juliana ong

soft ambition is about playing the long game without losing yourself in the process. it’s about wanting success, but on your own terms—without sacrificing your sanity, health, or joy along the way. it’s ambition without the sharp edges.

In a world of fast content incentivized by advertising-based attention-hacking business models, being slow and considered is a superpower.

The essay suggests that in high-energy emotional states, such as falling in love, grief, awe, psychedelics, deep meditation, the brain becomes molten, its patterns loosened, more open to reorganisation. The person we focus on in these states becomes like a mold for the cooling metal, shaping how our thoughts settle, what habits crystallise, what... See more

I really believe that the only way to find relief from anxiety, to find self-esteem, self-respect, self-love—everything we’re searching for and is so prized in modern culture—is trying to live a more virtuous life.

I think it is possible that social media might feel exactly the way that my diary feels to me. Which is that—until you post it, it doesn’t feel like it’s done yet. Or until you post something, you don’t exist. Or maybe until like X-number of people see the post, it hasn’t really finished happening yet. And, you know, for me, obviously the audience... See more

9. Stockdale Paradox:

The optimal state of mind is neither optimism, which leaves you unprepared for adversity, nor pessimism, which destroys motivation, but optimistic pessimism: by preparing for the worst outcomes, you increase confidence in dealing with any outcome, and thus, you increase hope.

I’m no moral philosopher, but from a behavioral standpoint, a lot of what we consider “evil” is poor self-control and/or psychopathy, which both make some of us less likely to suppress acting on impulses coming from the darker side of our human nature.

introspection is overrated. That’s in part because what’s going on in your mind is not only more complicated than you understand, it is more complicated than you can understand. Your mind hides most of your thinking so you can get on with life. Furthermore, you’re too close to yourself. You can’t see the models you use to perceive the world because

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