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Every week we write a newsletter that will help you think better. It's full of timeless wisdom and actionable advice you can use in work and life. It's called Brain Food. You can sign up here:.
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"I don't have talent, so I just get up earlier.". – Henry Rollins.
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Rafael Nadal on the importance of doing the work, even when it's hard
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"I don't have talent, so I just get up earlier.". – Henry Rollins.
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In 2007, Charlie Munger gave a speech at the USC Law School. It contained his most crucial ideas for living deliberately. If you can master these 9 principles, they'll change your life (and help you live a better one):.
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Rafael Nadal on the importance of doing the work, even when it's hard:
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A life well lived. “I paid no attention to the territorial boundaries of academic disciplines and I just grabbed all the big ideas that I could.”. “If you skillfully follow the multidisciplinary path, you will never wish to come back. It would be like cutting off your hands.”
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Rafael Nadal on the importance of doing the work, even when it's hard:
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In 2007, Charlie Munger gave a speech at the USC School of Law. It contained his most crucial ideas for living deliberately. If you can master these 9 principles, they'll change your life (and help you live a better one):.
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"I don't have talent, so I just get up earlier.". – Henry Rollins.
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The Blank Sheet Method that will 10x your reading comprehension. Here is how it works.
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“The most courageous decision that you can make each day is to be in a good mood.”. — Voltaire.
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"I don't have talent, so I just get up earlier.". – Henry Rollins.
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Rafael Nadal on why hard work is good:. "The thrill of winning is in direct proportion to the effort I put in before."
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Rafael Nadal on the importance of doing the work, even when it's hard:
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“Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.”. — Haruki Murakami.
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Rafael Nadal on the importance of doing the work, even when it's hard:
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Consistently doing boring things well leads to extreme outperformance. The problem is we give up when we don't immediately see results, but not all progress is visible. You have to be smart enough to know you’re making progress without any obvious signs of progress.
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"You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.". – Charlie Munger.
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“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent, and original manner possible.”. – Richard Feynman.
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“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent, and original manner possible.”. – Richard Feynman.
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"I don't have talent, so I just get up earlier.". – Henry Rollins.
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Albert Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.". It's a good reminder that the most successful people in any field play the long game.
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Re-reading is probably more important than reading. Seek to cognitively own a great book rather than just reading it.
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Rafael Nadal on the importance of doing the work, even when it's hard:
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Amateurs focus on the outcome. Professionals focus on the process.
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Too often we reward people who solve problems while ignoring those who prevent them in the first place. Instead of glorifying those who run around putting out fires, we need to create an organizational culture that empowers everyone to act responsibly at the first sign of smoke.
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Albert Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.". It's a good reminder that the most successful people in any field play the long game.
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“The most courageous decision that you can make each day is to be in a good mood.”. — Voltaire.
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"You don't need to be smarter than others to outperform them if you can out-position them."
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The quicker you want something, the easier you are to manipulate.
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The longer you play the short game, the harder things get. The longer you play the long game, the better the rewards. This happens because the accumulation of tiny advantages makes the future easier, but the accumulation of tiny shortcuts makes the future harder.
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Over time, the person who approaches life with an openness to being wrong and a willingness to learn outperforms the person who doesn’t.
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“Sheep don’t bring their owners grass to prove to them how much they’ve eaten, they digest it inwardly and outwardly bring forth milk and wool. So don’t make a show of your philosophical learning to the uninitiated, show them by your actions what you have absorbed.”. – Epictetus.
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In 2007, Charlie Munger gave a speech at the USC Law School. It contained his most crucial ideas for living deliberately. If you can master these 9 principles, they'll change your life (and help you live a better one):.
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Albert Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.". It's a good reminder that the most successful people in any field play the long game.
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“Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.”. — Haruki Murakami.
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A lack of routine causes more problems than poor choices. Routines turn desired behavior into default behavior.
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In order to apply most of your energy in one direction, you have to say no to things that a lot of other people say yes to. Most successful people are masters at eliminating the unnecessary from their lives.
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"As soon as you present a problem to me, I have some ready-made answer. Those ready-made answers get in the way of clear thinking, and we can’t help but have them.". – Daniel Kahneman
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Re-reading is probably more important than reading. Seek to cognitively own a great book rather than just reading it.
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The biggest generator of long-term results is learning to do things when you don’t feel like doing them. If you let excuses or emotion drive behavior, you’re cheating your future self. Put aside the excuses and start doing what you need to do.
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"You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.". – Charlie Munger.
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“Sheep don’t bring their owners grass to prove to them how much they’ve eaten, they digest it inwardly and outwardly bring forth milk and wool. So don’t make a show of your philosophical learning to the uninitiated, show them by your actions what you have absorbed.”. — Epictetus.
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Be the biggest fan of the people you care about . Show them you care. Make them look good. Unconditionally support them. Catch them when they stumble. Remind them of what they do well. Help them accomplish their dreams.
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"You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.". — Charlie Munger.
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Talent and potential mean nothing if you can’t consistently do things when you don’t feel like doing them.
