Principles

  • Family First
  • Understanding > Memorizing
  • Run Towards Fire, Not Away (problem)
  • Invert Problem (How to not be miserable ?)
  • To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail
  • Compound knowledge ( go to bed little bit smarter than you woke up)
  • Velocity over speed (going slow one direction is more than going fast many directions)
  • Blind Spot (I don’t know what I don’t know)
  • Don’t criticize, don’t assume
  • The greatest fool of all is the man who fools himself, and you are the easiest person to fool
  • Teaching is the best way to learn (try to explain it to 10 year old asee your gaps)
  • Actions over words (doing over talking about doing)
  • Preparing for blood test, school test ( knowledge over grade )
  • Don’t wait until you are ready
  • Deposits in training, withdrawals at game
  • Learn from other people mistakes (there is big probability that someone was trying to do something you want to do)
  • Crave discomfort
  • Fail fast, fail often (learn from mistakes fast)
  • Do it now right, because you will not have a time to do it over
  • Respond to failure defines you, not failure
  • What I control / What I don’t control
  • Accept failure
  • Analyzing the causes of failures and Learning from the successes > Analyzing the causes of failure > Learning from the successful
  • Ignore noise
  • Don’t judge decision by outcome
  • Inner scorecard ( Do you want to be best at something or do you want other people to think of you that you are best at something ?)
  • Always consider the other side as carefully as your own
  • Take world as it is, not as you wish / hope to be
  • Pain + Reflection = Progress
  • Swedish average driver ( most of the people think they are above average at something)
  • 75% Fat-free vs. 25% Fat Hamburger
  • Opportunity cost (Is this better than other thing?)
  • Broken clock is right twice a day (randomness)
  • Ignorance costs you more than you’ll ever know
  • If you want something you’ve never had, do something you’ve never done
  • Best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, 2nd best time is now
  • 1.01 ∧ 365 = 37.8
  • 0.99 ∧ 365 = 0.03
  • Consensus Framework matrix ( Wrong, Right, Consensus, and Non-consensus – Howard Marks)
  • Take a smart risks
  • Trust, success and admiration are earned
  • Be reliable
  • “Your story has touched my heart, never have I heard of anyone with as many misfortunes as you.” (don’t complain, it does not improve situation)
  • Work with and under people you admire
  • Maintain your objectivity (GTA1, birdview)
  • Circle of competence
  • Map is not the territory
  • First principles thinking (boil it down)
  • Second-order thinking (and then what ?)
  • Margin of safety (difference between value and price)
  • Survivorship Bias (WWII airplane, learning from success is not always good)
  • Sunk Cost (cinema, skiing)
  • Persian messenger
  • Social proof (everyone speeding around you, so you do)
  • Consistency bias (is that consistent with my thinking ?, be open to change your mind)
  • Reciprocity bias (asking for small favor after big favor)
  • Three buckets of water (no absolute scale)
  • Frog in hot water (small incremental change and bigger one time change)
  • Confirmation bias (googling questions)
  • Thanksgiving Turkey (Taleb)
  • Don’t ask barber if you need a haircut
  • Be present
  • Invest in preparedness, not in prediction
  • Be honest
  • Two opposed ideas in mind at the same time
  • Be less ignorant
  • Hindsight Bias (I saw it coming)
  • If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it
  • Paradox of Choice
  • Most people overestimate what they can do in short-term and underestimate what they can do in long-term
  • More information ≠ Better decisions (Paul Slovic’s handicappers)
  • What would I need to know to change my opinion ?
  • What everybody knows about you that you don’t know ?
  • Knowing the name of something ≠ Knowing something
  • Go extra mile
  • Luck Test: Can you fail on purpose ? ( How to probe if it’s skill or just luck)
  • Predicting based on history is like driving a car moving forward and looking into rear mirror
  • “I wish I would have done more” (Kobe Bryant in interview saying Once I retired I don’t want to say this)
  • Your attention should be either on task at hand or on others
  • Two lives. Second starts after you realize that you have just one
  • Playing infinite darts ( You will hit a bull at some point, just don’t stop throwing)
  • Small businesses don’t stay small on purpose
  • Putting a gun into other person’s hands (negotiating, you tell me what’s the fair price and I will decide if I will work with you)
  • If you can’t solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: find it
  • Be persistent
  • Success is a function how you deal with failure
  • More scientific you are, more likely you will be wrong
  • Nothing gets done faster than you think it will
  • Eliminate, Automate, Delegate (Manufacturing)
  • If it’s not HELL YES, it’s a NO
  • My only job should be allocating resources (time, money, etc)
  • What is the best use use of resources at this moment (manufacturing)
  • You rarely get what you don’t ask for, don’t be afraid to ask
  • Don’t lose you temper
  • If it’s not helping first line or improving bottom line, you probably working on wrong stuff (manufacturing)
  • Enjoy your journey
  • If you did not get what you want, it’s a sign either that you did not seriously want it or you tried to bargain over the price
  • Ask better question
  • Control your attention
  • What do I need to know to change my opinion/view ?
