Johann Van Tonder
@jvt
20 years in ecommerce, now CEO of a CRO agency. Probably doing analysis in R or building stuff with AI. Or walking on the beach. Yeah, probably that.
Johann Van Tonder
“There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.”
Albert Einstein (1932)
Ironically, Einstein’s own theoretical work on mass-energy equivalence (E=mc²) would later prove fundamental to nuclear physics. Just ten years after this prediction, the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved in 1942.
https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/lists/10-failed-scientific-predictions-276945
Painter and visual artist Chuck Close on inspiration:
"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are... See more
"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are... See more
Superhuman
Productivity and
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” — Stephen Hawking
A rule I've followed, with great success, my entire life:
Tolerate odd behavior in highly-intelligent friends & acquaintances.
https://x.com/moseskagan/status/1765429798514655459?s=46&t=JMmaaCmNTudlpykV7EAn9g
Focus means head down. Big picture means head up. The more you’re doing of one, the less you’re doing of the other. If you’ve been head-down on a task for too long, lift your head up to make sure you’re going the right way. Don’t do well what you shouldn’t do at all.
Derek Sivers • How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion
Best-selling author Jack Canfield once said, “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” And he’s right. But I’m going to take it one step further. Pain, discomfort, shock, boredom, impostor syndrome, awkwardness, fear, being wrong, failing, ignorance, looking stupid: Your avoidance of these feelings is stopping you from a life greater than
... See moreBenjamin Hardy • Willpower Doesn't Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success
Quotes and Motivation
On Luck
"'Give yourself a lot of shots to get lucky' is even better advice than it appears on the surface. Luck isn’t an independent variable but increases super-linearly with more surface area—you meet more people, make more connections between new ideas, learn patterns, etc."
-- Sam Altman
"'Give yourself a lot of shots to get lucky' is even better advice than it appears on the surface. Luck isn’t an independent variable but increases super-linearly with more surface area—you meet more people, make more connections between new ideas, learn patterns, etc."
-- Sam Altman