We avoid doing simple things

We avoid doing simple things that work because they don't make us look smart. Smart people feel stupid doing simple things, so we invent complicated alternatives that accomplish less but feel more intellectually satisfying. Meanwhile, the people who dominate their fields are doing embarrassingly basic things, but they do them better than everyone else.

Make your mood, or it makes you

Make your mood, or it makes you. Most complexity is unnecessary, but we manage it instead of removing it because deletion requires courage that addition doesn't.

You are capable of helping yourself

You are capable of helping yourself. Capable of figuring it out. Capable of squeezing everything you want out of this life. And to believe otherwise is to do yourself a great disservice. To hand over your agency. To give in. To wait for rescue. To curse your luck. To assume someone else will fix it. Don’t look out. Look in. You have within you everything you need. You are at the wheel. Never let it go.

What does it cost me?

Writing down your goals is easy. Everybody wants the glamorous result. What really matters is whether you want the costs associated with it: the money, the time, the tradeoffs. Don't merely ask yourself what do I want to achieve, but also what I am willing to pay?

Happiness is a byproduct of meaningful struggle

Sigmund Freud once wrote in a letter to Carl Jung: “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” Happiness is not a byproduct of ease. Happiness is a byproduct of meaningful struggle. Because there’s nothing better than a hard-earned win. Pain. Resilience. Grit. And then, reward. Knowing you paid the cost of entry with pride. That’s real happiness. So, ask yourself: What are you running from that you need to be running toward?

Motivation as a formula

 A useful way to think about motivation as a formula: Motivation = Value × Probability × Return on Effort ÷ Distance. We’re more motivated when the goal feels valuable, success seems likely, effort feels worthwhile, and the reward feels close. When any of these falter, motivation breaks down into procrastination, self-doubt, distractibility, or simply drifting without a clear goal. The good news is that by recognizing where the equation is failing, whether the issue is valuing the wrong goals, lacking belief in your ability, letting deadlines feel too distant, or scattering focus across too many pursuits, you can adjust the levers. Doing so doesn’t guarantee endless drive, but it transforms motivation from a mystery into something you can diagnose and strengthen.

You do not need to impress people

Be gracious. Be generous. Be reliable. Be trustworthy. Be faithful. Be a great teammate. You’ve been given gifts and talents that you didn’t earn. Be grateful and take them as far as you can, serving others to the best of your ability along the way.

As you get a little older

Something happens as you get a little older. You realize your “success” is not yours alone, and that you stand on the shoulders of many others. You realize you don’t know everything and that learning is far better than appearing right. You realize you’re not infallible and immune to making mistakes, sometimes big and costly ones. In essence, you get humbled.

Be where your feet are

Don’t rush through a new place. Be where your feet are. Look around. Explore. Go on adventures. Learn the local history. Visit historical sites. Build relationships. Live!

The misstep doesn’t define you

"It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note, it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.” This isn’t just about music. This is about life. No matter how much you’ve prepared for the moment, wrong notes happen. The mistake. The failure. The setback. The misstep doesn’t define you. Your next move does.

Discover what you love

Before you discover what you love: fewer commitments, more experiments. After you discover what you love: fewer experiments, more commitments.

End the fight

If you love them more than the fight, end the fight. An apology loses its warmth if it waits too long. Do it now, before the years turn cold.

Live Like It's The Last Time

There will be a last time. A last time you’ll go for a long walk with your sibling. A last time you’ll hug your parents. A last time your friend will call you for support. All of the things we take for granted today are things we’ll wish we could go back and do. There’s a last time for all of it. You won’t know when it’s the last time. But you can live like it is. No matter how many times you do something, there will come a day when you do it for the last time.

Your brain’s temporary notepad

Working memory is like your brain’s temporary notepad, the mental space where you hold onto just enough information to get a task done, like remembering a phone number long enough to dial it or keeping directions in mind while walking to a new place. Once the task is complete, that space clears so you can focus on something else. This flexible system depends heavily on attention and the brain chemical dopamine, making it a critical player in how well you switch between tasks, stay productive, and maintain focus throughout your day.

Reading is like choosing your favorite toy

Reading is like choosing your favorite toy. Go to a library or bookstore, pick the books you like, and read them. If a book feels boring, you can stop or skip parts. Don’t read a book just because other people say you should. A book that feels boring now might feel fun when you’re older, and a book you love now might feel boring later. Every book has its own right time for you.

