Skill or luck? Some games are skill games, like chess. Some games are luck games, like picking the higher card from a shuffled deck. Most games, however, are somewhere in the middle. When we focus only on the luck aspect, we lose the opportunity of building the skill, the only place we have
Embracing uncertainty. Uncertainty is a difficult pill to swallow. For the hunter-gatherers, uncertainty mostly meant a potential lethal attack by a predator. Over time, this fear has evolved into a desire to seek certainty everywhere. What this leads to is that we make assertions and if they are wrong we are afraid
Shipping takes much less time than deciding. Instead of choosign A or B, many times both A & B in most cases is much more faster than just keep deciding. Resistance wants to keep us in deciding mode. Shipping breaks its hold.
There are multiple money games. We can choose the game we want to play. Some money games can help in the short run but don’t become better over time. They pay too little for too much work/emotional labour. Working in a McDonalds can help a student get enough to pay his expenses but
Money is a game. And like with any game there are rules. You can’t win a game if you don’t know the rules or are not willing to accept them.
The kind assumption. If someone cuts us across on the road, it's justified to feel angry. But if someone tells us that this person was rushing to take someone to the hospital, we are able to empathise and our anger vanishes. Our default assumption is mostly not kind either to the
Getting out of the rut. The expectation to jump directly into our best selves or routines keeps us stuck in the rut. When we are in the hole, the first thing we need to stop digging. And then we have to focus on figuring out a way to get out of the hole. And only
Hustle is overrated. And elegance is underrated. It’s much more effective to say no to things (or people) that are not aligned with where you seek to go than trying to convince them to go there. When we make better choices, we don’t need to hustle.
What would Dory do? In the movie Finding Dory, the characters use this mantra to get out of the troublesome situation they are in. We all know people in our life we get inspired by, people who seem to be able to act with courage in the face of challenges, people who seam to
The skill of reaching out. Make the message warm, concise and easier to read and reply. Write to someone as if you were talking to them in person. Give them an easy way to say no without feeling weird. Make the ask specific, small and simple. Don’t bet everything on a single reach out.
Getting comfortable with discomfort. Taking an initiative, doing the emotional labour to make something happen that will change things for someone else, is not just about doing it right. Because it never feels right. It creates tension and tension feels like discomfort. There is a choice. Either, we can run from this discomfort or
Change, tension and status. Change doesn’t happen because it makes sense. It happens when there is tension. And tension is mostly related to losing or gaining status.
Letting most things be. We can’t change everything but we can change something. It’s easier though to get agitated with almost everything that doesn’t seem to be the way we want it to be. That’s a place to hide as it makes us believe that we can’t change anything.
Toddler mode. A toddler doesn't care much about anything else but getting the thing it wants. And as soon as it gets it, it wants something else. Most times when we get obsessed with an idea, or a project or a person, it's because that toddler part of
Contrary opinions. For some people, giving a contrary opinion is a way to garner attention. It doesn’t matter if their opinion is right or not. When we engage with them, we are likely to waste our valuable time and attention. Ignoring is a skill and sometimes letting people have their opinion
It's not that bad. It's not that good either. Our perception is a master at fooling us. It rarely shows things as grey, the way they usually are.
One too many. You can eat one too many pizza slices or watch one too many episodes. But you can't read one too many books or do one too many workouts.
The thing that's stopping you. You may think it’s resistance or self-doubt or perfectionism. You may think it’s the task or the challenge or the people involved. You may be right. But behind all of this, it's the status and the story you are telling yourself about the status that might
Write. don’t talk. Talk is cheap. And talk can get you off the hook. But sharp, clear, concise writing is difficult to walk away from. When in doubt, put your ideas in writing.
Resisting the tension. Events that we might miss out if we don't join create tension. Sometimes this tension is useful and helps us move forward towards where we seek to go. But most times, it has the potential of derailing us from our strategic path towards our goals. It's
You don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know what you don’t know. Worrying about it isn't going to get you too far. What you can do is make assertions. Make a hypothesis and see if it gets rejected or not. Each assertion helps you move forward.
Changing the story. When we look in the mirrorWhen we look in the mirror, who do we see? [A note I sent to a young friend.] The person we see when we look in the mirror is the person we become, the person we fight to defend and persist with. I…Seth'
No one gets to know. When you write your blog and no one reads it, no one gets to know. When you host a meetup and no one shows up, no one gets to know. When you ask a girl out and she says no, no one gets to know. Except... Except that voice inside
Story and evidence. “A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying, SITUATION HOPELESS STOP NO ONE WEARS SHOES The other writes back triumphantly, GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY STOP THEY HAVE NO SHOES ~ It's all invented,
