Random thoughts. In the style of The Bed of Procrustes, Poor Richard's Almanack and the Dao De Jing. All copied/derivative work, any allusion to original thought is a misinterpretation.
It's not what you say that's offensive, it's how you say it
You have to be rich or powerful or old enough to broadcast unfiltered thoughts out in the open
You always give the advice that you wish you could follow yourself
Read, don't review. Listen, don't judge. Understand, don't critique
Finishing things is more satisfying than starting new things. Incomplete work increases cognitive load
It's unfortunate when someone who hates gatekeepers ends up becoming one themselves
It's maybe more useful to learn how to unlearn, than to learn how to learn
Separate the person from the brand, customers from shareholders
The way to win people's votes has always been to make them feel sorry for themselves and find someone else to blame for their problems. Unfortunately, it's also the way to handicap them for life
Individual playing a role are meant to be fungible, they exist to fulfill and create roles. Roles that are useful become eternal and are ideally automated
A hero (or a villian) is an entity of concentrated risk and is by definition fragile
Music is a special language. Unlike words and images or smells, your whole body listens to it and with the right music, resonates with it
What is the diagnostic self test for foolishness? for intelligence?
Truth is related to purpose, leverage to survival
All conflict is about definitions of words and gatekeeping/guarding those definitions
Policies should be binary. For a collective, clarity is more important than fairness
In order to conquer fear, you first have to define it, understand it
Hoarding optionality is bad for you, your ideas, your descendants, the world and increases pain and suffering for all. Check yourself when you tip over from optimism and curiosity to hoarding out of fear and anger
Memes die by becoming irrelevant and being forgotten. So, stop arguing about them if you want them gone
Information is the ultimate virus, reproducing itself at a ridiculous rate. We are all just carriers, not unlike malaria and mosquitoes. We incorporate the good information into our system and develop antibodies to fight off the bad information, this is how we develop mental srength
The philosophy of the individual will always diverge from that of the collective. It's an imperative originating from biology, reality itself maybe, to experiment and survive. Philosophy of the collective arrived at through a governance model is just governance, maybe we can call it the soul of the collective.
When reading a book, ask yourself, are you trying to understand the content, the author or yourself
Be inspired by your heroes, Gods and take it to the next level, don't just worship and stop
Don't just give advice, exemplify what you preach
Every accusation is partly a confession
Building the game is the best way to discover the rules of the game
We should all have a fiduciary duty towards the shareholders of the future, the children of the world
We all want to build a beautiful world for our children, family, friends and future generations. If you appeal to that part of a person, you can connect with anyone
Change your circles, burst your bubbles
Start with user experience and end with power management and you will always win. But remember, safety first!
Markets deal with facts. Governments deal with feelings. And families have to balance facts and feelings
The default state is decay and death. It takes a lot of effort to preserve or make something, a lot of failures to make something great
Location. Location. Location
If you want to make money, build factories, not products
Philosophy is the label given to one's justification of their way of life and rationalization of their belief system. And also to burn their opponents
I like what I like - one of the most simple and profound things my 6 year old said. It is true, there are no rules on what/who to like or not like. Accept yourself and accept others
Taxation is the best business model
Morality is fighting against our genetic desire for immortality (to not become Galactus)
Every generation should re-discover and re-frame all the rules, so they really understand them, why they are the way they are, so they can identify what makes sense to keep and what needs to be changed.
It is not just about celebrating and rewarding past work, it is about incentivizing future work too
People don't buy the art, they buy the artist
If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together
People don't remember what you said or what you did for them, but they will remember how you made them feel
Give actual proof, not social proof
There is a counterparty for everything. Good and bad. Buyer and seller. Hero and villian. Empire and rebels. Existence of one, automatically manifests the other and an ecosystem around them
Who am I depends on who are you
The number of transactions should also be a metric that's tracked as an indicator of a healthy economy, especially the median transactions by individuals and institutions. High rate of transactions indicate collaboration, will foster innovation and better communities and generate increasing revenue for governments to provide better services and infrastructure to it's citizens. It will also help identify individuals and institutions that are struggling and get them help
Try to not ask binary questions, instead ask multiple choice questions and let folks prioritize the order of choices, based on what is important to them
Instead of saying no, say yes if/when this happens. It puts the control and responsibility back in the hands of the requester. Works great with kids
At some point, the rebels will form the new empire and the cycle starts again. Because it is fundamentally impossible to satisfy the needs of 100% of the people 100% of the time
Everyone should try to have multiple careers, even if some are part time. Because similar to what they say about our creations, we initially shape our careers, then our careers shape our lives.
Why not both
Once a product category is mature, most people buy brands, not product features
Every time you talk about an emotion, you should start the sentence with I feel, so you don't project your emotions and opinions on others
All city lifestyles around the world trend 95% the same with some local culture uniqueness in food, architecture, etc. They all have the same tall buildings, transport infrastructure, international cuisines, party culture and law and order. The biggest difference is the climate.
