For my fellow empathic people: You cannot help someone with their emotions and maintain your own boundaries at the same time. Notice how that turns out? You must pick one, and most of the time, it should be #2. Helping yourself first is the best way to help others.

One overlooked and under appreciated effect of recent AI advancements: Hardware development is now driven by the demands of software, versus software being developed for the hardware (as it’s always been). We’ll see back & forth as advances in one demands advances in the other.

If you’re unwilling to stand up for other people’s causes, how can you expect them to stand up for yours?

If someone is taking a random IQ test from the Internet, do we really need to see the results?

Many people focus more on the narrative than on results. Talking vs doing. The narrative approach gets you quick gratification, but can become conditioned into a bad habit. Unless you’re campaigning for election, best to bias towards results.

The better you manage your ego, the better the leader you can be: - Take all the blame - Give away the credit - Give more than you ask - Listen more than you speak Leaders trade short term validation for the delayed gratification of long term outcomes.

Being a giver has amazing benefits, but in the past, it caused me problems. I felt like I needed to figure everything out on my own, and I didn’t ask for help from my friends and family. Then I reframed it to “asking means giving someone a chance to help”, and that’s a win-win.

The moment your words leave your mouth, they no longer belong to you. So be thoughtful of what you share and with whom.

It’s usually better to do the thing you’ve been putting off suboptimally than to wait. Do some initial prep, and then go after it. Delaying will only inflate the problem and delude you into thinking more prep is needed.

You don’t get what you thought you wanted because you’re about to get what was really meant for you.

My wife’s winning social media strategy: don’t read comments…on any post. This is great because: - Too many troll bots - 0 accountability, so 0 quality - Algorithm prioritizes mob-think It’s concerning to see, even on my curated feed, the intentional distortion of reality.

Youth have time and energy but don’t fully grasp their value. The elderly, with less vitality, deeply understand time's worth & find peace in stillness. Who holds the true advantage—those with energy & time ahead, or those with wisdom & appreciation for life’s fleeting moments?

Being indecisive lulls us into a sleep, and time will fly until we finally wake up again. Choice brings responsibility, responsibility is often accompanied by fear. That’s okay. You can’t run a marathon without getting tired, and you can’t do important work when you’re asleep.

The promise of communism: you will no longer be exploited by the Rich Man. The promise of capitalism: work hard and you can become the Rich Man. Neither promise is guaranteed, but one works best with the true nature of man and his ego.

Aspiration is the combination of inspiration and reality. Only inspirational makes it just a dream. Only realistic means it’s just work. Bringing these two together is how an idea becomes a movement and changes the world.

You cannot envy the benefits of someone’s life without also envying the costs.

Feeling bad doesn’t mean you’re doing bad, it’s natural to feel stuck sometimes. Recognize those feelings and choose actions that aren’t controlled by them. You don’t have to act the way you feel, you can act as if you feel amazing—and that’s how you break free from the rut.

Is it that lovers of history become empathetic to others, or is it that empathetic people become lovers of history? I don’t often find one without the other in a person - perhaps because both involve putting yourself in another’s shoes.

Don’t let a messenger you don’t like keep you from getting a message you need. Learn 2x as fast if you learn from both the best and the worst around you.

Presence before service. Relationship before mission.