  • IKEA Effect ( let people have skin in the game)
  • Dogged incremental constant progress over the long time (Peter Kaufman)
  • Do what you love, at the place you enjoy with people you admire
  • Best plan is the one that let you change the plan
  • Always choose plan with optiononallity
  • Probability x Magnitude ( take a drive with high/drunk person..magnitude of outcome)
  • I never met a person that I cannot learn something from (At least what to not do)
  • How to apologize: Quickly, specifically, sincerely
  • The Golden Rule will never fail you. It is the foundation of all other virtues
  • “I don’t want to be a great-problem-solver. I want to avoid problems – prevent them from happening and doing right from the beginning.”
  • “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” — Epictetus
  • “Expectation is the grandfather of disappointment. The world can never own a man who wants nothing.”
  • Intensity is overrated. Consistency is underrated.
  • Repeat what works
  • When you are dead, you don’t know you are dead. It’s pain only for others. It’s the same thing when you are stupid.
  • “If you can’t decide, the answer is No.”
  • Focus on your customers not your competition.
  • The secret to outperform your competitors is to do it for long enough.
  • You’re spending time to save money when you should be spending money to save time.
  • “Take a simple idea and take it seriously.”
  • Allow yourself to make mistakes that won’t matter much in the long run.
  • “It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” — Marcus Aurelius
  • In the short term, you are as good as your intensity. In the long term, you are only as good as your consistency.
  • “Being busy isn’t the same thing as adding value.”
  • Being offended is a choice.
  • If it’s not going to make their day or their life better, don’t say it.
  • Help people and life will help you.
  • If you never have moments of self-doubt, you are in the comfort zone.
  • The difference between good and great results is often found in doing the boring things you know you should do when you don’t feel like doing them.
  • “The ability to stay calm during conflict is a superpower.”
  • Life rewards risk-takers, not complainers.
  • Learning is much more fun when there’s no exam at the end.
  • It takes intelligence to not have an opinion about everything.
  • “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” -Twain
  • You don’t deserve more because you worked harder. Don’t expect society to be fair. Learn the rules, and bend them.
  • Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.
  • “The more seriously you take yourself, the unhappier you’re going to be.”
  • “The goal of media is to make every problem, your problem.”
  • I have no responsibility to live up to what others expect of me. That’s their mistake, not my failing.
  • You don’t like your salary, start your own company, you will get what you deserve.
  • The best way to be miserable is by comparing yourself to others.
  • You don’t deserve more just because you suffered more.
  • “Negotiations are won by whoever cares less.”
  • Did you know that it’s actually possible for you to say, “I don’t know enough about this to have an opinion”
  • First, you think you look smart when you “correct” people all the time, then you grow up, and realize you were just annoying.
  • Finite games are won with intensity. Infinite games are won with consistency.
  • Hiring a professional is expensive but hiring an amateur costs a fortune.
  • No matter how correct you are, you won’t get anywhere by making the other person feel stupid.
  • If you cannot explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it.
  • “Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.” — Marcus Aurelius
  • “Choose the non-emotional response to any given situation and see how much easier your life becomes.”
  • Smart people get wealthy without sacrificing their health.
  • Knowing whose advise to take and on what topic is the single most important decision an entrepreneur can make.
  • The person who carefully designs their daily routine goes further than the person that negotiates with themselves every day.
  • Working hard matters. But working on the right thing matters even more.
  • “All past declines look like an opportunity, all future declines look like a risk.”
  • Make sure you understand the fundamental principles before you get into the details.
  • There are very few problems that can be solved simply by throwing more money at them
  • “It’s easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.” -Clayton Christensen
  • Few things are as destructive and limiting as a worldview that assumes people are mostly rational.
  • Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.
  • All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.
  • “It’s not the things you buy and sell that make you money; it’s the things you hold.”
  • “The single-most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power. If you’ve got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you’ve got a very good business.”
  • “Prepare, don’t predict.”

Watch your thoughts for they become words,
watch your words for they become actions,
watch your actions for they become habits,
watch your habits for they become your character,
watch your character for it becomes your destiny.