Principles

// This was originally a Google Doc where I gathered hard-won life lessons; eventually I open sourced it. It got a great response, including a shoutout from Tim Ferriss, so here it is on Substack. A cursed fact of the world is that the most important life lessons you learn are the hardest to communicate to others. They always sound like clichés. In any case, these are a few things I’ve learned from experience and that I try and keep in mind.

1. Think about what makes you ‘imbalanced’ as a personality, & do things where this gives you an edge. 2. Once you are ok with people telling you ‘no’, you can ask for whatever you want. (Make reality say no to you.) 3. Fun is underrated. The best and most creative work comes from a root of joy and excitement. You can feel this in your body. 4. Environment matters a lot; move to where you flourish maximally. Put yourself in environments where you have to perform to your utmost; if you can get by being average, you probably will. (Greek saying: “A captain only shows during a storm.”) 5. Later, you’ll be nostalgic for right now. 6. Do things fast. Things don’t actually take much time (as measured by a stopwatch); resistance/procrastination does. “Slow is fake”. If no urgency exists, impose some. 7. Moving fast forces you to strip things down to the bare bones. 8. Wealth can be created, there is not a fixed amount of it in the world. Somebody doing well doesn’t always come at someone else’s expense. 9. “ The world is a museum of passion projects.” 10. Doing as much as you can every day is a form of life extension. 11. Always be high integrity, even when it costs you. The shortcuts aren’t worth it. 12.