The ability to be fast without being reckless

Anyone can move fast. That's the trap. Speed is cheap, but the ability to be fast without being reckless is expensive. Details don't slow you down; they speed you up. All the time you spend worrying about the opportunities you don't have comes at the expense of maximizing the opportunities you do have.

When you truly understand something

When you truly understand something, you can express it at any level of detail while maintaining coherence. The master can provide the one-sentence version, the paragraph version, and the chapter version, all of which tell the same story at different resolutions. The novice can only repeat what they've memorized at one resolution.

Items in motion

A frog has no trouble grabbing a fast-moving fly in midair. But the same fly, sitting on a leaf, is safe, essentially invisible to the frog. We’re a lot like frogs sometimes. We choose to pay attention to things when they’re changing, not when they feel normal. If you want something to get noticed, move it. And if you want to improve your situation, try looking for things that aren’t moving, but could be improved.

A dull truth

A dull truth will not be looked at. An exciting lie will. That is what good, sincere people must understand. They must make their truth exciting and new, or their good works will be born dead.

Under the circumstances

Everyone is always doing their best. Given their situation, priorities, and awareness (the circumstances), people make choices. If we want to change how others respond, we need to change their circumstances and how they see their options.

False scarcity

Often, the things we want the most aren’t directly related to the things we need. In fact, they might be very similar to things we already have. Wants are fueled by stories, and stories come from culture and connection and marketing, not from our actual physical or spiritual needs.

You can build your own system

The dominant system wants you to wait to get picked. It indoctrinates people, again and again, in accepting its hegemony and insight and wisdom, so that we judge ourselves instead of the system. If the system were fair and wise, this would be fine. But it might not be. If you’re waiting to get picked by a famous college or a big company, or the music industry, you might end up waiting a very long time. Of course, that’s what schooling taught you to do. The lessons run deep. There’s often an alternative, one that walks away from the insulation, comfort and deniability the system offers.

Everything bad that happens to you

You are entitled to your labor, but not the fruits of your labor. You can’t count too closely or keep track, but you have to do it. That means you take responsibility for everything bad that happens to you, and this is a mindset. Perhaps it’s a bit artificial, but it’s highly self-serving. And in fact, if you can go the extra mile and just attribute everything good that happens to you to luck, that might be helpful too.

When you savor the path

Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment, and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax for the journey.

Use the best idea you have right now

Use the best idea you have right now. Claiming you need to 'learn more' or 'get your ducks in a row' is just a crutch that prevents you from starting. Education is a lifelong pursuit. You will always need to learn more. It's not a reason to wait.

In a world that celebrates conformity

In a world that celebrates conformity, to be different, to be imperfect, can feel like a cause for shame. Sometimes all it takes is one person who can help you see yourself in a new light, who can show you a better way. Who knocks you off the default path and onto your path. Find those who see your full, unique, imperfect self and embrace it.

Walk away or dance

It’s tempting to fear AI slop, because it’s here and it’s going to get worse. But there’s human slop all over the internet, and it’s getting worse as well. Whether you dance or walk away, the goal is the same: create real value for the people who need it. Do work that matters for people who care. If we’re going to make a difference, we’ll need to bring labor to the work. The emotional labor of judgment, insight, and risk.

Anger only clouds our judgment and makes things worse

The world presents us with endless reasons to be angry: broken systems, selfish leaders, rising costs, and cruelty everywhere, but anger only clouds our judgment and makes things worse. History shows that real change-makers, such as Lincoln, Gandhi, and King, chose restraint, sadness, courage, and love over rage, using calm resolve to steer through chaos. Stoics called this the “calm light of mild philosophy”: pausing before reacting, inserting reflection between stimulus and response, and meeting injustice with self-control instead of outrage. Today more than ever, we need that pause, that choice to breathe, to reflect, to act with clarity, because only then can we make things better.

Correct answers are obvious, reality is the opposite

We drill kids on facts that seem obvious once known, never mentioning that almost all of them were buried behind a door of 'that doesn't make sense.' Gravity baffled us for millennia. We didn't think hand washing mattered, even the idea of germs causing sickness sounded insane. Every breakthrough started as heresy. But we teach kids to flee from the very feeling that precedes discovery.

Self-awareness is disarming

Reveal your flaws before others discover them. The people who openly admit their weaknesses become more attractive, not less. Self-awareness is disarming. When you own your imperfections, you remove the power others might have to use them against you.