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Essays, blogs, and notes I keep coming back to.
279 notes
Coursey argues good writers use the same words far better than the rest of us, comparing Aaron Swartz's gripping first line about Carol Dweck with the dull school-style opening he'd have written.
Related
- You Are NOT Dumb, You Just Lack the PrerequisitesLelouch
- How I ReadRob Henderson
- mathAlisa Wuffles
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
Roberts argues that you can grow your own luck, since serendipity scales with how much you do what you care about and how many people you tell about it.
Related
- Long Range Career AdviceSlava Akhmechet
- How to Create LuckShawn Wang
- ProductivitySam Altman
- It Is Your Responsibility to Follow UpAlexey Guzey
Hartmann argues that writing is the skill that most expands a senior engineer's impact, and that good writing starts with having a clear message for a specific audience.
Related
- What to care about in a jobBen Kuhn
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- the world doesn’t move because you tell it tosignull
Ango shares the 40 questions he answers at the end of every year, from what you did for the first time to what you want next year, noting that the real value is the trends that show up across years.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
Hall treats agency as a learnable skill and shares the edges that built hers: court rejection, seek anonymous feedback, take random meetings, cross the moat of low status, and avoid burnout.
Related
- 50 things I knowCate Hall
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
Libera argues that sitcoms can hold life lessons as real as those in books, and walks through the moments from Community that shaped how she sees her own life.
Related
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- First we shape our social graph; then it shapes usHenrik Karlsson
- On feeling connectedHenrik Karlsson
Friedman's credo: reshape the world with technology, move fast because time is the denominator, keep teams small, empower great individuals, and distrust the efficient market.
Related
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
- 50 things I knowCate Hall
- Staring into the abyss as a core life skillBen Kuhn
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
Hall's 50 hard-won lessons on love, judgment, and agency, from caring about people who don't care back to doing the tasks you most want to avoid first and knowing when to quit.
Related
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Some Things I BelieveNat Friedman
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
- Staring into the abyss as a core life skillBen Kuhn
- NewEverything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson 13 min
How to apply Christopher Alexander's idea of unfolding to design a life that fits
Related
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- What you could have beenBrian • The Tiny Wisdom
- On FailureSlava Akhmechet
Karlsson argues that most writing doesn't help you think, and that it becomes a real tool for thought only when you use it to find and test the flaws in your ideas.
Related
- The Written WordMorgan Housel
- Semantic gapsSebastian Bensusan
- SotW: Be SpecificEliezer Yudkowsky
- Taboo Your WordsEliezer Yudkowsky
Hall argues that fear of looking bad while learning keeps people from richer lives, and that the only way across is to accept the embarrassment and do it anyway, as she did playing poker on television.
Related
- There’s no speed limitDerek Sivers
- Being BadMichael Kaminsky
- Being Generally Capable
- the worst thing that can happen is that you’ll learnjanelle☆
- NewA blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inboxHenrik Karlsson 14 min
Karlsson argues you should write niche, detailed posts for the person you were six months ago rather than a general audience, since precise writing works like a search query that finds your people online.
Related
- How To Craft A Subject Line for Cold Emailing part 1Owen Garcia
- How to think in writingHenrik Karlsson
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
Housel argues progress is easy to underestimate because it comes from small ideas recombining and compounding over generations, the way Edwin Land influenced Steve Jobs, rather than from lone geniuses.
Related
- When You Change the World and No One NoticesMorgan Housel
- The typical path of how people respond to life-changing inventionsChris Dixon
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
- Technology predictionsSam Altman
Karlsson argues we absorb whatever milieu surrounds us, as historical geniuses absorbed the highly skilled adults around them, so you should deliberately curate both your influences and your audience.
Related
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- On feeling connectedHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
Karlsson argues, building on Erich Fromm, that giving is an act of potency rather than sacrifice, and that genuine care for others is how we generate connection.
Related
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- First we shape our social graph; then it shapes usHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
Housel argues that the best way to learn how the world works is to see how connected every field is, since the big lessons from one domain often explain another.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
- Different Kinds of SmartMorgan Housel
- How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong FilterMorgan Housel
Housel argues that choosing what to ignore is the key attention skill: favor permanent knowledge over expiring news, remember stories, and listen to admired people who disagree.
Related
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
- Different Kinds of SmartMorgan Housel
- How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong FilterMorgan Housel
Housel lists the easy mental shortcuts people take instead of hard thinking, like killing uncertainty fast, blaming complex events on one cause, judging others but excusing yourself, and trusting stories over statistics.
Related
- A Few Short StoriesMorgan Housel
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2026)Morgan Housel
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2023)Morgan Housel
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
- NewRead Old BooksTed Lamade 10 min
Lamade argues old books reveal lessons that stay true because people don't change, using Silicon Valley Bank's collapse and quotes from 1980s investors like Peter Lynch to show how the same mistakes repeat.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- Reality has a surprising amount of detailJohn Salvatier
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
- NewSometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meet★(favorite)Henrik Karlsson 10 min
Karlsson argues we misread people by judging surface interests in a single context, as he did for 15 years with his friend Torbjörn, whom he saw as funny rather than deeply responsive.
Related
- First we shape our social graph; then it shapes usHenrik Karlsson
- On feeling connectedHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
Housel argues that high intelligence can backfire, since smart people build elaborate stories to explain randomness, dismiss less-credentialed voices, and cling to outdated ideas to protect their reputations.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- Different Kinds of SmartMorgan Housel
- How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong FilterMorgan Housel
Housel argues we blame bad times on risk but credit good times to ourselves, though luck is just risk in reverse, so the best guard against entitlement is to be nicer the better things go.
Related
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2026)Morgan Housel
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2023)Morgan Housel
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
Housel's uncomfortable self-audit questions, such as whose admired life is secretly miserable, which beliefs you hold only for tribal standing, and whether your ambition is really envy.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
- Makes You ThinkMorgan Housel
Housel's 2025 set of self-audit questions, such as how you'd define a good life without comparison, whose approval you're auditioning for, and which principles you'd drop if they stopped earning praise.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
- Makes You ThinkMorgan Housel
Housel collects short historical stories with lessons on behavior, from drivers ignoring seat belts for decades to Scots massing troops during the Black Death and Apollo astronauts finding the moon underwhelming.
Related
- Psychological Paths of Least ResistanceMorgan Housel
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2026)Morgan Housel
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2023)Morgan Housel
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
Housel's convictions on money and behavior, from not needing to impress anyone as the best financial asset to expectations inflation, endurance as the key to success, and how ego and impatience override intelligence.
Related
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2026)Morgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- Psychological Paths of Least ResistanceMorgan Housel
- The Luckier You Are The Nicer You Should BeMorgan Housel
Housel argues money works best as a tool for a better life rather than a status yardstick, and that how you spend reflects your history and often buys happiness only indirectly.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel argues nostalgia comes from knowing how the story ends, which erases the uncertainty you felt at the time and makes past years, markets, and eras look easier than they were.
Related
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
- Makes You ThinkMorgan Housel
Housel argues every forecast multiplies a hard number from today by a story about tomorrow, so data-driven predictions are mostly storytelling and always deserve room for error.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Housel argues outlier success often pairs a science with an unrelated art, like Einstein's thought experiments, and that great investors are usually great writers because clear communication keeps investors loyal and thinking honest.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel compares much financial advice to magazine architects whose award-winning buildings leak, arguing that most people need simple, boring, practical plans rather than advice that sounds brilliant.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Makes You ThinkMorgan Housel
Housel lists pairs of opposing skills investing demands at once, like taking big risks to get rich but avoiding them to stay rich, or trusting your gut while doubting your biases.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Using the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, Housel argues academic intelligence is only one kind of smart, and that reading across fields, paranoia about survival, storytelling, and humility matter as much.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
- How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong FilterMorgan Housel
Housel argues the best strategy is the one that fits your personality, from talented bloggers who fizzled under media company style guides to investing and spending choices that suit you.
Related
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel draws five broad lessons from history, including that hardship makes unthinkable views popular, unsustainable things last longer than expected, and progress moves too slowly to notice while setbacks hit fast.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
Koe argues cognitive flexibility matters more than raw intelligence, describes three levels of thinking from scripted NPC to self-aware programmer, and prescribes daily habits of questioning, curating, reading, and creating.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
Housel argues that more debt narrows the range of life's shocks you can survive, which is why Japan's centuries-old shinise businesses hold lots of cash and no debt, and why flexibility is worth protecting.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel's filters for the flood of financial content: sort it by relevance, read respected people you disagree with, read beyond finance, use old news as a guide, and remember writers may play a different game than you.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Taking a cue from Munger, Housel argues you should start any book that interests you but quit ruthlessly once it stops working, since most books aren't worth finishing and a few can change your life.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
- Different Kinds of SmartMorgan Housel
Morgan Housel's list of questions for testing your own beliefs, from what you desperately want to be true to which views would change if your incentives did.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
Lamade argues you should give small and unwanted chances your full effort, as Philip Seymour Hoffman did in auditions, William McRaven did with a parade float, and Tom Brady did with two practice reps.
