Tips

To improve, compare little things.

• marketing strategies
• exercise technique
• writing tactics

To be miserable, compare big things.

• career path
• marriage
• net worth

Comparison is the thief of joy when applied broadly, but the teacher of skills when applied narrowly.

Your 1st blog post will be bad, but your 1000th will be great.

Your 1st workout will be weak, but your 1000th will be strong.

Your 1st meditation will be scattered, but your 1000th will be focused.

Put in your reps.

Most people need consistency more than they need intensity.

Intensity:

-run a marathon

-write a book in 30 days

-silent meditation retreat

Consistency:

-don't miss a workout for 2 years

-write every week

-daily silence

Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress.

Ask for advice instead of feedback

In fact, compared to those asked to give feedback, those asked to provide "advice" suggested 34% more areas of improvement and 56% more ways to improve.

The costs of your good habits are in the present.

The costs of your bad habits are in the future.

Why focus on the process when the world is outcome driven? Don't results matter?

Yes, results do matter. But if you optimize for the outcome, you win one time.

If you optimize for a process that leads to great outcomes, you can win again and again.

Major life changes - moving to a new city, starting a new job, ending a relationship, getting married, having kids, etc.-will often make life harder for the first 100 days before improving.

This is not always true, but it's a nice reminder that experiencing early struggle doesn't mean it was a bad choice.

Italian billionaireBrunello Cucinellion what money can't buy:

"There are three things you cannot buy.

Fitness: You have to keep fit, whether you're rich or not.

Diet: You cannot pay someone to be on a diet for you.

Then, looking after your soul. No one can possibly treat your soul but you yourself."

How we judge others is how we judge overselves

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-we-judge-others-is-how-we-judge-ourselves

Sisyphus: a legendary king of Corinth condemned eternally to repeatedly roll a heavy rock up a hill in Hades only to have it roll down again as it nears the top

The idea that "change is hard" is one of the biggest myths about human behavior.

The truth is, you change effortlessly and all the time. The primary job of the brain is to adjust your behavior based on the environment.

Design a better environment. Change will happen naturally.

A simple way to ensure you are focused on what matters:

Imagine everything gets wiped. You inherit no tasks or responsibilities from your past or present. Then, add back only what you miss.

Choose what to add to a blank slate, not what to keep from a full plate.

Having good health isn't everything, but not having it is.

Having money isn't everything, but not having it is.

You don't need six-pack abs or ten million dollars to be happy, but it is worth learning the fundamentals of fitness and finance. They bring a margin of safety.

If you haven't started, then taking action is more important than finding a better strategy.

If you're already taking action, then ensuring you're working on the right thing is more important than working harder.

Your effort sets your floor. Your strategy sets your ceiling.

"Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat." -- Atomic Habits

The most satisfying form of freedom is not a life without responsibilities, but a life where you are free to choose your responsibilities.

You can be happy with who you are and still want to be better. You can love your body and still want to improve it. You can appreciate your financial state and still want to improve it.

Progress does not require self-loathing. You can feel successful along the way.

There are 3 primary drivers of results in life:

1. Your luck (randomness)

2. Your strategy (choices)

3. Your actions (habits)

Only 2 of the 3 are under your control. But if you master those 2, you can improve the odds that luck will work for you rather than against you.

"The two skills of modern business: Storytelling and spreadsheets.

Know the numbers. Craft the narrative."

"What is the real goal?

The real goal is not to "beat the market." The goal is to build wealth.

The real goal is not to read more books. The goal is to understand what you read.

Don't let a proxy become the target. Don't optimize for the wrong outcome."

1. Everything that's already in the world when you're born is just normal;

2. Anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;

3. Anything that gets invented after you're thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it until it's been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

A brief guide to improvement:

1. Lots of research. Explore widely and see what is possible.

2. Lots of iterations. Focus on one thing, but do it in different ways. Refine your method.

3. Lots of repetitions. Stick with your method until it stops working.

Research. Iterate. Repeat."

It's usually more important to be in the right room than to be the smartest person in the room.

A person with great judgement and average intelligence will usually beat someone with great intelligence and average judgment.

Judgment is knowing what room to be in.

Improvement is a battle that must be fought anew each day.

Your next workout doesn't care how strong your last one was.

Your next essay doesn't care how popular your last one was.

Your next investment doesn't care how smart your last one was.

Your best effort, again.