Life Advice
unoptimal and
Life Advice
Find a compass, not a map. A map might give you directions from A to B, but a compass will help you find true north wherever you are.
Simone Stolzoff • How to Find Clarity When You’re at a Career Crossroads
“I hope you live without the need to dominate, and without the need to be dominated. I hope you are never victims, but I hope you have no power over other people. And when you fail, and are defeated, and in pain, and in the dark, then I hope you will remember that darkness is your country, where you live, where no wars are fought and no wars are... See more
Ursula LeGuin (1983)
on the futility of advice
Seek real feedback
It’s hard to overstate how overpowered this one is. If you aren’t trying to get real feedback from people who know you, you’re cooking without tasting. This is, like, the lowest hanging fruit for self-improvement, but few people really try to pick it.
In many contexts, the way to get good feedback is to give people a way to... See more
It’s hard to overstate how overpowered this one is. If you aren’t trying to get real feedback from people who know you, you’re cooking without tasting. This is, like, the lowest hanging fruit for self-improvement, but few people really try to pick it.
In many contexts, the way to get good feedback is to give people a way to... See more
Cate Hall • How to Be More Agentic
Anna Wintour’s biography turned into maxims:
1. Hire talented people as found, not as needed.
2. Taste is as rare as a unicorn.
3.Your employees should describe you as “easy to understand.”
4.Pretend to be completely in control and people will assume that you are.
5.Have a sharp eye for the weaknesses of others.
6.Combine ruthless efficiency with... See more
1. Hire talented people as found, not as needed.
2. Taste is as rare as a unicorn.
3.Your employees should describe you as “easy to understand.”
4.Pretend to be completely in control and people will assume that you are.
5.Have a sharp eye for the weaknesses of others.
6.Combine ruthless efficiency with... See more
David Senra • Tweet
Generic, uncontextualized advice is a menace- by definition it attracts the lost and the confused and only makes them more lost and more confused. Even the seemingly most universal, failsafe advice of the ‘work hard’, ‘try your best’, and ‘believe in yourself’ ilk, can be disastrous for certain people. It can merely act as a motivator and energy... See more