Patricia Mou

To bring about grand futures, we humans have to figure out how to reconcile our current needs with our lofty ambitions. Tight-knit support communities - what we call tribes in this post - seem to be a good way to preserve our well-being and values while achieving more impact. Yet, building effective tribes seems like a relatively neglected puzzle... See more

If your goal does not have a schedule, it is a dream.

Live, work, and learn elegantly: I advocate for that which is elegantly designed, built, created— whether it's a clever turn of phrase, a well-written segment of code, a skillfully pared down piece of furniture, or a delightful UX element that precisely meets user needs. And in all aspects of my life and work, I do things well and elegantly.

There are profound asymmetries and power laws at play in the pursuit of meaning – a split second decision might be the most important one you make; years of lounging around in cafes and on beaches might pay off more than years of hard work - if it results in one extremely good idea.

Five steps on how to build a tribe:Identification: find and be foundCommunication: increase bandwidthCooperation: create valueReification: make your group “a thing”Adaptation: find the dark forces to preserve the essence of your thing

What I really want in life are experiences, activities, and states of being, not possessions.

To some people, disagreements feel like conflict; they don’t have to be, and avoiding disagreements comes with a high price. It doesn’t have to feel bad to figure out where you might be wrong if you learn to disentangle your self-worth from your belief system.

I believe that extolling the pursuit of happiness was a toxic stupidity entirely unworthy of my greatest American hero, Thomas Jefferson. Indeed, it is a poison that sickens our culture more wretchedly every nanosecond. I wish he'd never said it.It produces a monstrous, insatiable hunger inside our national psyche that encourages us ever more... See more