Life Principles

• Never stop learning. 

  • Learning = reading + figuring things out for yourself using first principles thinking + doing

    • Pursue truth (Truth = an accurate understanding of reality)

    • All knowledge is conjectural 

    • great knowledge > new knowledge

    • Carefully control the information you expose yourself to

      • Information exposure = books + podcasts + great people - social media - news

        • social media is mostly an addictive waste of energy

        • news is largely irrelevant to our daily lives

• If (financial freedom not actualized) {
  work on following the money, getting rich, and happiness
  } else {
  happiness;
  }

  • Happiness = Health + Freedom + Good Relationships

    • Your own health is the most valuable thing you have

      • Health = Sleep + Diet + Exercise + Mindfulness

        • Sleep = No alarms + 8 hours + Circadian Rhythms - Caffeine 

        • Diet = Non-processed, natural food + mindful eating

        • Exercise = Physical Stress + Rest

        • Mindfulness = living in the present moment, without distractions

  • Wealth = Have ÷ Want

• Remember that free will doesn't exist, and consider it's implications

  • if you can't think your own thoughts, how can you have free will?

    • all thoughts, and therefore all action, are a result of genes and/or environmental factors and/or randomness

      • Life = Determinism + Randomness

• Be genuine

  • Genuine = honesty - doing things just because they're the norm - lieing - fears of what others might think

• Find comfort in discomfort, because Discomfort + Reflection = Progress

• View yourself from a higher level

  • rely on input from others to objectively understand yourself

  • figure out your weaknesses

• There’s nothing wrong with being selfish

  • being 'selfish' and 'helping others' are more similar than you might think

• Work effeciently. Have a strong bias towards execution.

  • Have clear goals

    • don't let the details distract you from your goal.

  • Identify problems

    • problems are potential improvements

    • be specific in identifying your problems

  • Diagnose problems at their root cause

    • focus on 'what is' before deciding 'what to do about it'

    • distinguish proximate causes from root causes

  • Design plans

    • remember that there are many paths to achieving your goals - you only need to find one that works

  • Execute

    • execution > ideas

    • GYSHIDO

    • learn to get into deep flow work states

      • ruthlessly remove everything that prevents or interrupts flow states

        • highly regulate any form of instant notification

    • Energy is more far more important than time

      • intelligence (ability to accomplish complex goals) fluctuates massively within one individual with biochemical changes. (stress, fatigue, food/drinks, sickness, etc.)

      • Work like a lion, not like a cow

• Be open-minded

  • Understand your barriers

    • ego, two "yous", and blindspots (cognitive biases)

  • Practice open-mindedness

    • sincerely believe that you might not know the best possible path

    • don't worry about looking good, worry about achieving your goals

  • Appreciate thoughtful disagreements

    • From best to worst forms of disagreements:

      1. Refuting the central point

      2. Counterargument

      3. Contradiction without offering supporting evidence

      4. Responding to the tone and not the substance

      5. Attacking the opponent's persona / Name-calling

  • Recognize signs of open/closed-mindedness

    • closed-minded people: don't want their ideas challenged, more likely to make statements than questions

    • open-minded people: genuinely curious about why there is disagreement, truly believe that they could be wrong, more interested in listening than speaking

  • Understand how you can become open-minded

    • practice meditation

    • be evidence-based

• Learn how to deal with people

  • Making friends and influencing people

  • Learn to persuade others

    • Reciprocity = do something for a person with no conditions or expectation of a return favor, and they are more likely to do something for you.

    • Commitment/Consistency = People unconsciously want to behave in a manner that is consistent with past behavior. (Multi-page forms exploit this principle.)

    • Social Proof = People pay attention to what other people are doing. (They will choose the crowded restaurant over the nearly empty one, even though they’ll be served more slowly.)

    • Authority = People defer to those in authority — officials, professors, doctors, and experts in a field. (Authority is a bit like social proof, but it’s based not on numbers but on perceived expertise, status, or power.)

    • Liking = People we like more easily persuade us. (A key element of liking is having things in common with each other.)

    • Scarcity = The fewer there are of something, the more people like and want them.

  • Understand that each person is unique

    • Actions, not words, reveals people's values

    • Character is most evident during highs and lows

    • Characteristics

      • introversion / extroversion

      • intuiting (future oriented, process new information according to patterns and possiblities) / sensing (more present, process new info using 5 senses)

      • thinking (logical reasoning) / feeling (valuing harmony)

      • judging (planning) / perceiving

      • creators / refiners / advancers / executors / flexors

      • focusing on tasks / focusing on goals

      • optimism / pessimism

• Learn how to make decisions effectively

  • Evaluate short and long term consequences

    • long-term > short-term 

      • be willing to make short-term sacrifices for compounded long-term returns

  • Simplify

  • Logical reasoning is your best guide

• There is no particular meaning to life. You can give it any meaning you want to.