More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
Being financially rich and having the ability to live like a millionaire are fundamentally two very different things.
Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. I call this the “freedom multiplier.”
Fame has its perks, as does looking outside the choices presented to you. There are always lateral options.
Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life. —JOHN F. KENNEDY
I can’t give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.
Everything popular is wrong. —OSCAR WILDE, The Importance of Being Earnest
But, isn’t pushing people out of the ring pushing the boundaries of ethics? Not at all—it’s no more than doing the uncommon within the rules.
Sports evolve when sacred cows are killed, when basic assumptions are tested. The same is true in life and in lifestyles.
Different is better when it is more effective or more fun.
If the recipe sucks, it doesn’t matter how good a cook you are.
1. Retirement Is Worst-Case-Scenario Insurance. Retirement planning is like life insurance. It should be viewed as nothing more than a hedge against the absolute worst-case scenario: in this case, becoming physically incapable of working and needing a reservoir of capital to survive. Retirement as a goal or final redemption is flawed for at least three solid reasons: a. It is predicated on the assumption that you dislike what you are doing during the most physically capable years of your life. This is a nonstarter—nothing can justify that sacrifice. b. Most people will never be able to retire
...more
Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness.
Focus on being productive instead of busy.
For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time.
“Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.
5. Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission. If it isn’t going to devastate those around you, try it and then justify it. People—whether parents, partners, or bosses—deny things on an emotional basis that they can learn to accept after the fact. If the potential damage is moderate or in any way reversible, don’t give people the chance to say no. Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitant to get in the way if you’re moving. Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up.
It is far more lucrative and fun to leverage your strengths instead of attempting to fix all the chinks in your armor.
The problem is more than money.
has being “realistic” or “responsible” kept you from the life you want? How has doing what you “should” resulted in subpar experiences or regret for not having done something else? Look at what you’re currently doing and ask yourself, “What would happen if I did the opposite of the people around me? What will I sacrifice if I continue on this track for 5, 10, or 20 years?”
Many a false step was made by standing still.
Named must your fear be before banish it you can.
Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
It wasn’t the driver, it was the vehicle.
There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, “Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,” and an optimist who says, “Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn out fine anyway.” Either way, nothing happens.
Do you really think it will improve or is it wishful thinking and an excuse for inaction?
To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren’t as serious as you make them out to be.
Don’t save it all for the end. There is every reason not to.
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
Have less intelligent people done this before and pulled it off?
Usually, what we most fear doing is what we most need to do.
It is equally important to measure the atrocious cost of inaction.
inaction is the greatest risk of all.
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where …” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
Doing the Unrealistic Is Easier Than Doing the Realistic
I’m prepared to do battle for a dream that is worth dreaming.
wow
the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals.
The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”
This is how most people work until death: “I’ll just work until I have X dollars and then do what I want.” If you don’t define the “what I want” alternate activities, the X figure will increase indefinitely to avoid the fear-inducing uncertainty of this void.
asking Google CEO Eric Schmidt via e-mail when he had been happiest in his life. (Schmidt’s answer: “Tomorrow.”)
Life is too short to be small.
1. Doing something unimportant well does not make it important. 2. Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.
What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things.
What gets measured gets managed.
I saw a bank that said “24-Hour Banking,” but I don’t have that much time. —STEVEN WRIGHT, comedian
How is it possible that all the people in the world need exactly 8 hours to accomplish their work?
Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion.
1. Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (80/20). 2. Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson’s Law).
time is wasted in proportion to the amount that is available.