Related
- The Mathematical Reason Most People Never "Make It"Kaguura Gichuru
- Long Range Career AdviceSlava Akhmechet
- On Starting a New JobSlava Akhmechet
- How To Be SuccessfulSam Altman
Housel argues that imagining impossible information, like the exact role of luck in success, is useful because it forces you to think about what matters but is easy to ignore.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel argues knowledge work often looks lazy because good decisions need quiet thinking time, as Rockefeller, Einstein, and Bill Gates's Think Weeks show, so judge workers by outcomes rather than visible effort.
Related
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
- Interview AdviceSlava Akhmechet
Housel argues that kids looking spoiled by past standards is often the point of their parents' hard work, since each generation's easier life just frees it to worry about higher-order problems.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- My New Book: The Art of Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
Housel suggests asking what isn't repeatable instead of who got lucky, so you copy the transferable skills of people like Bezos and Buffett and skip the conditions that will never recur.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel collects lines on history, risk, and wisdom, from Sebastian Junger on people needing to feel necessary to Amos Tversky on staying a little underemployed to do good research.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
Housel introduces The Art of Spending Money and its core ideas: money works best as a tool rather than a status yardstick, buys happiness only indirectly, and is spent best by those who stop thinking about it.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Lamade argues our poor grasp of odds fuels needless stress, since 25,000 valedictorians compete for about 15,000 Ivy seats, yet ignoring the odds is fine when you love the pursuit itself.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
Housel argues independence, financial but also intellectual and moral, is one of life's highest goals, starting from his shy son's pride at buying ice cream alone and why doing things on your own terms feels so good.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Lamade argues that significance, the quiet impact you have on people around you, matters more than success, drawing on a Cornell coach's speech and a gym teacher who built confidence in small kids for decades.
Related
- The Misfit TreeTed Lamade
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
Housel collects lines on wealth, happiness, and self-deception, from Ernest Dimnet on small destructive habits to Will Durant calling insecurity the mother of greed.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
Housel collects lines on judgment, humility, and happiness, from Albert Lasker's humility in the presence of a good idea to Jensen Huang on how high expectations destroy resilience.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
Housel argues success depends on surviving long losing streaks, as Ed Thorp's 2% blackjack edge still meant losing half his hands, which is why real optimism and a margin of safety matter more than the edge itself.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Lamade argues we instinctively solve problems by adding things when subtracting often works better, from the pedal-less Strider bike and Chipotle's short menu to simpler investment portfolios.
Related
- Notes on Incident ResponseSlava Akhmechet
- Measurable does not mean importantFay
- Read Old BooksTed Lamade
- Our Achilles HeelTed Lamade
Housel argues that huge outcomes grow from small early bases, showing that about 97% of Buffett's fortune traces to the capital he built as a teenager, just as ice ages start from one summer's leftover snow.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Buying books, hunting for inspiration, and watching tutorials feel like progress because the brain rewards preparation, so the fix is doing one small, imperfect piece of the actual work today.
Related
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
Housel argues long-term success depends on managing the short run well enough to survive it, from kids distracting themselves in the marshmallow test to Bill Gates keeping a year of payroll in the bank.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Lamade argues the imperfect moments are the ones we remember, from his father's habit of buying the first flawed Christmas tree he sees, and asks what we lose by smoothing every flaw out of life.
Related
- Significance > SuccessTed Lamade
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
Housel argues studying extreme cases teaches overly precise lessons that lead you to see rare patterns everywhere, as a 19th-century professor did diagnosing a rare disease his student had rightly ruled out.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
Housel argues pessimism sounds smarter than optimism because short-term shocks are easier to recall and we underestimate how people adapt, as Jeremy Siegel's long horizon and the oil cycles show.
Related
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
- How To Read Financial NewsMorgan Housel
- Information That Would Get Your AttentionMorgan Housel
Housel's rules for writing well: write what you like to read, use stories as leverage for ideas, aim for memorable sentences, and say the most in the fewest words without building up to your point.
Related
- An Art Leveraging A ScienceMorgan Housel
- How to think in writingHenrik Karlsson
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
- Semantic gapsSebastian Bensusan
Housel argues that some of the most valuable skills get little credit, like tolerating hassle you can't control and noticing how much wanting something shapes what you believe.
Related
- Lazy Work, Good WorkMorgan Housel
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
- Interview AdviceSlava Akhmechet
Taking a cue from Munger's advice to avoid obvious disasters, Housel writes a list of very bad advice, such as letting expectations outgrow income and judging others at their worst and yourself at your best.
Related
- Little Rules About Big ThingsMorgan Housel
- Some Things I ThinkMorgan Housel
- Very Good Advice (flipped)Morgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
Housel collects short historical stories about luck, uncertainty, and hidden effort, from Henry Ford turning Model T scrap wood into Kingsford charcoal to Chris Rock testing jokes in small clubs before a tour.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- Beautiful vs. Practical AdviceMorgan Housel
Brian argues that small everyday choices compound into who you become, so pushing through hard moments is how you avoid looking back at the person you could have been.
Related
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
- On FailureSlava Akhmechet
Housel argues world-changing inventions are usually ignored for years, as the Wright brothers were by the New York Times until 1906, so innovators need patience to wait for the world to notice.
Related
- Compounding OptimismMorgan Housel
- The typical path of how people respond to life-changing inventionsChris Dixon
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
- Technology predictionsSam Altman
Brian argues that a good life isn't a universal template, so measuring yours against other people's milestones guarantees it never feels like enough.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
Thomas reads Andreessen's motto through a lost traveler at a fork: commit fully to a path, then turn around fast when it dead-ends, which maximizes your rate of learning.
Related
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- The illusion of productivity (and why we stay stuck)Brian • The Tiny Wisdom
Thomas argues that in unknown, unforgiving settings like startups, speed lowers risk, which is why Amundsen's fast, light team reached the South Pole in comfort while Scott's slow, cautious one died.
Related
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
- Do Too MuchAlexandr Wang
- Optimism Shapes RealityAlexandr Wang
- Just keep goingWill Ahmed
Thomas argues that startup experiments should be designed to succeed or fail clearly, because a mediocre result, like two sales from 100 cold calls, teaches you nothing about whether to double down.
Related
- Information CompressionAlexandr Wang
- Incentives as selection effectsSebastian Bensusan
- Agency problemsChris Dixon
- Steve Jobs on problem solvingChris Dixon
McKenzie argues engineers should always negotiate because five minutes can be worth $100k: never name a number first, echo the employer's words, and trade across salary, vacation, and perks.
Related
- Equity is Worth More Than Cash Because of OptionalityPeter Schmidt-Nielsen
- The value of employee equity depends a lot on volatilityDevansh Pandey
- Wall Street Survival 101Joel Spolsky
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
Kuhn argues the people he admires most are great at thinking clearly about uncomfortable questions, like whether to pivot, quit, or break up, as Wave's CEO did through a dozen pivots, and offers ways to get better at it.
Related
- Some Things I BelieveNat Friedman
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
- 50 things I knowCate Hall
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
signull argues the world now changes faster than advice can keep up, so inherited maps like get a stable job go stale, and you need your own radar for what is shifting right now.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
signull argues that real, absorbing fun is a more honest measure than money or prestige and the only sustainable fuel, so plan your days around what would make the work fun.
Related
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
- What you could have beenBrian • The Tiny Wisdom
- On FailureSlava Akhmechet
A mechanical way for early-career, non-technical people to pick which startup to join: choose a few criteria, rank them, and use them to filter companies.
Related
- Projects and CompaniesSam Altman
- Advice for ambitious 19 year oldsSam Altman
- Startup options are much better than they lookBen Kuhn
- founding designer, explainedjerry
signull argues attention works like gravity and pulls hardest toward whoever returns it least, which is why silence, scarcity, and one-sided interest hold our focus in relationships, markets, and culture.
Related
- Psychological Paths of Least ResistanceMorgan Housel
- A Few Short StoriesMorgan Housel
- Don't ask yes/no, ask A/BJakob Greenfeld
- the world doesn’t move because you tell it tosignull
signull argues people never change because they are told to, only when a story or vision shifts what they see, as in falling in love, lasting friendships, and leaders like Jobs.