Writing books, creating art, building statues, scratching your name on trees and rocks is all the same need for life to seek out immortality in some form
There is no destination, only milestones. So, what's your next milestone.
The universe does not have FOMO
No booleans, only enums
A justice for all movement, eventually becomes injustice for all, because the universe has no concept of justice or moral values
Life is not a race or a marathon, it's a relay. You have to work with others, take rest between turns and eventually pass the baton onto the next generation
Effort is appreciated, results are rewarded
Thinking about how to save more is a losing battle. Saving is important, but spend more time thinking about how to earn more
The world is not your oyster forever. At some point, you have to become the oyster to nourish the pearl of the next generation
Listen to advice, but don't blindly follow it. Evaluate them and do what works for you
Don't use death as a leverage to survive
Being at harmony with yourself is all well and good, but being at harmony/in sync with the world is where true happiness lies. Because no (hu)man is an island. The world will not go away if you pretend it does not exist. So, might as well open yourself up. It will hurt, you will hurt sometimes, but you will eventually find your place and find your harmony
We only learn about the people who profit from making themselves known or someone profits from making them known
Ice cream is probably the greatest food ever created, followed closely by biryani
The Don't give up motto should have Keep trying added to it
It's not the plane, it's the pilot
Technology creates the tools to survive. Art creates the will to survive. The people in the harshest places to survive on the planet make the most stunning technology and art
What makes your art better than my art. Depends on how you evaluate it. If you think in some democratic way, then the one that most people like is better. If you think the one that fetches the higest price, then that is the metric. If you think all art is equal, then it is equal. If you think art cannot be compared, then it's just different then. Ultimately, it is you and I who decides whose art is better. By art, of course, I mean life
You are the average of the people you spend the most time with, weighted by the time spent. Average physically, financially, emotionally, philosophically and many other characteristics of life. Look around and you can see your future. If you don't like it, change your circle
Practice who you want to become. Change does not happen all of a sudden. It happens imperceptibly slow, but it's compounding
Companies who do right by their customers and shareholders are the ones who win. So, clearly identify who they are and do what's best for them
Losing something hurts twice as much as the happiness gained from getting the same thing
Some people take more credit for their success and less responsibilty for their failure than they deserve, while some people take less credit for their success and more responsibility for their failures. You want to work for the latter type of people, they will have low expectations from others, be happier and continuously improve themselves
Instead of mocking others, reflect on your insecurities and disappointments, it will provide long term relief
Within a collective/organization, the primary game that's being played is the game of leverage. The one who gets the most wins
Money is fungible, but life is not (at least human life should not be? 🤷♂️)
Do not look at decisions in life as binary. It's not do you want it or not or is this going to be helpful or not. They are multiple choice, do you want this or one of these other things or is doing this going to be helpful or one of these other things? And the decision depends on the context of the situation, what is the time horizon to evaulate the decision, are you maximizing ROI or minimizing opportunity cost, regret? Taking these into account will help you make better decisions.
Fungibility builds resilience in the system. But applied to humans, it can lead to a feeling of purposelessness. So, we need to be deliberate about making sure everyone feels a sense of purpose in an organization. It can be inside the organization or time to have it outside the organization, ideally both. In our personal lives, we have friends, children, communities we are part of, pets, etc. In professional lives, it is the relationships with the people you work with and how the culture of the company helps foster and nurture them.
We have evolved System 1 for low energy, fast reactions for survival, a System 2 for high energy, slow reactions for high level thinking and self awareness/diagnostics. We also evolved a God in communities to create and sustain the will to survive. The concept exists in every civilization that has ever survived on this planet, so it definitely serves a critical purpose. God is the primordial will to life
Radiate/seek out/hire for optimism and curiosity. Skills benefit in the short term, culture for the long term
Memes, symbols, even truth is governed by the concepts of survival. If there is something new that improves the odds of survival, it becomes the new meme or truth or belief. If something reduces the odds of survival, even if it is the truth, it is going to be denied and eliminated from the consciousness
When listening to someone, remove yourself from the conversation to truly listen. Removing yourself means removing the influence of your current state of mind, your past experience, your insecurities, etc. This is a practice, that gets better, the more you do it
You have two homes, the primary one is your body and the secondary one is the physical shelter you live in. You should spend more time and money taking care of and decorating your primary home
Your physical health is determined by where you are born and what you eat. Your mental health is determined by who you move with, how you move and interact with the world
Fear, punishment will get you results in the short term, but they will not last. Love, respect and patience will get you results in the long term and they will be more permanent. So evaluate what your level of urgency and timelines and goals are and use the appropriate tool. Hint, the answer almost all the time is the latter, except in the very rare cases where it is an emergency.
The biggest contribution of any startup/company/agency is to increase the volume/rate of money movement in the economy. That increases tax revenue which in turn improves the life of the citizens of the company, state, nation, world. It is also a good evaluation criteria to predict the success of a company/agency.
