results, all these decisions require what I’d call conviction : the confidence that your idea is good enough that it’s worth throwing a lot of effort behind.