Related
- How To Send Progress UpdatesSlava Akhmechet
- the physics of attentionsignull
- Illusion of Transparency: Why No One Understands YouEliezer Yudkowsky
- You can't tell people anythingChip Morningstar
An insider's list of what made Stripe great around 2018, starting with nearly everyone being agentic, smart, and conscientious, and what that cost in energy.
Related
- Leader v Follower ModeSlava Akhmechet
- how to give feedbackSlava Akhmechet
- How to recruitSlava Akhmechet
- Stubborn Attachments On Getting Things DoneSlava Akhmechet
Blunt advice for new grads: send hard-to-fake signals of competence, get good at Leetcode-style problems and programming tactics, and use your network to get noticed.
Related
- Long Range Career AdviceSlava Akhmechet
- How to Market YourselfShawn Wang
- how to enter side doorsmaja
- Career DecisionsElad Gil
Feeling stuck usually means a valley, not a local minimum: avoid volatile moves like quitting, build steady momentum, and take bigger steps in calm, promising directions.
Related
- On FailureSlava Akhmechet
- Some Things I BelieveNat Friedman
- 50 things I knowCate Hall
- Staring into the abyss as a core life skillBen Kuhn
How writing the Hacker News headline first, then building the release to match it, kept RethinkDB on top of HN and taught Akhmechet to write headlines that land.
Related
- How To Send Progress UpdatesSlava Akhmechet
- Notes on Incident ResponseSlava Akhmechet
- On Working with Product ManagersSlava Akhmechet
- How to Work W DesignersSlava Akhmechet
How to give feedback people want and feedback they don't: move from a concrete example of their work to how you'd do it, why it matters, and a reusable framework.
Related
- Leader v Follower ModeSlava Akhmechet
- Braindump on what made Stripe greatSlava Akhmechet
- How to recruitSlava Akhmechet
- How To Send Progress UpdatesSlava Akhmechet
Great candidates are rare and have options, so move fast, pour energy into small gestures and their bigger dreams, and leave compensation for the end.
Related
- Leader v Follower ModeSlava Akhmechet
- Braindump on what made Stripe greatSlava Akhmechet
- how to give feedbackSlava Akhmechet
- How to Work W DesignersSlava Akhmechet
Tips for updates to investors, bosses, and other teams: show you take their trust seriously, vary the cadence a little, and build a record of good stewardship.
Related
- the world doesn’t move because you tell it tosignull
- How to Capture AttentionSlava Akhmechet
- Leader v Follower ModeSlava Akhmechet
- On Working with Product ManagersSlava Akhmechet
Great designers see the world from a vantage point you can't share, so working with one means building a common language together until the confusion clears.
Related
- On Working with Product ManagersSlava Akhmechet
- How to recruitSlava Akhmechet
- On Starting a New JobSlava Akhmechet
- How to Capture AttentionSlava Akhmechet
In technical interviews, treat small problems like bugs as a normal part of the work: no change of pace, no irritation, no surprise, because composure is what strong performers share.
Related
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
- Lazy Work, Good WorkMorgan Housel
- Be Wary of Imitating High-Status People Who Can Afford to CountersignalRob Henderson
Contrasts two working modes: leaders take a goal, tolerate ambiguity, and figure out the how, while followers need precise tasks and excel within a narrow range.
Related
- Braindump on what made Stripe greatSlava Akhmechet
- how to give feedbackSlava Akhmechet
- How to recruitSlava Akhmechet
- How To Send Progress UpdatesSlava Akhmechet
A 10-to-20-year career loop: get in rooms with the most competent people who'll have you, work hard to be reliably useful, and watch for weird asymmetric opportunities.
Related
- Getting a Tech Job Out of CollegeSlava Akhmechet
- On Starting a New JobSlava Akhmechet
- How to Create LuckShawn Wang
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
What good incident response takes under uncertainty and time pressure: the rare mix of equanimity, rigor, and urgency, plus calm, organized coordination of the war room.
Related
- Take Something AwayTed Lamade
- Measurable does not mean importantFay
- How to Capture AttentionSlava Akhmechet
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
People respond to big failures by either consolidating lessons and moving up or hiding in humiliation, and the mode you land in is decided by habits built before the failure.
Related
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
Start a new job by running two threads: solve one small valuable problem fast and keep scaling up, while talking to everyone to understand what they work on and why.
Related
- How to recruitSlava Akhmechet
- How to Work W DesignersSlava Akhmechet
- Long Range Career AdviceSlava Akhmechet
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
PMs own outcomes they don't control, and engineering and PM share strategic goals but diverge tactically by design, so the relationship is part partnership, part healthy tension.
Related
- How to Work W DesignersSlava Akhmechet
- How to Capture AttentionSlava Akhmechet
- How To Send Progress UpdatesSlava Akhmechet
- Leader v Follower ModeSlava Akhmechet
Firm rules for execution: every effort needs one owner for whom it's the main job, leaders and followers rarely swap roles, and you can only run as many things as you have leaders.
Related
- Braindump on what made Stripe greatSlava Akhmechet
- Gradient Descent ValleysSlava Akhmechet
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
- Do Too MuchAlexandr Wang
Housel on why bad behavior makes sense with more information, how housing affordability drives social problems, why people fear AI after the internet, and why politics runs in cycles.
Related
- A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- Psychological Paths of Least ResistanceMorgan Housel
- The Luckier You Are The Nicer You Should BeMorgan Housel
Housel's handful of ideas that shaped his thinking, including how tribes bend beliefs, why history repeats in behavior, why room for error is aggressive, and how personal experience skews your view.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
Housel's list of short rules on money, risk, and behavior, from keeping a gap between ego and income to fearing permanent damage far more than temporary harm.
Related
- Some Things I ThinkMorgan Housel
- Very Good Advice (flipped)Morgan Housel
- Very Bad AdviceMorgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
Using data to design sounds objective. On metrics versus intent, A/B tests, and why judgment still has to make the call.
Related
- Take Something AwayTed Lamade
- Notes on Incident ResponseSlava Akhmechet
- Premature optimizationSam Altman
- Vanity milestonesChris Dixon
Housel's one-line observations on wealth, luck, and human nature, such as measuring wealth as what you have minus what you want and the value of not needing to impress anyone.
Related
- Little Rules About Big ThingsMorgan Housel
- Very Good Advice (flipped)Morgan Housel
- Very Bad AdviceMorgan Housel
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
Smart ideas get copied fast, so lasting advantage comes from doing what others won't, starting with the ability to learn faster than the competition.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
- Different Kinds of SmartMorgan Housel
Eliason argues most productivity systems are tool-sharpening that rarely improves the actual work, as a chef taught him about knife skills, so use the minimum scaffolding and fix tools only when work suffers.
Related
- Proof You Can Do Hard ThingsNat Eliason
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
Eliason argues modern life atomizes rich activities into single efficient elements, like a Peloton ride instead of biking with friends, and that blending exercise, food, work, and friends back together makes life happier.
Related
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
- First we shape our social graph; then it shapes usHenrik Karlsson
- NewA QuestionSam Altman 1 min
Altman pushes back on complaints about a lack of innovation by pointing out that the phones, apps, and services people use to complain mostly didn't exist ten years earlier.
Related
- Electrons and AtomsSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
- Startup AdviceSam Altman
Altman argues startups should chase growth only after some users love the product enough to recommend it unprompted, since growth hacking a half-liked product fools investors only until they check retention.
Related
- Premature optimizationSam Altman
- Do Things that Don't ScalePaul Graham
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
Altman argues retention becomes harder than hiring once a startup grows, and that mission, rocketship growth, and a great team keep people where perks and inflated salaries never do.
Related
- Greg BrockmanSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
- Startup AdviceSam Altman
Altman argues democracy breaks down without economic growth, since voters in a zero-sum system can only gain at each other's expense, and that America's dysfunction traces back to slowing real growth.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
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- Upside riskSam Altman
Altman's 13 principles for outlier success, centered on compounding yourself, near-delusional self-belief, focus, hard work, owning equity instead of selling time, and being driven from within.
Related
- The days are long but the decades are shortSam Altman
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Hunter Walk on why living below your means keeps your options open, letting you take risks and choose work you care about over the highest salary.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
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Altman argues that choosing what to work on matters most for productivity, then shares his system of paper lists, ruthless no's, protected mornings, and sleep, exercise, and diet tuned by experiment.
Related
- How things get doneSam Altman
- The days are long but the decades are shortSam Altman
- The Strength of Being MisunderstoodSam Altman
- Value is created by doingSam Altman
Altman argues you should think of a startup as a project for as long as possible, since low expectations free you to pursue slightly crazy ideas, the way Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb all began.
