lived experience

“The greats figure out what works for them, regardless of what everyone else does.”

People who have not experienced the thing are unlikely to be generating

truth

. More likely, they’re resurfacing cached thoughts and narratives. Reading popular science books or news articles is not a substitute for understanding, and may make you stupider, by filling your mind with narratives and stories that don’t represent

your own synthesis

.

Almost the only good advice in any discipline is “develop instincts, then use them”.

I strongly believe that stories are often better than pure advice, because you can see the context from which that advice comes from. This also applies to real life: my instinct is to ask questions whenever someone offers me advice. Specifically, I want to know the contexts in which the person applied said advice, and I see this as gaining more... See more

The actual advice isn’t the limiting factor — in 2020, information is plentiful. However, the success to back it up is what’s in short supply. While lots of people can opine on how to get to the top of a particular field, only the best can speak to their own experience when they tell you how to get there. The authenticity can’t be copied. And... See more

lived experience outperforms generic advice