Evangelism seems to be an emergent behavior in most faith based systems, where, after a point, to strengthen and sustain the faith, you need to convince others to adopt your system, lest some other faith will take over. This does not just apply to religions, it's for all institutions, political, social, economic systems or companies. The mind baselines pretty quickly and in order to continue to rationalize the faith in our values and belief systems, it needs continuous validation and the most effective way to grow the faith is by growing it's adoption and the best way to get results is by doing it collectively. This is a big source of conflict. Faith is something that's personal, has a lot of personal context and history associated with it. While trade and collective action is essential for this world to progress, accepting each other's faith and letting people have the choice to opt into other faiths on their own timelines is a good way to minimize conflict
Technology and Engineering is about making magic and dreams a reality
Innovation happens through cut-copy-paste. That is nature's way and no reason why it cannot work in your life and organization. Build the right abstractions, so it's easier to evolve your life and the products you build
You can do 80% of the work in 20% of the time and the remaining 20% takes 80% of the time. But you also need to realize that the initial 80% of the work only provides 20% of the value to your customers. The remaining 20% work is what unlocks 80% of the value
Customers don't use a product, they use an ecossytem of products. So, figure out if you are building a product in the ecosystem, the glue for the products in the ecosystem or the platform for the ecosystem itself
It should not be figure out your passion, it should be figure out your obsession. Then figure out how to productize it, manage it and stay balanced in life
Courage to seek/offer help is one of the most useful skills one can practice and learn
Technology is the herald for the death of the hero and the ecosystem of hero, villian and victim
Reverse the variables in your if..then statements. Sometimes, the effect is the reason for the cause
Collectives survive because they are antifragile. Their antifragility increases with the experiments and failures/successes of their members. So, build or invest in platforms
Cities are basically forests, gentrified of all the wild animals. But then, what truly defines a 'wild' animal?
It is hard to learn about and explore the entire diaspora of life and the universe in a lifetime. It's a good place to start by accepting that, making peace with it, explore the parts that resonate with you and be ok with leaving out the ones that don't
Science is universal, philosophy and psychology is personal
Science is something you can discuss and reach an agreement on. Philosophy is something you can choose to listen to, but do what works for you and let others do what works for them. If you have a conflict, well...you can resolve it, duel it out or wait till some one dies
Innovation happens through cut, copy, paste. Don't believe me, just ask nature
Books and movies, comics and cartoons. When reading, you can imagine the characters, their voices and the environment, but not the music. The music in the movies creates the atmosphere, sets the mood and takes the experience to a whole another level
Keep breathing, keep reading
Love and friendship is given and felt, you cannot seek it out or ask for it
You can either fight over scarce things or work together and make them abundant for everyone
In a conversation, periodically check in with yourself, how much of this is about you and how much is it about the other person (people) and how much it is about discussing the subject at hand objectively
If you can understand yourself, you can remove yourself and listen objectively in conversations
The question is not, if you have free will, it is, can you predict the future
Your mind and body evolution is caused by stress. If you reduce the stress, evolution slows down. It's not good or bad, it could mean a higher quality of life for individuals, whatever what means for each personal individual. But if you want to grow, seek out stress
Focus on increasing customer value, shareholder value will automatically follow
The exercise of writing is helpful to manage scope and prioritize, both at work and in life
The solution to the dark forest problem is a permanent sun (with cameras everywhere and a permanent record of the public world to make everyone play nice)
You want the pie to always grow, because when it shrinks, we start to talk about population control, ecosystem balance, morality, etc which ends in catastrophe
Anecdotal evidence, metaphors and analogies are hypotheses, don't accept them as proof
Sometimes we seek learning with a goal of curiosity and exploration. Sometimes we seek to learn with a goal to validate our thoughts and emotions
Your words speak what you wish to be. Your financial transactions speak the truth about who you are, your values, your responsibilities, your independence (or dependence), etc
Live in the world, don't isolate. Be dependent on your fellow humans, life, nations and let them trust and depend on you. Isolation is death, we can only go far together. Balance independence with community to be antifragile
There is a counterparty to everything. Life is the counterparty to death
The difference between mania and genius, intelligence and foolishness is success (survival)
The quest for immortality, the desire to be remembered has caused more suffering than any religion, parasite, etc to humanity
The more important symbols that each individual should try to define are zero and infinity, not God and uni(multi)verse
A good purpose is infinite
Love, fear is something you feel in your body, not your mind
Look for feedback in actions, not words. Words communicate wishes and hopes, actions communicate reality
It's never either-or, but it's a bit of this and bit of that. The weights of each vary for different people, but it's never 100% this and 0% that, it's 80% this and 10% that and 10% something else or 50% this, 25% that, 24% something else and 1% of this other thing based on the individual.
Things that give you new information are useful. Things that numb you are not (maybe useful for a short period, but not long term)