Related
- Advice for ambitious 19 year oldsSam Altman
- how to pick the right startup to join [full guide]Christian Levan
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
Altman shares the term sheet he uses as an angel and explains what he left out, from option-pool shuffles and investor legal fees to exploding offers and confidentiality, to win the best founders.
Related
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
- How To Invest In StartupsSam Altman
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
Altman argues college, a job, or a startup can each be right at 19 as long as you build things, stay around smart people, and take the right risks, like joining a breakout company over a higher salary at Microsoft.
Related
- Projects and CompaniesSam Altman
- How things get doneSam Altman
- Value is created by doingSam Altman
- What I Wish Someone Had Told MeSam Altman
Startups don't take off on their own; founders have to push them early by recruiting users by hand and delighting them in ways that would never work at scale.
Related
- Before GrowthSam Altman
- Startup = GrowthPaul Graham
- Default blindSebastian Bensusan
- How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham
Altman notices that every breakout startup he tracks connects the online and physical worlds, like Uber and Airbnb, and argues that companies bridging the two tend to beat purely digital or purely physical ones.
Related
- A QuestionSam Altman
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- Idea GenerationSam Altman
- Startup AdviceSam Altman
Altman lists common fundraising mistakes, from chasing high valuations and playing tricks to failing to create competition between investors, raising without a lead, and not knowing your own metrics cold.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
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- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
Altman holds up Greg Brockman as the ideal cofounder, the force of will who committed to OpenAI on a car ride home, recruited the founding team, took every non-technical job, and kept everyone pressing on.
Related
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
- Startup AdviceSam Altman
Altman argues hard, meaningful startups are often easier to make succeed than easy ones, because an important mission attracts the talent, advice, and funding that a thousand photo-sharing apps compete for.
Related
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
- Startup AdviceSam Altman
- Startup advice, brieflySam Altman
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Altman endorses Charlie Rose's theory that things get done through focus and personal connections, so founders should drop everything beyond two or three priorities and invest in relationships with smart people.
Related
- Value is created by doingSam Altman
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- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
Altman argues startup investing comes down to access, judgment, and getting founders to pick you, which means outworking other investors, backing fast-improving founders in possible $10B markets, and acting decisively.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
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- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
Paul Graham's practical guide to early fundraising: when to raise, how investors think, and how to run the process without letting it distract from the company.
Related
- How to Make WealthPaul Graham
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- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
Altman argues good startup ideas come from being around optimistic, unfiltered people, projecting 20 years ahead, and spotting what became possible this year, and that a good idea sounds bad for reasons you can explain.
Related
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Startup AdviceSam Altman
- Startup advice, brieflySam Altman
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Altman argues that A/B tests and funnel tweaks only matter once users love the product, so early startups should chase a step change in the product itself rather than incremental 10% gains.
Related
- Before GrowthSam Altman
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- Vanity milestonesChris Dixon
- Why vanity metrics are dangerousEric Ries
A startup is a company designed to grow fast, and Graham explains why growth rate is the one metric that should guide nearly every decision a founder makes.
Related
- Do Things that Don't ScalePaul Graham
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
Altman's 95 pieces of startup advice for a new YC batch, from make something people want and hire slow, fire fast to keeping burn low, moving fast, and staying optimistic when everything melts down.
Related
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
- Startup advice, brieflySam Altman
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Altman's compressed guide to building a startup: start with a project, make something a few users love, keep burn low, hire well and fire fast, obsess over growth, and keep working hard for ten years.
Related
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
- Idea GenerationSam Altman
- Startup AdviceSam Altman
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Altman lists what hugely successful startups do when young, from obsessing over product quality and talent to making something a few users love, keeping costs low, and moving fast on everything.
Related
- Hard StartupsSam Altman
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- Startup AdviceSam Altman
- Startup advice, brieflySam Altman
Altman collects confident expert predictions that turned out wrong, from Wilbur Wright doubting flight and Einstein dismissing nuclear energy to 2015 skeptics calling superhuman AI ridiculous.
Related
- The typical path of how people respond to life-changing inventionsChris Dixon
- Compounding OptimismMorgan Housel
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- Exponential curves feel gradual and then suddenChris Dixon
Altman's 36 lessons from his twenties, from keeping close friends and a low burn rate to picking the right work, asking for what you want, and doing something new and risky every year.
Related
- The Strength of Being MisunderstoodSam Altman
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- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
Altman argues the goal is to care about others' opinions on a long time horizon rather than stop caring, trading short-term low status for long-term high status by being right about a non-consensus bet.
Related
- The days are long but the decades are shortSam Altman
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- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- NewUpside riskSam Altman 2 min
Altman argues that because one angel investment often returns more than all the rest combined, the real risk is missing the outlier, so investors should stop demanding protective terms that drive off the best founders.
Related
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- A Number From Today and A Story About TomorrowMorgan Housel
- Conflicting Skill SetsMorgan Housel
Altman argues that tweeting, networking, and talking about the future only feel like work, since value comes from execution, so measure what you got done each day and work on what you actually care about.
Related
- How things get doneSam Altman
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Altman's 17 lessons on building things: optimism and obsession get them started, while cohesive teams, focused bets, and fast iteration get them finished.
Related
- How things get doneSam Altman
- The days are long but the decades are shortSam Altman
- The Strength of Being MisunderstoodSam Altman
- Value is created by doingSam Altman
Generic subject lines like "Coffee Chat Request" get ignored; personalize the subject so a busy executive has a reason to open your cold email.
Related
- A blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inboxHenrik Karlsson
- It Is Your Responsibility to Follow UpAlexey Guzey
- the world doesn’t move because you tell it tosignull
- How to Capture AttentionSlava Akhmechet
Paul Graham argues nerds are unpopular in school because they care more about being smart than popular, and because schools are artificial places with no real work to do.
Related
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- How to Do What You LovePaul Graham
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Brian Chesky shares the rejection emails Airbnb got from investors when it tried to raise $150,000 at a $1.5M valuation.
Related
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
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- Just keep goingWill Ahmed
- NewCreate.Derek Sivers 4 min
A chapter from Sivers's How to Live arguing that the way to live is to create, finish what you start, and die with nothing left inside you.
Related
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
- What you could have beenBrian • The Tiny Wisdom
Brian Chesky on how adults stop imagining things they can't yet see how to build, and why starting from an unedited imagination leads to bigger ideas.
Related
- 7 RejectionsBrian Chesky
- Do Too MuchAlexandr Wang
- Optimism Shapes RealityAlexandr Wang
- Just keep goingWill Ahmed
Chesky's 2013 letter to the Airbnb team on why culture comes first, prompted by Peter Thiel's one piece of advice after investing.
Related
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
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- Hire people who give a shit.Alexandr Wang
- Lieutenants are the limiting reagentSebastian Bensusan
Drawing on selling two B2B software companies to Google and Elastic, Dullien explains how your target market dictates funding, how VC incentives really work, and how to handle product, hiring, sales, and cofounders.
Related
- A QuestionSam Altman
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- It all blossomed out of this tiny little seedChris Dixon
- What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten yearsChris Dixon
Chesky argues that repetition blurs memory while new experiences stretch it, which is why he remembers every childhood family trip but none of his 2,000 bus rides, so travel makes life feel longer.
Related
- Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like MovingAllie Brosh
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- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
Netscape's rewrite from scratch shows why throwing away working code is the worst strategic mistake a software company can make.
Related
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- A QuestionSam Altman
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Wang argues a leader sets the ceiling on how much a company cares, so leaders must overdo everything, as Scale did by moving most of its team to LLM data within six months.
Related
- Optimism Shapes RealityAlexandr Wang
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
- Just keep goingWill Ahmed
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Wang's Scale memo argues the key hiring screen is whether candidates care about the company and have been obsessed with work before, warning that a growing startup risks becoming a credential instead of a mission.
Related
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
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- Don’t Fuck Up the CultureBrian Chesky
- Lieutenants are the limiting reagentSebastian Bensusan
"Do what you love" is harder than it sounds; Graham unpacks how to tell real interest from prestige, money, and others' expectations when choosing your work.
Related
- Work Life Balance is ImpossibleNat Eliason
- If you’re not feeling “hell yeah!” then say noDerek Sivers
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- What Should You Do with Your Life? Directions and AdviceAlexey Guzey
Wang's 2019 Scale memo argues companies slow down because people compress complex problems badly when handing them off, so the fix is shared context, vertical teams, and solving your own problems.
