- Luxury has diminishing returns; a "world-class" resort, car, or home, is 10x the price and is 10% better.
- Getting up early casts a vote for the day’s momentum and growth.
- You want to be a bit of an addict, to the right habits.
- Mute your phone, and turn off notifications.
- People who think tattoos are unwise often recommend marriage.
- Marriage - and having children - should be the exception, not the rule.
- You'll likely do your best creative work - and have your most profound insights - alone.
- The result of wisdom and wealth is the ability to pursue intrinsic enjoyments, indefinitely.
- At a point, very intelligent people working exceptionally hard is a cover for inner turmoil.
- Enjoying solitude gives you ultimate optionality.
- No man reads the same book twice.
- Resist cynicism - there is so much to appreciate.
- Ideas, thoughts, and creativity blossom in silence and solitude.
- It may not be that you need someone fully out of your life, just in smaller doses.
- Never lose your ability to seek and identify what you like: your preferences, your desires - people lose their lives when they mute that inner voice and conform to please others.
- When scheduling plans, ask: would I want to do this tomorrow?
- If at first you think it’ll take 30 minutes, add 15 and say it’ll be 45.
- Stuck? Go for a walk, a run, or go to sleep.
- Once you can, create a home or a place just for you.
- An empty calendar is a peaceful mind.
- Notice, over time, what puts you in a good mood, what endures - and set up your life to maximize that environment.
- For items you use every day (e.g. computer, phone, coffee maker), buy the best.
- Once you can, don’t see or talk to anyone before noon; these are the golden hours for thinking and creativity.
- Set up recurring chats with your favorite, far-off people.
- New stuff brings temporarily euphoric comparison - then you acclimate (it’s a trap!).
- Think deeply about your chosen habits - they compound and quickly become who you are.
- Rights, autonomy, and power are much more about the ability to say "no" than "yes".
- Caffeine is the world’s best drug.
- Have the courage to go your own way.
- Work like a sprinter.
- Goals and desires are plentiful - discern and focus on those that endure.
- You can leave something you love for something else you love.
- Encourage the wondering inner child.
- No matter the house size, people spend the vast majority of their time in three rooms.
- Less is more: what you want is quality.
- Try, fail, tinker, and iterate - the pathway to success.
- The best days: focused solitude, followed by expansive socializing.
- Great questions are the pickaxes to great knowledge.