Sublime

avoid overshooting or undershooting your zones of competence, commitment, and compatibility whenever you talk about yourself.

“the paradox of success,”

five main reasons why human behaviour often departs from what we think of as conventional rationality. The first of these is signalling, the need to send reliable indications of commitment and intent, which can inspire confidence and trust.

Highly educated people don’t merely use logic; it is part of their identity.

Even if you’re not one, when you care about a goal, it’s hard to be disciplined in choosing what to prioritize, what to minimize, when to stop, and how to accept inescapable flaws.

One day, I was having brunch with Mark and Joseph, forcing them to help me think about the balance between ambition and equanimity for the umpteenth time. After the entrées and before dessert, Joseph got up to hit the bathroom. He came back smiling and pronounced, “I’ve figured it out. A useful mantra in those moments is ‘What matters most?’”

challenge is to work with, rather than against, people’s sense of who they are.

Character is your capacity to prioritize your values over your instincts.

The reason practices work to give you better access to your best wisdom in discerning a good decision relates precisely to the nature of such insights.