Related
- The Worst Outcome is a Mediocre SuccessAbraham Thomas
- Incentives as selection effectsSebastian Bensusan
- Agency problemsChris Dixon
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Having kids convinced Graham that life really is short, so the answer is to cut out the bullshit, avoid letting time slip by, and do what matters to you now.
Related
- What to DoPaul Graham
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
Wang's 2019 Scale memo argues that time estimates set how long work takes, since people aim just under any bar, so optimistic scopes make teams move faster.
Related
- Do Too MuchAlexandr Wang
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
- Just keep goingWill Ahmed
- The Perils of PrudenceAbraham Thomas
Sivers's talk to incoming Berklee students: six lessons on focus, ignoring distraction, and treating school as an intense training period.
Related
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- Being Generally Capable
Henderson argues you should copy people a little ahead of you rather than stars, since successful people can afford countersignals like humility or not self-promoting that would hurt someone just starting out.
Related
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
- Lazy Work, Good WorkMorgan Housel
- Interview AdviceSlava Akhmechet
Bensusan argues you should read people backwards from what they actually accomplish, since that reveals their real motivation, as he learned when he forgot the protein in his protein pudding.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
Bensusan argues software businesses are blind by default, since a paper shop clerk sees a Chinese New Year rush but an online store sees nothing unless someone asks, so people can stay lost for years.
Related
- Before GrowthSam Altman
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- Incentives as selection effectsSebastian Bensusan
- Lieutenants are the limiting reagentSebastian Bensusan
Yudkowsky argues school trains students to recite answers like "light is waves" that earn gold stars but predict nothing, and that real understanding means a belief that controls what you expect to see.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- Reality has a surprising amount of detailJohn Salvatier
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
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Henderson argues there's no secret to reading a lot: read slowly with notes, cycle through several books, fill spare minutes with a Kindle instead of scrolling, and treat a daily reading habit as non-negotiable.
Related
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- mathAlisa Wuffles
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- Reality has a surprising amount of detailJohn Salvatier
When you apply a new incentive, you select for a new population that prefers the incentive.
Related
- Information CompressionAlexandr Wang
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- Agency problemsChris Dixon
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Bensusan argues big tech ships few products for its size because the real bottleneck is lieutenants, agentic people who push through blockers outside their job description, and they grow scarcer as companies grow.
Related
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
- Greg BrockmanSam Altman
- Don’t Fuck Up the CultureBrian Chesky
- Hire people who give a shit.Alexandr Wang
Ponnekanti argues the only reason that gets a stuck person moving is the feeling of motion itself, so the goal is two good days in a row, which gives you a trend worth defending.
Related
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
- What you could have beenBrian • The Tiny Wisdom
- On FailureSlava Akhmechet
Bensusan argues that needing time to think usually means fearing risks you already understand, so ask what you need to know to decide now, with a reply from Andy Matuschak on when waiting helps.
Related
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- The illusion of productivity (and why we stay stuck)Brian • The Tiny Wisdom
When one language draws a distinction another lacks, like Swedish's four words for grandparents, listeners get stuck on details that don't matter to the story.
Related
- How to think in writingHenrik Karlsson
- The Written WordMorgan Housel
- SotW: Be SpecificEliezer Yudkowsky
- Taboo Your WordsEliezer Yudkowsky
Gichuru uses Price's Law, where the square root of a group does half the work, to argue for producing in volume, finding the few posts and skills that matter, and doubling down on them.
Related
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
Bensusan argues writers' ideas mostly flow from their personalities, as he learns every time he meets an author, so knowing the person, through podcasts or biography, changes how much authority their arguments deserve.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- Reality has a surprising amount of detailJohn Salvatier
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- Read Old BooksTed Lamade
Uses the hill-climbing algorithm to explain why smart people stay on career paths they don't want, and why moving to the higher hill early beats climbing the wrong one.
Related
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
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- Interview AdviceSlava Akhmechet
- NewHow to Build a High-Growth Operating System: 9 Lessons from 9 Years at FaireDan Hockenmaier 12 min
Lessons on cadence, hiring, culture, and finding meaning at a high-growth startup.
Related
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
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- Don’t Fuck Up the CultureBrian Chesky
- Hire people who give a shit.Alexandr Wang
A reflection on how friendships fade without a final conversation, why lost people still surface in ordinary moments, and how those who once mattered keep shaping who you are after contact ends.
Related
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
- First we shape our social graph; then it shapes usHenrik Karlsson
Big companies constantly fight misaligned incentives between employees and the firm, so selling to them means knowing what each decision maker is rewarded for.
Related
- Steve Jobs on problem solvingChris Dixon
- Vanity milestonesChris Dixon
- Information CompressionAlexandr Wang
- The Worst Outcome is a Mediocre SuccessAbraham Thomas
Feedback loops between platforms and apps produce exponential growth that looks slow for years and then sudden, with smartphones as the main example.
Related
- The typical path of how people respond to life-changing inventionsChris Dixon
- Compounding OptimismMorgan Housel
- When You Change the World and No One NoticesMorgan Housel
- Technology predictionsSam Altman
Steve Jobs in 1985 on watching kids grow up with Apple IIs and the leverage of an idea that a few people design and many others build on.
Related
- What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten yearsChris Dixon
- A QuestionSam Altman
- Electrons and AtomsSam Altman
- Halvar’s Guide to EntrepreneurshipThomas Dullien
Steve Jobs on pushing past the convoluted middle stage of a hard problem to find its underlying principle and an elegant solution.
Related
- Agency problemsChris Dixon
- Vanity milestonesChris Dixon
- Information CompressionAlexandr Wang
- The Worst Outcome is a Mediocre SuccessAbraham Thomas
A quote arguing that today's free internet in your pocket would have sounded insane twenty years ago, and that the biggest technological changes are still ahead.
Related
- The typical path of how people respond to life-changing inventionsChris Dixon
- Exponential curves feel gradual and then suddenChris Dixon
- It all blossomed out of this tiny little seedChris Dixon
- What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten yearsChris Dixon
A ten-step list of how people react to a transformative technology, from never having heard of it to calling it too powerful and demanding regulation.
Related
- Exponential curves feel gradual and then suddenChris Dixon
- Compounding OptimismMorgan Housel
- When You Change the World and No One NoticesMorgan Housel
- Technology predictionsSam Altman
Mike Moritz on judging each startup on its own, and why generalizing about whole markets is dangerous when your job is finding the exceptions.
Related
- A founder-friendly term sheetSam Altman
- Fundraising Mistakes Founders MakeSam Altman
- How To Invest In StartupsSam Altman
- How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham
Extends Eric Ries's vanity metrics to milestones: celebrity investors, brand partnerships, and press that feel like progress but don't help the company.
Related
- Agency problemsChris Dixon
- Steve Jobs on problem solvingChris Dixon
- Premature optimizationSam Altman
- Why vanity metrics are dangerousEric Ries
- NewWhat the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten yearsChris Dixon 1 min
Engineers spend free time on interesting problems rather than near-term returns, which is why today's tech hobbies tend to become tomorrow's industries.
Related
- It all blossomed out of this tiny little seedChris Dixon
- A QuestionSam Altman
- Electrons and AtomsSam Altman
- Halvar’s Guide to EntrepreneurshipThomas Dullien
Gross numbers like "hits" feel like progress but hide who your customers are and what caused growth, so teams should track actionable metrics instead.
Related
- Premature optimizationSam Altman
- Vanity milestonesChris Dixon
- Information CompressionAlexandr Wang
- Take Something AwayTed Lamade
Sivers spent years learning to sing, produce, and program himself when shortcuts existed, because the point was to become those things, not just to have the results.
Related
- There’s no speed limitDerek Sivers
- Create.Derek Sivers
- If you’re not feeling “hell yeah!” then say noDerek Sivers
- Ideas That Changed My LifeMorgan Housel
Ben Horowitz on what makes a good place to work: people can focus on the job and trust that doing it well benefits both them and the company.
Related
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
- Greg BrockmanSam Altman
- Don’t Fuck Up the CultureBrian Chesky
- Hire people who give a shit.Alexandr Wang
Carey argues you should judge every trade of time for money, from chasing discounts to hiring cleaners, against your personal hourly exchange rate, and asks readers to share dollar-per-hour estimates for common trades.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Chapin argues fast connection with strangers is a learnable skill: expect everything and nothing from people, risk looking stupid, match their tempo, be responsive, and stay physically relaxed.
Related
- Reminder: Empathize First!Divia Eden
- To listen well, get curiousBen Kuhn
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- the world doesn’t move because you tell it tosignull
Framing a request as a choice between two options instead of yes or no takes "no" off the table, and the same trick works for your own habits.
