26 Learnings

Last updated: 16 June, 2024

Here are the 26 pieces of advice which have most impacted my life:

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Life

  1. You don’t need an excuse to be happy. Happiness is a choice.
  2. Life is a journey towards authenticity. Authenticity is upstream of good work, strong relationships, and happy life. Be you.
  3. Derive answers from the world rather than from books. Most prescriptions are less useful than worldly experience or first principles reasoning.
  4. Western medicine is 100 years old. Eastern is 10,000. Don’t ignore Eastern.
  5. Remove compulsive behaviours (e.g. scrolling, reaching for food, checking Slack). Replace them with intentional behaviors.
  6. The key to engagement is creating tension. People want to relieve tension.
  7. Most regrets are acts of omission.
  8. Don't postpone difficult tasks or difficult conversations.
  9. Avoid trivial arguments by saying “you’re probably right”
  10. Be around people where the desired behaviour is the default behaviour.
  11. Assume people like you. Treat people like close friends.
  12. Be a small fish in a big pond. Avoid being a big fish in a small pond.

Decision-making

  1. More knowledge is rarely the answer. Action is. Action precedes clarity.
  2. Invest time up front in picking the right direction. It matters more than you think.
  3. Advice is like hats. If one doesn’t fit, try another. Personalisation > prescription.
  4. Old people’s advice is often better than you think. Behoove it.
  5. When you’re afraid, take action. Things hardly ever go as wrong as in our imagination. Action (a) builds the courage muscle, (b) skews outcomes in your favour, (c) shows there’s nothing to fear.
  6. Be wary of saying “one day I’ll do X” because “one day” will be stretched out indefinitely.
  7. People less qualified than you are doing what you want because they chose to. You can also chose to.

Work

  1. To get what you want you have to deserve what you want.
  2. You learn more by listening rather than talking.
  3. People remember interactions by the peak and end. End on a high rather than a low. Most people do the opposite.
  4. Being enthusiastic is worth 10 IQ points. Make this a habit.
  5. Writing online is like putting up a bat signal for like-minded people to find you.
  6. Be wary of artificial complexity. Busy ≠ productive.
  7. No zero days. Don’t use going slightly off course to go fully off course.

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