Feelings don’t care about your facts. Don’t take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from. Being a black sheep is still being a sheep. Don’t fall into the trap of mourning a life you can still live. You need fewer inputs, not more. Do you love yourself for who you are or for what you do?
Chris WilliamsonNot wanting something is as good a having it. Take the path of financial success first, then seek deeper happiness. The reason to win the game is to get free of it. You only need the respect of the people you respect. The wealth creation game is infinite but status game is limited. Self-esteem is the reputation you have with yourself, live rigorously to your own code. Being in love feels better than being loved as it is extensive. The proudest learns and grows the least. If you're so smart, why aren't you happy? Why not be the happiest person in the world? You only have 4000 weeks alive, why waste it on things you don't want to do? What you can't remember doesn't matter to you. Your natural order is freedom, not being over-scheduled. You are the most productive when you are happy and free. Inspiration is perishable, consume it the moment it arrives, not because your calendar allows you to. Procrastination tells you what you really want to do. Find what feels like play to you that feels like work for others. You escape competition through authenticity, productize yourself. Spend time in exploration before committing to exploitation. If you can't decide, the answer is "No". Choose the problems you have to solve. Become successful based on your own definition of success. Everything is a win as long as you learn something. You don't need mentors, you need action. Try to understand yourself more than you try to domesticate yourself. Every moment not lived consciously is wasted. Your mind will eat you alive if you let it. The only way to change people is to compliment them when they do good things. Walk away when things are not good enough for you. You get out of life what is acceptable to you. Only care about what matters to you. Where you live defines your opportunities: jobs, friends, family, health, weather. If you want to be happy, marry a happy person. Values are more important than checklists. You shouldn't take yourself too seriously because there is nothing here worth taking seriously. The advices you gave yourself 10 years ago are the ones you also need today. Wisdom has to be learned, it can't be taught. You only need to be right once to get the big score. If you have to memorize something, you don't understand it. You can't beat AI at memorizing, understanding and taste are what matters. Pure libertarian get outcompeted and die because they can't coordinate which culture, religion, and ethnicity are good at. Power gives you the right to vote, not the other way other around. You can't care about everything, you'll go insane if you try. Only care about local things and what you can act on. Instead of trying to untie the knot that is your past, simply cut it. The real currency in life is not time but attention. The more resources you have, the greater the tribe you can take care of. A lazy person is wasted potential and shouldn't be respected, society needs capable people. The alpha doesn't eat first, he eats last after feeding his tribe.
Naval RavikantView the future as something to be shaped by human action rather than something unsolvable. Cynics are both the guard and prisoner of their own cell. A change of perspective is worth 50 IQ points. If it doesn't defy the laws of physics, you can do it. Build a strong tolerance to rejection and failure to realize nothing bad will ever happen. Your future self will and should always cringe at your current self.
George Mack