Related
- Psychological Paths of Least ResistanceMorgan Housel
- A Few Short StoriesMorgan Housel
- the physics of attentionsignull
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
Greenfeld argues the secret behind outsized impact is a deep belief that you can make a dent in the universe, since expectations shape reality and self-doubt becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Related
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- Letting Now Jakob make decisions for Future JakobJakob Greenfeld
- Thinking harder doesn’t work (or how I learned to love the right half of my brain)Jakob Greenfeld
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
Greenfeld argues junk content compounds like junk food, pointing to Alex Hormozi's finding that viewers of short entertaining videos almost never move on to his deeper long-form content.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- Reality has a surprising amount of detailJohn Salvatier
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- Read Old BooksTed Lamade
Applies the investing barbell strategy to everyday life: skip the middle and combine extremes in caffeine, reading, friendships, and writing.
Related
- The Seduction of PessimismMorgan Housel
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
Greenfeld argues life shrinks by default as habit pulls you toward the same places and people, so he expands it on purpose with several workplaces and a weekly mini-adventure from his Living Larger list.
Related
- Progress is not automaticJakob Greenfeld
- Upstream Productivity - or the day you stopped caring about productivity adviceJakob Greenfeld
- Big IDGAF EnergyJakob Greenfeld
- SufferingJakob Greenfeld
Greenfeld argues curiosity beats spreadsheets, prestige, and money as a guide to what to work on, since excitement is information and fuel, as David Perell found when chasing ambition led him into a writing slump.
Related
- Expansion, always, in all waysJakob Greenfeld
- Progress is not automaticJakob Greenfeld
- Upstream Productivity - or the day you stopped caring about productivity adviceJakob Greenfeld
- Big IDGAF EnergyJakob Greenfeld
Borrowing improv's offer-block-accept idea, Greenfeld argues that blocking feels safe and high-status but makes life dull, so accept more offers and make interesting ones, the way Californication's Richard Bates does.
Related
- The MirrorJakob Greenfeld
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- Don't ask yes/no, ask A/BJakob Greenfeld
- Elon Musk's, Steve Jobs', Albert Einstein's Secret SauceJakob Greenfeld
Kumar argues that copying successful people like Elon Musk fails because their habits only work in context and survivorship bias hides the rest, so the better bet is to be uniquely yourself.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
Greenfeld turns Naval's definition of retirement into a daily practice: hit work, exercise, learning, and social time every day, and bring holiday experiences into ordinary life.
Related
- Do It Your WayMorgan Housel
- A Few Thoughts on Spending MoneyMorgan Housel
- How I Think About DebtMorgan Housel
- Long-Term MoneyMorgan Housel
Busy people miss most of their email, so if you want a reply, it's on you to follow up politely and repeatedly until you get one.
Related
- How to Increase Your Luck Surface AreaJason Roberts
- A blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inboxHenrik Karlsson
- Getting a Tech Job Out of CollegeSlava Akhmechet
- How To Craft A Subject Line for Cold Emailing part 1Owen Garcia
Greenfeld's notes from two 37signals podcasts, where DHH and Jason Fried argue you learn whether an idea works by shipping it, since the best business ideas can't be analyzed rationally up front.
Related
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
- Do Too MuchAlexandr Wang
- Optimism Shapes RealityAlexandr Wang
- Just keep goingWill Ahmed
Greenfeld balances structure and spontaneity by deciding each evening what tomorrow's deep work and task blocks will hold, since he chooses far better for his future self than in the moment.
Related
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- Elon Musk's, Steve Jobs', Albert Einstein's Secret SauceJakob Greenfeld
- Thinking harder doesn’t work (or how I learned to love the right half of my brain)Jakob Greenfeld
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
Greenfeld uses the single vote to show how actions too small to matter on their own, like a little junk food or doomscrolling, add up to define who you are.
Related
- Elon Musk's, Steve Jobs', Albert Einstein's Secret SauceJakob Greenfeld
- Letting Now Jakob make decisions for Future JakobJakob Greenfeld
- Thinking harder doesn’t work (or how I learned to love the right half of my brain)Jakob Greenfeld
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
Buggy software quietly trains users to avoid its problems until they stop noticing them, which hides bugs from developers and from the users themselves.
Related
- The typical path of how people respond to life-changing inventionsChris Dixon
- Compounding OptimismMorgan Housel
- When You Change the World and No One NoticesMorgan Housel
- Technology predictionsSam Altman
Pearson uses the can opener test and Germany's collapsing scientific forests to show how overconfidence breeds hidden risk, and recommends knowing your limits, building deep expertise, and keeping a margin of safety.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
Greenfeld argues that doing more of what kind of works keeps you stuck at the same level, as indie hackers he hadn't seen in two years still were, and that 10x jumps require radically changing your approach.
Related
- Expansion, always, in all waysJakob Greenfeld
- Upstream Productivity - or the day you stopped caring about productivity adviceJakob Greenfeld
- Big IDGAF EnergyJakob Greenfeld
- SufferingJakob Greenfeld
Eliason argues the real reason to take hard classes like calculus is to prove to yourself you can do hard things, since that track record shapes how capable you feel when new challenges arrive.
Related
- Breaking Up with Productivity AdviceNat Eliason
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
When someone upset comes to you for support, empathize before offering advice, even if they asked for advice, because they can't take it in until they feel heard.
Related
- Connecting with people more easilySasha Chapin
- To listen well, get curiousBen Kuhn
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- the world doesn’t move because you tell it tosignull
A busy music publicist only listened to artists who followed up three times, which Sivers uses to argue that persistent follow-up is how you show you care.
Related
- How to Network EffectivelyWill Eden
- There’s no speed limitDerek Sivers
- Create.Derek Sivers
- 6 things I wish I knew the day I started BerkleeDerek Sivers
Starting from a vague founder pitch at YC office hours, a call for exercises that train people to replace abstract claims with concrete, specific examples.
Related
- Taboo Your WordsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Illusion of Transparency: Why No One Understands YouEliezer Yudkowsky
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
Yudkowsky argues that banning a disputed word and describing what you actually expect to observe dissolves fake disagreements, like the tree falling in an empty forest, and exposes real ones hiding behind shared labels.
Related
- SotW: Be SpecificEliezer Yudkowsky
- Illusion of Transparency: Why No One Understands YouEliezer Yudkowsky
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
Greenfeld argues people tend to mirror how you treat them, since popular kids are the ones who like their classmates most, so to stop fearing judgment, mistrust, or rudeness, change your own behavior first.
Related
- Howl with the wolvesJakob Greenfeld
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- Don't ask yes/no, ask A/BJakob Greenfeld
- Elon Musk's, Steve Jobs', Albert Einstein's Secret SauceJakob Greenfeld
Aaron Swartz argues effective people work backward from a goal to a concrete theory of how change happens, while most people just apply whatever skills they already have.
Related
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- NewThinking harder doesn’t work (or how I learned to love the right half of my brain)Jakob Greenfeld 7 min
Greenfeld argues analytical, left-brain thinking oversells frameworks and plans, so he now sits with problems and leans into the obvious, the way improv pros do, to let intuition contribute.
Related
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
- Elon Musk's, Steve Jobs', Albert Einstein's Secret SauceJakob Greenfeld
- Letting Now Jakob make decisions for Future JakobJakob Greenfeld
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
Greenfeld argues that because every piece of success advice has an equally valid opposite, the skill is knowing when to use which, and that usefulness, even useful delusion, matters more than truth.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
- NewUpstream Productivity - or the day you stopped caring about productivity adviceJakob Greenfeld 2 min
Greenfeld argues productivity systems are mostly procrastination, since real output flows upstream from physical health and from working on things you truly care about.
Related
- Expansion, always, in all waysJakob Greenfeld
- Progress is not automaticJakob Greenfeld
- Big IDGAF EnergyJakob Greenfeld
- SufferingJakob Greenfeld
Eliason argues the word balance sets work against life when work is just one area of life, so the better goal is to integrate health, relationships, fun, and work so each supports the others.
Related
- How to Do What You LovePaul Graham
- If you’re not feeling “hell yeah!” then say noDerek Sivers
- Don't be a Career by Steve JobsSteve Jobs
- What Should You Do with Your Life? Directions and AdviceAlexey Guzey
After quitting piano, a third language, and content creation for fear of being behind, janelle argues that regretting lost time only wastes more of it, so ask what you'd start today if being late didn't matter.
