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The goal is not to be perfect by the end. The goal is to be better today ...

James Clear on choosing how to carry the load

vutran | Dec. 22, 2022, 10:26 a.m.

"You don’t always get to choose the load, but you can choose how to carry it." 

— James Clear

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James Clear on surviving for the accumulation of rewards

vutran | July 30, 2022, 6:49 p.m.

"What are my top risks? How can I mitigate them?

What are my unique strengths? How can I leverage them? 

The objective is to survive long enough to see the rewards of your advantage accumulate."

— James Clear 

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Shane Parrish on specific advice vs general advice

vutran | March 28, 2022, 1:25 p.m.

“When starting a new job, find the person that just got promoted from the role you got hired into and ask them for specific advice. The word specific is important. These are the tools, the techniques, the skills that worked in the same situation you’re coming into. If you talk to someone who climbed the mountain a long time ago, odds are the specific advice isn’t as relevant as things have changed.

You control your starting position more than you think. For specific advice, find someone a step or two ahead of you. For general advice, find someone older who can put things in perspective.”

— Shane Parrish

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Erik Naggum on reaching up instead of punching down

vutran | March 25, 2022, 1:25 p.m.

“The secret to feeling great about yourself is not to be found in searching for people who are less than you and then show yourself superior to them, but in searching for people who are more than you and then show yourself worthy of their company.”  

-- Erik Naggum 

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Doris Lessing on choosing books with the right time

vutran | March 22, 2022, 10:15 a.m.

"There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag – and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. 

Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vise versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you."

— Doris Lessing

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James Clear on charity as a lifestyle

vutran | March 22, 2022, 10:13 a.m.

"Charity can be a lifestyle, not merely a gift.

Read charitably. Give the author your most favorable interpretation.

Listen charitably. Donate your undivided attention.

Work charitably. Be generous with your expertise.

In this way, you make charity a daily habit."

— James Clear

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James Clear on useful not correct

vutran | March 21, 2022, 8:21 a.m.

"A lot of people miss useful ideas hiding in plain sight because they search for accuracy.

If you dismiss an idea because it is not 100% correct, you miss many ideas that are perfectly useful.

The real test for an idea, theory, or advice is utility. The more useful, the better."

— James Clear


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Certified

2026 Reading Challenge

2026 Reading Challenge
Better has read 0 books toward his goal of 36 books.
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2025 Reading Challenge

2025 Reading Challenge
Better has read 12 books toward his goal of 36 books.
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2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Better has read 2 books toward his goal of 52 books.
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2023 Reading Challenge

2023 Reading Challenge
Better has read 17 books toward his goal of 52 books.
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2022 Reading Challenge

2022 Reading Challenge
Better has read 2 books toward his goal of 36 books.
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2021 Reading Challenge

2021 Reading Challenge
Better has read 0 books toward his goal of 60 books.
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2020 Reading Challenge

2020 Reading Challenge
Better has read 10 books toward his goal of 36 books.
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2019 Reading Challenge

2019 Reading Challenge
Better has read 21 books toward his goal of 24 books.
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