Shane Parrish on things that reduce the odds of long-term success

vutran | Nov. 17, 2021, 11:45 a.m.

Things that reduce the odds of long-term success:

+ A lack of focus.

+ Making excuses.

+ Staying up late.

+ Eating poorly.

+ Checking email first thing in the AM.

+ Working more to fix being busy.

+ Buying things you don't have the money for.

+ Focusing on yourself.

+ Letting other people define success for you.

+ The wrong relationships.

+ A lack of patience

-- Shane Parrish

Unknown on Moral Bucket List

vutran | Nov. 13, 2021, 10:35 a.m.

"External ambitions are never satisfied because there’s always something more to achieve. ... There’s an aesthetic joy we feel when we see morally good action, when we run across someone who is quiet and humble and good, when we see that however old we are, there’s lots to do ahead. The stumbler doesn’t build her life by being better than others, but by being better than she used to be."

— Moral Bucket List

James Clear on choosing why things will work

vutran | Nov. 12, 2021, 7:30 a.m.

"Every great opportunity has many reasons why it could fail. You have to trust your ability to solve problems along the way.

People who look for reasons why things won't work, struggle to take action.

People who look for reasons why things will work—and solve problems as they arise—make things happen."

— James Clear

James Clear on mental toughness with right subject

vutran | Nov. 12, 2021, 7:27 a.m.

"Mental toughness immediately increases when you find the right subject. You're more likely to stick with things when you're genuinely interested."

— James Clear

Journalist Chris Hedges on illusion

vutran | Nov. 8, 2021, 12:57 p.m.

“The nature of illusion is that it’s designed to make you feel good. About yourself, about your country, about where you’re going – in that sense it functions like a drug. Those who question that illusion are challenged not so much for the veracity of what they say, but for puncturing those feelings.”

— Chris Hedges

Shane Parrish on humility

vutran | Nov. 8, 2021, 12:53 p.m.

“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” — Epictetus

Humility is the anecdote to arrogance. Humility is a recognition that we don’t know, that we were wrong, that we’re not better than anyone else.

Humility is simple to understand but hard to practice.

Humility isn’t a lack of confidence but an earned confidence. The confidence to say that you might not be right, but you’ve done the diligence, and you’ve put in the work.

Humility keeps you wondering what you’re missing or if someone is working harder than you. And yet when pride and arrogance take over, humility flees and so does our ability to learn, adapt, and build lasting relationships with others.

Humility won’t let you take credit for luck. And humility is the voice in your mind that doesn’t let small victories seem larger than they are. Humility is the voice inside your head that says, ‘anyone can do it once, that’s luck. Can you do it consistently?’

More than knowing yourself, humility is accepting yourself.

David Foster Wallace on the importance of controlling your attention

vutran | Nov. 7, 2021, 9:03 a.m.

"Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about "teaching you how to think" is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed."

— David Foster Wallace