Related
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
- What you could have beenBrian • The Tiny Wisdom
Explains anchoring: people start from an arbitrary number and adjust too little, as Tversky and Kahneman's wheel-of-fortune experiment showed.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hindsight biasEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hug the QueryEliezer Yudkowsky
Yudkowsky argues that knowing an outcome makes it look far more predictable than it was, so after disasters like Challenger and 9/11 we learn overly specific lessons and underestimate the real cost of caution.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hug the QueryEliezer Yudkowsky
Yudkowsky argues the strongest evidence sits closest to the question itself, so checking the Wright brothers' calculations or watching the plane fly beats weighing Lord Kelvin's authority or anyone's biases.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hindsight biasEliezer Yudkowsky
Most people pursue goals through far less effective routes than they could find, because good strategy takes deliberate effort and nothing pushes us toward it by default.
Related
- Learned BlanknessAnna Salamon
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
Yudkowsky uses Boaz Keysar's experiments to show that we know what we mean and assume others do too, so speakers overestimate how well they're understood, as Chamberlain did in his letter to Hitler.
Related
- SotW: Be SpecificEliezer Yudkowsky
- Taboo Your WordsEliezer Yudkowsky
- You can't tell people anythingChip Morningstar
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
What's obvious to you often isn't to others, so it's worth saying "obvious" things out loud and dropping the word "obviously" from your arguments.
Related
- How to think in writingHenrik Karlsson
- The Written WordMorgan Housel
- Semantic gapsSebastian Bensusan
- SotW: Be SpecificEliezer Yudkowsky
Uses Wason's 2-4-6 task to show how people only test cases that confirm their hypothesis, and why you should look for evidence that could prove you wrong.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hindsight biasEliezer Yudkowsky
Building stairs and fences taught Salvatier that every real task hides countless details, which is why experts miss what they don't know to look for and get stuck.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- Read Old BooksTed Lamade
- The Dumber Side of Smart PeopleMorgan Housel
A wiki page arguing scientific papers should report likelihood functions instead of p-values, so readers can see how strongly the evidence supports each hypothesis.
Related
- The Map Is Not The TerritoryLessWrong
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
A wiki entry on Korzybski's map-territory distinction: beliefs are models of reality, and changing what you believe doesn't change the world itself.
Related
- Report likelihoods, not p-valuesLessWrong
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- I Have A Few QuestionsMorgan Housel
Kuhn argues that reflecting someone's words back is cargo-cult listening, and that good listening comes from real curiosity about the details of their situation, without which your advice is usually wrong.
Related
- Connecting with people more easilySasha Chapin
- Reminder: Empathize First!Divia Eden
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- the world doesn’t move because you tell it tosignull
Why Yoda was right: setting out to "try" means aiming at having made an effort rather than at success, and that lower target quietly guarantees weaker plans.
Related
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
- On the importance of infinitesimal actionsJakob Greenfeld
Yudkowsky shares his trick for getting out of bed by counting down from ten, which turns an effortful decision into a default plan that runs on its own, while warning it's shallow advice without deep theory behind it.
Related
- ProductivitySam Altman
- Trying to TryEliezer Yudkowsky
- Actually doing thingsBen Kuhn
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
Schmidt-Nielsen argues a vesting equity grant is a call option paid for with your time, since you can stay if the company does well and quit if it doesn't, so a dollar of equity beats a dollar of cash, especially at startups.
Related
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- The value of employee equity depends a lot on volatilityDevansh Pandey
- Wall Street Survival 101Joel Spolsky
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
Vesting plus the option to leave gives startup employees an embedded call option on their equity, so it's worth far more than its face value when outcomes are volatile.
Related
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- Equity is Worth More Than Cash Because of OptionalityPeter Schmidt-Nielsen
- Wall Street Survival 101Joel Spolsky
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
- NewFastPatrick Collison 7 min
Patrick Collison's list of teams that did ambitious things remarkably fast, from launching BankAmericard in 90 days to building the first USAF jet fighter in 143.
Related
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
- Do Too MuchAlexandr Wang
- Optimism Shapes RealityAlexandr Wang
- Just keep goingWill Ahmed
- NewQuestionsPatrick Collison 15 min
Patrick Collison's running list of big open questions he finds interesting, such as why some things like healthcare and education keep getting more expensive.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- Reality has a surprising amount of detailJohn Salvatier
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- Read Old BooksTed Lamade
Yudkowsky argues that an explanation able to fit any outcome predicts nothing, so saying "because of heat conduction" without real expectations is just magic dressed in scientific words.
Related
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hindsight biasEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hug the QueryEliezer Yudkowsky
How labeling a domain as one you "just don't understand," like mechanical things or math, makes people stop thinking before they've tried the obvious next question.
Related
- Humans are not automatically strategicAnna Salamon
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
- Strong Opinions, Weakly HeldAbraham Thomas
- Risk-takers decide fasterSebastian Bensusan
Yudkowsky argues you should admit a big mistake all at once rather than concede it in small grudging pieces, since only acknowledging a fundamental error drives real change, as Enron's executives never did.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hindsight biasEliezer Yudkowsky
The adage that any headline ending in a question mark can be answered "no," because a publisher confident in the answer would have stated it outright.
Related
- How to think in writingHenrik Karlsson
- The Written WordMorgan Housel
- Semantic gapsSebastian Bensusan
- SotW: Be SpecificEliezer Yudkowsky
Drawing on Nate Silver's On the Edge, Greenfeld argues successful people understand probability well enough to treat failures as inevitable, so they shrug them off and keep trying hundreds of times instead of three.
Related
- Expansion, always, in all waysJakob Greenfeld
- Progress is not automaticJakob Greenfeld
- Upstream Productivity - or the day you stopped caring about productivity adviceJakob Greenfeld
- SufferingJakob Greenfeld
Thompson defines aggregators as companies with a direct user relationship, zero marginal costs, and demand-driven networks, then ranks them by supplier cost, from Netflix and Uber to Google and Facebook.
Related
- A QuestionSam Altman
- Electrons and AtomsSam Altman
- Halvar’s Guide to EntrepreneurshipThomas Dullien
- It all blossomed out of this tiny little seedChris Dixon
Great developers rarely hit the job market, so Spolsky explains how to reach them early through internships, community, and building a place they want to work.
Related
- The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)Joel Spolsky
- Leader v Follower ModeSlava Akhmechet
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
- Greg BrockmanSam Altman
Greenfeld treats vibes as a practical lens: things on your wavelength attract and influence you, so raise your state first, then notice which people, food, music, and work feel off.
Related
- Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meetHenrik Karlsson
- Letter to JackChris Oakman
- Seeds of Community: Unexpected Life Lessons From A SitcomAlma Libera
- First we shape our social graph; then it shapes usHenrik Karlsson
Wang argues you can create luck by growing your luck surface area through doing more and telling more people, and maps the four kinds of luck from accidental to magnetic onto habits and strategy.
Related
- How to Market YourselfShawn Wang
- Long Range Career AdviceSlava Akhmechet
- How to Increase Your Luck Surface AreaJason Roberts
- If You Get the ChanceTed Lamade
Wang argues developers can market themselves without becoming celebrities by building a consistent personal brand, claiming a domain to be the go-to person for, and showcasing their work both in public and at work.
Related
- How to Create LuckShawn Wang
- Getting a Tech Job Out of CollegeSlava Akhmechet
- how to enter side doorsmaja
- Career DecisionsElad Gil
Every company has to choose between slow organic growth like Ben and Jerry's and fast land-grab growth like Amazon, then build everything around that choice.
Related
- Things You Should Never Do, Part IJoel Spolsky
- The Iceberg Secret, RevealedJoel Spolsky
- A QuestionSam Altman
- Electrons and AtomsSam Altman
Greenfeld collects passages, mostly from John Vervaeke, arguing that suffering means losing agency rather than feeling pain, which is why addiction and even too much joy count as suffering.
Related
- Expansion, always, in all waysJakob Greenfeld
- Progress is not automaticJakob Greenfeld
- Upstream Productivity - or the day you stopped caring about productivity adviceJakob Greenfeld
- Big IDGAF EnergyJakob Greenfeld
Joel Spolsky's guide to technical interviews: hire people who are smart and get things done, and how to structure an interview that reliably finds them.
Related
- Finding Great DevelopersJoel Spolsky
- Leader v Follower ModeSlava Akhmechet
- Employee RetentionSam Altman
- Greg BrockmanSam Altman
Non-programmers judge software by its visible interface, a small fraction of the real work, so make unfinished features look unfinished to keep expectations honest.
Related
- Things You Should Never Do, Part IJoel Spolsky
- Strategy Letter I: Ben and Jerry’s vs. AmazonJoel Spolsky
- A QuestionSam Altman
- Before GrowthSam Altman
Charlie Munger's rules for a life that works, drawn from his 2007 USC Law commencement speech: deserve what you want, keep learning, invert problems, be reliable, avoid ideology and self-pity, and earn deserved trust.
