Little Insights for a Good Life
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
I don't know much, and what I do know, I know is subject to change. But here are some ideas, thoughts, and insights I know, or believe to know (some based on my experience and some based on lessons from history) that I believe at this moment in time.
Follow, consider, and take away at your own risk.
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Ambition is the path to satisfaction. Uncontrolled ambition is the path to misery. The hard part is finding where the line is.
The path to happiness and peace lies in enjoying the ordinary. The ordinary makes up 99.99% of your life. You're better off learning how to find joy in it than optimizing for the few extraordinary experiences in life.
If you haven't changed your mind on something big in the last year, you've become a biased, knowledge-affirming human being.
Great health, great relationships, and great work are the root of a great life. Everything else. Every material thing, every other desire and craving, every other gadget you think you need or experience you have to have, pales in comparison to the joy you get from those big three things—in the short-term and in the long-term.
The goal of work isn't to stop working; it's to find work you love so much you never want to stop working.
The hustle is the dream. You will miss the time of chasing a dream, a goal, a port, much more than the joy you get from achieving it.
The intensity of your problems will be determined by the width of your perception. The greater your worldview, the less significant your problems seem.
A good skill to develop is to know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience. Most of what you think is a catastrophe is often a little nuisance that has been given undue weight.
Almost every problem you have and every concern that consumes you is rooted in your ego. Lose the ego—the need for status, for money, for a good reputation, for all those silly games and metrics we care about—and most of your problems cease to exist.
"The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know." - Harry Truman
There are three words that help almost every situation: you will die. Any problem, any concern, any difficulty, any stress or chaos, can be helped, lessened, or improved by reminding yourself of those three words.
The wisest people on earth are those on their deathbeds or those who have lived a full life. They’ll give you a Ph.D in life lessons. It’s probably worth listening to them.
Your life gets better when you realize happiness isn’t a byproduct of other things; it’s the product itself.
Pursue activities with friction. Having kids. Building a business. Climbing a mountain or some sort of physical feat. Writing a book. Getting married. Value and meaning are rooted in difficulty. Where there is difficulty, that is something worth doing.
Mediocrity usually isn't about a lack of skills, it’s about a lack of interest.
Religiously ask yourself if the success you're after is wholeheartedly defined by you, or what the world and others have defined as success for you.
It’s not about finding the answers to life, it’s about finding life—the thing that gets you shaking in your boots. It's the work, the craft, the activity that makes every day feel like Christmas. When you find the thing that gives you life and energy, you realize you never needed to find the answers to life, you just needed the one thing that makes you feel alive.
Ambition is never satisfied. If you never feel like you’re doing enough, you’re probably doing enough.
The key to a great life is distinguishing what you think will make you happy vs what you know will make you happy. The hard part is knowing the difference.
Pain and purpose are the same thing. The former is just suffering for the sake of suffering. The latter is suffering for something that touches your heart.
To live well, read biographies. The answers you are looking for lie in the world that came before you.
Get rid of the word "should." Any activity and anything that is rooted in "should" means you shouldn't do it. Life is meant to be spent doing things out of interest, not obligation.
The most important decision you make is choosing the right game to play. It’s also the most difficult.
Anger is a sign that you have a flawed understanding of how the world works.
Increase deposits. Decrease the need for withdrawals.
Give more. Want less.
Work harder. Expect nothing.
Start writing, not to be a writer, not to publish a book, not to show your work to the world, but to find yourself. Writing requires depth, and depth reveals insights into everything—your desires, your problems, your goals, everything you want clarity on.
If you can't see yourself doing the work you're doing a decade from now, you're doing the wrong work.
If you can't see yourself with this person a decade from now, you're with the wrong person.
95% of your problems will be solved by having kids (I don't have kids. I just have a good understanding of those who do).
The number one way to be miserable: play status games.
Be more selfish. Take care of your health. Do things you enjoy. Prioritize yourself over everyone. The most important person you're responsible for is you. Act like it.
Live a life you don't want to retire from.
Your mental health lies in the difference between how much real dopamine you get versus how much fake dopamine you get.
Becoming is more enjoyable than achieving. The problem is you won't realize until after you achieve the thing.
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Thanks for reading.
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