Tag: personal bible

2020 Personal Bible – updates and excerpts (The Onion, startup pivots, Price of Tomorrow, Octalysis, and Kevin Kelly)

My personal bible is a pdf doc where I save my favorite article excerpts, book highlights, and wisdom notes. I try to read a little bit of it every day.

Here’s an explanation of why I do this. And here’s the latest copy you can download.

Below are all of my recent additions to the bible since the last major update.

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The Onion founding editor’s writing rules [source]

1. Concept is king

“Your concept — and I would equate that with your headline or title — is the flag you’re raising, it’s the shingle on your door. And if it’s not a good concept or the right concept, then you’re sunk before you’ve even written a word.”

2. The key to quality is quantity

“This is how professionals work,” said Dikkers, “because they understand that most of what they write is dreck.”

[…]

4. Ruffle some feathers

“Thing is, Horatian satire isn’t really remembered because it’s toothless,” said Dikkers. “It might get a lot of laughs today but it’s not going to live in our cultural memory. Only satire that angers or offends people will be remembered.”

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from Roger Dickey’s blog [source]

Unsurprisingly, many great consumer products were experiments, side projects, or pivots:

Twitch spun out of Justin TV

Slack was an internal tool for a game called Glitch

Twitter was a podcasting network called Odeo

Zynga originally wanted to be a toolbar company

Instagram was a Foursquare competitor called Burbn

Youtube started as a video dating site

Pokemon Go was originally Field Trip, a startup within Google to test location based functionality

Facebook evolved from FaceMash, a “Hot or Not” for Harvard college students

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The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth [highlights]

As my friend Thuan Pham, the chief technology officer of Uber, recently said to me over breakfast, “I am a firm believer that talent is distributed evenly around the world, but opportunities are not.”>

The only thing driving growth in the world today is easy credit, which is being created at a pace that is hard to comprehend.

Deflation, put simply, is when you get more for your money—just as inflation is when you get less for your money.

As the theorist Nassim Nicholas Taleb writes in Antifragile, “we notice what varies and changes more than what plays a larger role but doesn’t change. We rely more on water than on cell phones, but because water does not change and cell phones do, we are prone to thinking that cell phones play a larger role than they do.”

Deflation is being caused by technology and, because of that, it will ride the same exponential wave that technology does. That means that the rate of deflation (without printing more money) will only accelerate from here.

The government doesn’t actually have more assets; it’s just representing its assets with more units of currency, which means each unit of currency is worth less—like cutting a pizza into twelve slices instead of eight, or dividing an estate between ten heirs rather than nine.

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Octalysis gamification framework by Yu-kai Chou [source]

1. Epic Meaning & Calling – the feeling of being chosen to do something greater than yourself 

2. Development & Accomplishment – when you’re challenged to develop skills and make progress

3. Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback – the infinite creativity and possibilities of Legos

4. Ownership & Possession – the drive to collect, accumulate, customize 

5. Social Influence & Relatedness – the need to meet and impress people 

6. Scarcity & Impatience – when you want something because you can’t have it

7. Unpredictability & Curiosity – surprise & delight, variable rewards 

8. Loss & Avoidance – fomo, fear of something gained being taken away

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8 bits of Kevin Kelly’s 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice [source]

Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.

A worthy goal for a year is to learn enough about a subject so that you can’t believe how ignorant you were a year earlier.

Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.

Everyone is shy. Other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself to them, they are waiting for you to send them an email, they are waiting for you to ask them on a date. Go ahead.

To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just re-do it, re-do it, re-do it. The secret to making fine things is in remaking them.

Perhaps the most counter-intuitive truth of the universe is that the more you give to others, the more you’ll get. Understanding this is the beginning of wisdom.

Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is therefore the most potent force in the universe, and a skill you can get better at. It’s the one skill in life that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows.

You really don’t want to be famous. Read the biography of any famous person. 

2019 Personal Bible – some updates and favorite excerpts

My personal bible is just a pdf doc where I save my favorite writings, notes, and thoughts. I try to read a little from it each day, and occasionally return to the original source material for that extra sauce.

Here’s the latest copy you can download.

Below are two recent additions – a fun-to-read academic essay explaining the qualities that elevate regular swimmers to the elite ranks, and excerpts from the Analects of Confucius (not as fun a read, but y’know).

All are verbatim highlights unless otherwise noted.

I’m reminded of an anecdote about how Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism differ. The three founders – Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Buddha are tasting vinegar. Confucius notes the vinegar is sour (Confucianism = sour; society has many degenerate people). Lao Tzu says the vinegar is sweet (Daoism = sweet; universe is guided by the harmony of the Dao). And Buddha thinks the vinegar is bitter (Buddhism = bitter; life is difficult, learn to detach).

Or another saying that I’ve heard is “the Chinese are Confucians at work, Daoists at leisure, and Buddhists at death.”

I wonder what the American version would be?

