Principles to live by ...
I hope you all are doing well and welcome (if you aren’t new then again) to Dozen Worthy Reads. A newsletter where I talk about the most interesting things about tech that I read the past couple of weeks or write about tech happenings. You can sign up here or just read on …
Since I’ve kinda been AWOL the past few weeks I wanted to get back into writing a bit easier today with an update to Principles to live by (which I started last year)
This is a collection of things that I hope to do, best to my ability, to make me a better person. All these pieces are advice from so many smart people and advise I try to follow in my life. Given that it's Thanksgiving weekend, here in the United States (and I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving) I thought this was the right time to send this out for you to enjoy on your Sunday! I also read this Twitter thread on Matter, which was just so beautiful and heartbreaking. Read it, really!
I may regret sharing this, but I have a very personal story I would like to tell. I hope it doesn't get too long... Anyway... I was 20 years old when I was sent to erase a man from existence and became haunted by him.
November 22nd 2021
9,292 Retweets32,274 Likes
In no particular order:
Things that aren’t your fault can still be your responsibility.
Explaining problems is good. Often in the process of laying out a problem, a solution will present itself.
How you spend every day is how you spend your life.
Cultivate a reputation for being dependable. Good reputations are valuable because they’re rare (easily destroyed and hard to rebuild).
You can improve your communication skills with practice much more effectively than you can improve your intelligence with practice. If you’re not that smart but can communicate ideas clearly, you have a great advantage over everybody who can’t communicate clearly.
Discipline is superior to motivation. The former can be trained, the latter is fleeting. You won’t be able to accomplish great things if you’re only relying on motivation.
There is no road to happiness. Happiness is the road
On the way to a grand goal, celebrate the smallest victories as if each one were the final goal. No matter where it ends you are victorious.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions; not asking questions results only in your loss.
Walk away; every battle is not worth fighting and you won’t win the war.
Identify and cut off hazardous relationships. You are better off.
Read. Read. Read. Read all the time.
Take a risk: Start a company; take a risk; don’t be afraid (like me).
Learn how not to give a f***. You’ll be way better off in the long run. As Lao Tzu has wisely said : To gain knowledge add things every day; to gain wisdom subtract things every day
Live under your means; things won't give you any happiness. Learn the art of compounding.
Invest in yourself; expect no one else to and don’t be pissed off when they don’t.
Find the big rocks as soon as you can
Pay attention to the current and not the wind
Know your close friends; and it's likely no more than 3-5. Your close friends are those who’ll ask you how you are and help you selflessly with no questions asked when things are bad.
Be happy with the things you have rather than unhappy with the things you don’t; tangentially don’t buy things to impress other people buy them for yourself.
Karma will get you so whatever you do to others remember it will come back to you.
When someone tells you that “you can’t” politely tell them to f*** off.
Learn how to handle your emotions. Don’t take the anger you have on one person out on another person.
Let what you eat be your medicine. Nature may not have the cure but it sure does have the prevention.
Try to piece together second and third order consequences and use principles such as this list.
Do what you say you’re going to do.
Don’t take other people’s time for granted.
Seek long-term games with long-term people (Naval Ravikant) .
If you do choose to do something, put your heart into it with no expectations.
Assume ignorance, not malice – give people the benefit of the doubt. Envy, hatred, jealousy, anger are simply acids that eat away at the container they’re kept in.
The only things that matter are health, family, friends, work, community service, spiritual development, personal development,
Be very aware of who/what brings or detracts energy.
Quality > Quantity – whether in things, thoughts, relationships, etc. (minus buffets)
Long, uninterrupted periods of time are key to making progress in challenging pursuits. Find a way to focus on things that will help you progress.
Richard Hamming’s Trifecta – what are the most important problems in your field? Are you working on them? If not, why not? What can you do about it?
Simply doing the hard work upfront is actually less work than trying to find ways around it. In the same vein, face your problems head on.
Sharing knowledge compounds it and teaching helps you learn it even better.
Writing clearly = thinking clearly (Paul Graham). Try to write more.
You never know what someone is battling – let this thought lead you by the hand towards patience and empathy .
Find and pursue your IKIGAI like your life depends on it. Your life does depend on it.
Problems are easy to find; solutions are harder. It’s easy to find flaws in someone’s solution but hard to come up with a better solution.
Intelligence is not knowing everything. It's knowing that you don’t know everything , acknowledging it, and learning.
Most people don’t give a sh*t what you do. So do what you need to do.
Not everything that can be measured matters, and not everything that matters can be measured"
Thank you for reading. Stay safe, be well! If you enjoyed reading this please consider sharing with a friend or two (or sign up here if you came across this or were forwarded this)
Thanks for reading Dozen Worthy Reads! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
