Things going well is your misguided concept of happiness It satisfies the rapacious, quantifiable, scorecard idea of success It also aligns with those rare memories when all things went so well — and for a moment you felt so happy Except it’s misleading Happiness is the natural state It can be ruined, yes …
Tag: Success
Broad, then Depth, then OPPORTUNISM
-Let’s define broad as “the whole” -Let’s define narrow as the smallest division -Let’s consider “normal” breadth as the kind of breadth of subject matters that most people engage -Let’s consider “normal” narrow as the kind of focus that most people achieve in their single career First let’s acknowledge that those two are not …
UNLUCKY Overstate The Role Of Luck — LUCKY Understate The Role Of Luck
The unlucky overstate the role of luck The lucky understate the role of luck It boils down to incentives, and even to epistemology (theory of knowledge) On the extreme — the extremely lucky has NO DATA invalidating the role of HIMSELF, and something SPECIAL about himself — in his exceptional outcomes He is, …
do it MEDIOCRE vs PROPER vs EXCELLENT
Let’s consider the stages from SHIT to EXCELLENCE: poorly, mediocre, properly, excellently (robustly), too well POORLY will fuck you up almost immediately -the wheels will fall off -you’ll be late by 3h -MULTIPLE things will magically go wrong -everything is of obvious poor quality visible to the naked eye -unpleasant in taste -really dangerous, …
why IMPROVING EVERYTHING cures the biggest problem: DELUSION
We are told to focus, To get really good at “one thing” When we are introduced — we are introduced by what we’re known for, and what we do When we waste couple years of our life — we do so studying and preparing to do something specific in our lives When we have a …
Why Some Super-Successful Go Conspiratorial
Genius is indeed madness When you’re super brilliant — you risk sometimes being super crazy. That’s the price of trying new, crazy things. But if you pull it off — you’re a genius. Not everyone can be a genius. And likely the genius knew EVERYTHING there was to know — BEFORE he transcended it, pushed …
Say Yes to Actually Rare, Transient Opportunities
-there are opportunities we know are ONLY present now -and there are opportunities which we’re not aware will not present themselves again -and then there are opportunities which CAN, indeed, wait I think we overrate the latter And underappreciate the transience of most opportunities Not least because we can’t know the future And …
Hierarchies, Competition, Ego, Self and Collective Interests
You want to do better in order to get better outcomes for yourself, solve your problems better But indirectly in doing so — you become useful for others And then indirectly in doing so — you become placed higher in a hierarchy. Hierarchy of course has a purpose. It contains information about that which is …
Knowledge Is One Objective Edge You Can Have
Knowledge is overrated Knowledge will not redeem you, knowledge will not be your salvation And knowledge won’t do shit for you, you have to DO things yourself Knowledge is UNDERRATED Knowledge is underrated too Most people are ignorant cunts Most people are incompetent dilettantes KNOWLEDGE HAS VALUE Knowledge is USEFUL I wrote …
Gentlemanly Lessons From Chess
“Play stupid games — win stupid prices”. Chess is no exception Even if you’re a grandmaster — quit chess, it’s a waste of life Gods are embarrassed with you That’s one lesson of chess — don’t waste life on fake games, fake competition, and fake prices Ok, there’s one more lesson to chess …