Related
- A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia)Morgan Housel
- 40 questions to ask yourself every yearSteph Ango
- A Few Questions (2023)Morgan Housel
- A Few Questions (2025)Morgan Housel
Yudkowsky argues that calling quantum physics weird exposes bad intuitions, since surprise lives in the model, so you should reshape them until reality feels normal.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hindsight biasEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hug the QueryEliezer Yudkowsky
Joel Spolsky works through a simple bond puzzle to show how interest rates move bond and stock prices, a basic piece of finance most programmers never learn.
Related
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- Equity is Worth More Than Cash Because of OptionalityPeter Schmidt-Nielsen
- The value of employee equity depends a lot on volatilityDevansh Pandey
- Keep Your Personal Burn Rate Low To Maximize Your OptionsHunter Walk
Looking back at his successes, Ben Kuhn found the hardest part was simply getting up and doing things outside his routine, which matters more than talent.
Related
- ProductivitySam Altman
- Willpower Hax #487: Execute by DefaultEliezer Yudkowsky
- Staring into the abyss as a core life skillBen Kuhn
- How to be more agenticCate Hall
Startup investing returns come from a few huge winners, and the best ideas look bad at first, so investors should bet on ideas that seem crazy rather than safe.
Related
- How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham
- How to Make WealthPaul Graham
- Growth and GovernmentSam Altman
- Startup = GrowthPaul Graham
Sarris argues virtue lives in careful everyday acts rather than heroics, and that you should leave public breadcrumbs, like writing what you learn, so the right people, jobs, and partners can find you.
Related
- fun is the only metric that doesn’t liesignull
- PsychokineticsManav B. Ponnekanti
- Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design processHenrik Karlsson
- What you could have beenBrian • The Tiny Wisdom
A step-by-step guide to networking, starting with having a clear goal, on the premise that the people around you often limit what you can accomplish.
Related
- Repeatedly follow-up to show you careDerek Sivers
- Connecting with people more easilySasha Chapin
- It Is Your Responsibility to Follow UpAlexey Guzey
- Reminder: Empathize First!Divia Eden
Say no to anything you feel half-hearted about so you have the time and focus to go all in when something exciting comes along.
Related
- How to Do What You LovePaul Graham
- Work Life Balance is ImpossibleNat Eliason
- Don't be a Career by Steve JobsSteve Jobs
- What Should You Do with Your Life? Directions and AdviceAlexey Guzey
Ahmed answers every doubt he heard while building Whoop, from having no experience to Nike, Apple, and Amazon killing him, with a single reply to keep going.
Related
- Don’t Edit Your ImaginationBrian Chesky
- Do Too MuchAlexandr Wang
- Optimism Shapes RealityAlexandr Wang
- The Perils of PrudenceAbraham Thomas
Before questioning a belief you care about, picture calmly how you'd live if it were false, so the evidence doesn't feel like a threat you have to fight off.
Related
- Fake ExplanationsEliezer Yudkowsky
- Think Like RealityEliezer Yudkowsky
- Anchoring and AdjustmentEliezer Yudkowsky
- Hindsight biasEliezer Yudkowsky
Kuhn argues that jobs, hires, relationships, and blog posts follow heavy-tailed distributions, so you should draw many samples, filter for maybe-amazing over probably-good, and expect to fail a lot.
Related
- Useful and Overlooked SkillsMorgan Housel
- Lazy Work, Good WorkMorgan Housel
- Interview AdviceSlava Akhmechet
- Be Wary of Imitating High-Status People Who Can Afford to CountersignalRob Henderson
Ben Kuhn argues the usual complaints about startup pay miss how much stock options are worth once you count the option to leave and the chance of a big outcome.
Related
- Searching for outliersBen Kuhn
- What to care about in a jobBen Kuhn
- Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More ValuedPatrick McKenzie
- how to pick the right startup to join [full guide]Christian Levan
A compilation of 194 eponymous laws, pithy rules of thumb like Murphy's Law that capture truths about human behavior, work, and systems.
Related
- Paying AttentionMorgan Housel
- Reality has a surprising amount of detailJohn Salvatier
- One Big Web: A Few Ways the World WorksMorgan Housel
- Read Old BooksTed Lamade
How teacher Kimo Williams pushed a teenage Sivers through two years of music theory in a few lessons, showing you can learn far faster than the standard pace.
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Updating his 2014 job-hunting criteria after years at Wave, Kuhn now ranks fast company growth first, then deep alignment, impact, mentorship, and earned responsibility, while caring little about hard problems or income.
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A guide to judging founding designer offers by the founder, team culture, product, and real scope of the role rather than comp alone, with questions to ask current and former employees before signing.
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Treating a job as a bundle of problems someone will pay to solve, this guide argues the front door of job boards is crowded, so reach people directly with specific proof or publish work that lets them find you.
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Paul Graham on why starting or joining a startup is the most reliable way to get rich: wealth is created, not taken, and startups compress a working life into a few years.
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Hard problems get solved by the thinking you do without trying, like in the shower, so guard what occupies your mind, especially against money and disputes.
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Qureshi's 63 life principles, centered on moving fast, making many bets, putting yourself out there, and seeking environments and people that push you to your best work.
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Yeo argues the best life-decision rule is to collect bets with capped downside and uncapped upside, act fast on lucky breaks, and double down on what pays off, as when she chose a crypto startup over Google.
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- NewmathAlisa Wuffles 17 min
Alisa Wuffles's probability study notes: a map from problem types to the right concept, plus common distributions, expectations, and Bayes rule with proofs.
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After spending her first 25 years avoiding failure by not trying anything, janelle argues that the worst outcome of trying is learning, and starts experimenting with floristry, writing, and photography anyway.
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Kevin Kelly's 101 new bits of life advice written for his 73rd birthday, from criticizing something by making something better to interviewing your parents while you can and being the last to let go of a hug.
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Patrick Collison's advice to his younger self, broken down by decade of life, starting with going deep on several subjects in your teens.
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Andrej Karpathy's rules of thumb for doing well in undergrad courses, from skipping all-nighters and starting early to studying actively before exams.
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How fear of looking stupid held Kaminsky back from new things, and how learning Spanish in Mexico taught him to be bad at something in public.
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Elad Gil's framework for choosing your next career step: which factors to overweight, starting with network, and how their importance shifts with your stage of life.
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Stancil argues leaders often order more analysis to dodge hard calls rather than learn anything, using data as a substitute for courage, and that analysts who want to lead must learn to own decisions the data can't settle.
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Brosh's illustrated story of moving from Montana to Oregon with a simple-minded dog and a neurotic helper dog, who meet car sickness, snow, and sled-dog booties with escalating panic until a squeaky toy saves the day.
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An excerpt from Steve Jobs's 1996 Palo Alto High School graduation speech urging students to trust their intuitions about life over goal-driven, materialistic paths.
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H.T. Kung's 1987 talk to new Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. students on what research is, what a thesis should accomplish, and how to pick and attack problems.
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A letter to a new high school graduate about adult life: what you repeat becomes who you are, starting with how you get along with the voice in your head.
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The story of a comfortable copywriter who never actually chose his life, and how most people drift into jobs, homes, and routines by default.
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Jeffries uses Rick and Morty, the Bhagavad Gita, and Dan Harmon to argue that facing life's meaninglessness can free you, since meaning comes from what you choose, so the answer is humor and adventure.
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Nike's ten founding principles, written by Rob Strasser in 1977, including that the business is change, results matter more than process, and doing the right things makes money nearly automatic.
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Urban counts his remaining winters, books, and visits home and finds that by high school graduation he had already used up 93% of his in-person time with his parents, so time with loved ones deserves top priority.
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Alexey Guzey's guide for people coasting without a plan, with curated lists of problems worth working on and advice on figuring out what to do next.
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Paul Graham's answer to what a person should do with their life: help people, take care of the world, and make good new things.
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Urban argues chronically late people who hate being late aren't selfish but irrational, then traces his own lateness to denial about how long things take, dread of transitions, and anger at an unproductive day.
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Lelouch argues that struggling with hard subjects like math usually means missing prerequisites rather than ability, which he found after 150 days of rebuilding from the basics.
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Explaining a new idea in words rarely works; people only understand once they experience it, which changes how you should pitch, demo, and teach.
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Slide-style notes making the case for becoming generally capable and comfortable with failure, before a stalled life forces you to rethink your model of the world.
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Morgan Housel's Very Bad Advice list rewritten as its positive version, on envy, status, independence, self-worth, and whose example to follow.
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