Happy 2019! In one month, it’ll be the Year of the Pig 🐷

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The Mundanity of Excellence notes

The main differences between less and more elite swimmers:

1. Technique – Not only are the strokes different, they are so different that the “C” swimmer may be amazed to see how the “AAAA” swimmer looks when swimming. The appearance alone is dramatically different
2. Discipline – Diver Greg Louganis, who won two Olympic gold medals in 1984, practices only three hours each day—not a long time—divided into two or three sessions. But during each session, he tries to do every dive perfectly
3. Attitude – The very features of the sport that the “C” swimmer finds unpleasant, the top-level swimmer enjoys. What others see as boring—swimming back and forth over a black line for two hours, say—they find peaceful, even meditative, often challenging, or therapeutic. They enjoy hard practices, look forward to difficult competitions, try to set difficult goals

Athletes move up to the top ranks through qualitative jumps: noticeable changes in their techniques, discipline, and attitude, accomplished usually through a change in settings, e.g., joining a new team with a new coach, new friends, etc., who work at a higher level

Talent is often recognized after the fact – conveniently after all the skill acquisition and hard work have already been invested – …despite the physical capabilities he was born with, it took Peter several years (six by our estimate) to appear gifted. […] Most of them are said to be “natural” or “gifted” after they had already devoted a great deal of time and hard work to the field

Superlative performance is really a confluence of dozens of small skills or activities, each one learned or stumbled upon, which have been carefully drilled into habit and then are fitted together in a synthesized whole

In the pursuit of excellence, maintaining mundanity is the key psychological challenge

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The Analects of Confucius

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

The Master said of Zi Chan that he had four of the characteristics of a superior man -in his conduct of himself, he was humble; in serving his superior, he was respectful; in nourishing the people, he was kind; in ordering the people, he was just.

There were four things from which the Master was entirely free. He had no foregone conclusions, no arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism.

The Master said, “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”

The Master said, “The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.”

Some one asked about him, saying, “I suppose he has made great progress.” The Master said, “I observe that he is fond of occupying the seat of a full-grown man; I observe that he walks shoulder to shoulder with his elders. He is not one who is seeking to make progress in learning. He wishes quickly to become a man.”

Zi Gong asked, saying, “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” The Master said, “Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”

Confucius said, “There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth, when the physical powers are not yet settled, he guards against lust. When he is strong and the physical powers are full of vigor, he guards against quarrelsomeness. When he is old, and the animal powers are decayed, he guards against covetousness.”

With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow – I have still joy in the midst of these things

New wisdom for the Personal Bible

Every few months I like to add new things that I’ve learned to my Personal Bible. Here’s the latest document [in PDF].

Today there are two items: a NYT article about what it’s like to be in your 40s (it’s always good to be prepared :-), and some highlights from James Clear’s highlights of the sweeping book The Lessons of History.

How to Survive Your 40s by Pamela Druckerman

  • But the number 40 still has symbolic resonance. Jesus fasted for 40 days. Muhammad was 40 when the archangel Gabriel appeared to him. The Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years
  • The seminal journey of the 40s is from “everyone hates me” to “they don’t really care.”
  • At 40, we’re no longer preparing for an imagined future life. Our real lives are, indisputably, happening right now. We’ve arrived at what Immanuel Kant called the “Ding an sich” — the thing itself.

The Lessons of History by Ariel and Will Durant

  • People like to think they are a little special. Without this bit of vanity, we might find it harder to push forward. In a way, delusion is a motivator.
  • By and large, the poor have the same impulses as the rich, but with less opportunity or skill to implement them.
  • The hero is just the product of a situation. Not the other way around. If it were not for the situation, we never would have heard of the hero.
  • Morals are the way society exhorts behavior from its members.
  • You want to reign in your impulses and weaknesses to the point where they are useful, but not excessive.
  • There is no example in history of a society maintaining moral life among the masses without religion as a force for binding people together.
  • The most valuable talents and skills are confined to a few people, which means the most valuable wealth is confined to a few as well. This pattern shows up again and again.
  • All consuming toil is usually the price of genius.
  • Do not feel depressed that life may only have meaning insofar as man puts into it. It is remarkable that we can put any meaning into life at all.
  • Every religion should preach morality, not theology.
  • Cooperation is the ultimate form of competition.

The “Bible” has grown to 44 pages — it was just a couple pages when I started. At some point, I will probably filter and remove some content to keep it manageable and to reflect what I need most at that time.

You can download the latest here.

Thanks for reading! Here are prior updates [1, 2], and here’s a longer explanation for why I do this.

Recent additions to the Personal Bible: Kevin Kelly, Eckhart Tolle, and Steven Pressfield

Below are the latest additions to my Personal Bible.

Here’s an explanation of what the Personal Bible is and a past update to it.

You can download the latest version here. If you create your own, would love if you shared it with me!

Example highlights:

Kevin Kelly’s What Technology Wants (I summarized this book a few years back)

  • We have become deeply dependent on technology. If all technology – every last knife and spear – were to be removed from this planet, our species would not last more than a few months. We are now symbiotic with technology.
  • In one year 1 eagle eats 100 trout, which eat 10,000 grasshoppers, which eat 1 million blades of grass. Thus it takes, indirectly, 1 million blades of grass to support 1 eagle.
  • Each new technology creates more problems than it solves.

Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art (already in the Bible; these are additions)

  • Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
  • Henry Fonda was still throwing up before each stage performance, even when he was seventy-five. In other words, fear doesn’t go away.
  • The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.

Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth (which I haven’t finished reading; for me, it’s been less inspiring than The Power of Now, but still a good read)

  • The first part of this truth is the realization that the normal state of mind of most human beings contains a strong element of what we might call dysfunction or even madness. Certain teachings at the heart of Hinduism perhaps come closest to seeing this dysfunction as a form of collective mental illness. They call it maya, the veil of delusion. Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest Indian sages, bluntly states: The mind is maya.
  • Throughout history, there have always been rare individuals who experienced a shift in consciousness and so realized within themselves that toward which all religions point. To describe that non-conceptual Truth, they then used the conceptual framework of their own religions.
  • When you complain, by implication you are right and the person or situation you complain about or react against is wrong.