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“Sheep don’t bring their owners grass to prove to them how much they’ve eaten, they digest it inwardly and outwardly bring forth milk and wool. So don’t make a show of your philosophical learning to the uninitiated, show them by your actions what you have absorbed.”. - Epictetus.
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The biggest generator of long-term results is learning to do things when you don’t feel like doing them. If you let excuses or emotions drive behavior, you’re cheating your future self. Put aside the excuses and start doing what you need to do.
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You're only as good as how you perform on your worst day. When everything is going well, it's easy to be successful. But when things start crashing all around you, that's when it matters most to keep your head and think long-term.
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“When you first start to study a field, it seems like you have to memorize a zillion things. You don’t. What you need is to identify the core principles – generally three to twelve of them – that govern the field.”. — John Reed.
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Six sources of advantage:. 1. Talent - Some people are just better. 2. Hard work. 3. Curiosity. 4. Energy. 5. Temperament - Keeping your head when everyone is losing theirs. 6. Partner - The right one will 10x your life. The wrong one holds you back.
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Thinking in decades avoids a lot of bad behavior. If you think about relationships lasting decades, you’ll often handle the current moment differently. This works for co-workers, partners, suppliers, customers, friends, etc. Think twice before you interrupt time.
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A huge obstacle to success is a fear of appearing foolish. When we learn to walk, we fall repeatedly until we can do it. We look foolish until the minute we don’t. That is how we learn. So much advantage in life comes from being willing to look foolish in the short term.
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The best decisions have little to no immediate payoff. The best choices compound. Most of the benefits come at the end, not the beginning. The more patient you are, the bigger the payoff.
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“Compete with yourself and root for everybody else.”. — Candice Millard.
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The 24-hour rule states that you turn the page every day. No matter what. You can celebrate or cry, but tomorrow you turn the page. Tomorrow is a new day. Those anchored to the past are incapable of seeing the future. Learn from the past but don’t hang on to it.
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Don’t focus on writing a book. Focus on writing a good sentence. Don’t focus on getting healthy. Focus on cooking a healthy meal tonight. Don't focus on reading a big book. Focus on finishing the next chapter.
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Working harder doesn't always lead to better results because you only have so much energy to apply. The key to solving this? Focus. Pick what matters. Eliminate the rest.
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The greatest enemy of learning is what you think you already know.
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“The most courageous decision that you can make each day is to be in a good mood.”. — Voltaire.
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What's the difference between professional high achievers and amateur day dreamers?. A lot. Here are 11 ways professionals show out when amateurs just show up:.
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Albert Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.". It's a good reminder that the most successful people in any field play the long game.
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The person who carefully designs their daily routine goes further than the person that negotiates with themselves every day. The most successful people always follow a routine to ensure the most important projects get the time they need.
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The biggest generator of long-term results is learning to do things when you don’t feel like doing them. If you let excuses or emotions drive behavior, you’re cheating your future self. Put aside the excuses and start doing what you need to do.
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"You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.". – Charlie Munger.
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The consistent person outperforms the intermittent person every time. If you want to be consistent, you need strategies to keep you going when things get hard. One of the best strategies to stay consistent is to tell yourself that you can quit tomorrow but not today.
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Do less but do better. Any energy that goes into what doesn’t matter comes at the expense of what does. With a little extra time, you can raise the standard from good enough to great. Narrow the focus. Raise the standard. And set yourself apart.
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Don't settle. If you spend too much time with people who don't have any ambitions, you'll soon lack the fire to excel.
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You're only as good as how you perform on your worst day. When everything is going well, it's easy to be successful. But when things start crashing all around you, that's when it matters most to keep your head and think long-term.
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“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”. – Kurt Vonnegut.
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Re-reading is probably more important than reading. Seek to cognitively own a great book rather than just reading it.
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Re-reading is probably more important than reading. Seek to cognitively own a great book rather than just reading it.
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The difference between good and great is found in consistently doing the boring things you know you should do exactly when you feel like doing them the least.
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“Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments.”. — Neil Strauss.
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Bertrand Russell on avoiding foolish opinions:. "Whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants."
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Albert Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.". It's a good reminder that the most successful people in any field play the long game.
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If you want to get rich quickly, the biggest factor is luck. If you want to get rich eventually, the biggest factor is consistency.
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Things will keep getting harder until you stop avoiding what’s getting in the way. The longer you wait, the higher the cost.
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“Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.”. —Jack London.
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“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”. – Steve Jobs.
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“The most courageous decision that you can make each day is to be in a good mood.”. — Voltaire.
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“There are two cardinal sins from which all others spring: Impatience and Laziness.”. — Franz Kafka.
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The biggest generator of long-term results is learning to do things when you don’t feel like doing them. If you let excuses or emotions drive behavior, you’re cheating your future self. Put aside the excuses and start doing what you need to do.
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Never make important decisions when you’re tired, emotional, distracted, or in a rush. If you ignore this rule, you increase the chances you'll make a poor decision, and one of the easiest ways to be successful is to avoid poor decisions.
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