Reminders for myself

How to live a miserable life in 5 easy steps:

1. Don’t decide. Spend tons of time planning and thinking, very little doing.

2. Don't set goals. And certainly don't track progress (or lack thereof).

3. Switch from thing to thing every quarter or year. Mastery and compounding is for suckers. Starting from scratch will be easier.

From what I have observed, the truth of the matter is: People who work very hard and apply themselves and don’t give up and take responsibility for the outcomes on a long enough time scale, end up succeeding in whatever they’re focused on. And every success case knows this.

Richard Feynman used to say that he wasn’t a genius. He was just a boy who... See more

The Comparison Effect: “being in an objectively good situation might feel really crappy if you compare yourself to somebody else that has a slightly better objectively good situation.” So try to not do that. Try to not evaluate things relatively. Instead, try to evaluate them objectively.

Realize also that many of the flaws you see in the world are low-order bits that were allowed to fail or high-order bits that can’t be flipped yet. Instead of getting disillusioned, try to understand why things are the way they are and help flip some bits if you can. But at least show patience and empathy, appreciating that all you see may not be... See more

“A man on a thousand-mile walk has to forget his ultimate goal and say to himself every morning, ‘Today I’m going to cover twenty-five miles and then rest up and sleep.’” — Leo Tolstoy

After a while determination starts to look like talent

The hardest thing is taking responsibility for everything in your life. It is also the most liberating thing.