THREAD: 15 of the most useful razors and rules I've found.

Rules of thumb that simplify decisions.

Bezos' Razors:

• If unsure what action to take, let your 80-year-old self make it.

• If unsure who to work with, pick the person that has the best chances of breaking you out of a 3rd world prison.

Skinner's Law:

• If procrastinating on an item, you only have 2 options:

1. Make the pain of not doing it greater than the pain of doing it.

2. Make the pleasure of doing it greater than the pleasure of not doing it.

Luck Razor:

• If stuck with 2 equal options, pick the one that feels like it will produce the most luck later down the line.

I used this razor to go for drinks with a stranger rather than watch Netflix.

In hindsight, it was the highest ROI decision I've ever made.

Bragging Razor:

• If someone brags about their success or happiness, assume it’s half what they claim.

• If someone downplays their success or happiness, assume it’s double what they claim.

The map is not the terrain.

7 eye-opening Japanese concepts that will transform your life:
//Thread//

1. Ikigai

2. Shikita ga nai

3. Wabi-sabi

4. Gaman

Logical fallacies are errors in reasoning that undermine the quality of an argument.

THREAD: 20 common logical fallacies to learn, identify, and avoid:

Ad Hominem

Latin for "to the person" - an attack of the person rather than the argument.

Instead of addressing the argument and its points and merits, the offender attempts to refute the opposition on the basis of personal characteristics.

All-too-common in politics.

The Texas Sharpshooter

A Texan fires a gun at a barn wall and then paints a target around the closest cluster of bullet holes to create the appearance of accuracy.

Selecting and highlighting evidence that supports the conclusion while ignoring evidence that may refute it.

The Bandwagon Fallacy

An assumption of truth on the basis of the majority of people believing it to be true.

"Everyone believes X, so obviously X is true."

Typically offered without regard for the qualifications or ability of the people in question to validate the claim.

Straw Man

The offender ignores the actual argument and replaces it with a flimsy, distorted, easily-refuted argument (a “straw man”).

By replacing a strong argument with a weak one, the offender can create the illusion of an easy, swift victory.

How to Win (without talent or luck):

Operate in Your Zone of Genius

Your Zone of Genius is where your interests, passions and skills align.

Operating in your Zone of Genius means playing games you are uniquely well-suited to win.

Once you identify it, you can stop playing *their* games and start playing *yours*.

Adopt a Positive Sum Mentality

Want to get ahead in life? Start genuinely rooting for others to succeed.

When one of us wins, we all win—winning spreads.

If you adopt that mentality, you’ll become a magnet for the highest quality people.

Speak Up

Closed mouths don’t get fed.

A little push goes a long way. Don't sit back and wait for good things to happen.

If you want something—and you’ve put in the work for it—ask for it.

Worst case: you’re told no and nothing has changed.

Best case: it’s yours.

Play Long-Term Games

Life is the ultimate long game.

Those with low time preference play it more effectively—they happily delay gratification to allow compounding to work its magic.

In a world of people seeking instant gratification, this is a meaningful edge.

The most powerful paradoxes of life:

The Persuasion Paradox

Have you noticed that the most argumentative people rarely persuade anyone?

The most persuasive people don’t argue—they observe, listen, and ask questions.

Argue less, persuade more.

Persuasion is an art that requires a paintbrush, not a sledgehammer.

The Effort Paradox

You have to put in more effort to make something appear effortless.

Effortless, elegant performances are often the result of a large volume of effortful, gritty practice.

Small things become big things. Simple is not simple.

The Wisdom Paradox

“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” — Albert Einstein

The more you learn, the more you are exposed to the immense unknown.

This should be empowering, not frightening.

Embrace your own ignorance. Embrace lifelong learning.

The Growth Paradox

Growth takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you ever would have thought.

Growth happens gradually, then suddenly.

When you realize this, you start to do things differently.

Mental models can save your life.

But psychological biases can ruin it.

Here are 10 psychological biases to help you avoid a life of pain and suffering:

1. Doubt-avoidance:

Doubt and uncertainty make us feel uncomfortable.

And when we don't have clarity, we start rushing decisions to avoid that feeling of uncertainty.

When in doubt, take a deep breath and sleep on it before making a decision.

2. Overoptimism bias:

When we want something badly, we start overestimating our odds of success.

It's why so many people bet on their sports team to win.

It's also why millions buy lottery tickets.

Don't let what you want cloud your judgment of what you should do.

3. Reciprocation:

The tendency to treat others as they've treated us.

When treated well: "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

When treated badly: "An eye for an eye."

Sometimes this tendency can lead to endless conflict.

Resist the urge to reciprocate bad behaviour.

4. Social Proof:

We copy other people's behaviour when making decisions.

Especially when we're feeling uncertain.

This is why so many ads have celebrity endorsements and user testimonials.

Next time you make a decision, be mindful of other people's influence.

I recently found out I'm going to be a father.

Here are the principles I want to teach my child to live by:

Be Interested

Talent is overrated—interest is not.

Interested people are prone to giving their deep attention to something to discover more about it.

They ask questions, listen, & observe. They open up to the world around them.

Being interested is a key to a fulfilling life.

Different is Beautiful

Growing up, I feared being different—I desperately wanted to fit in.

I made bad decisions grounded in insecurity.

I only realized later: being different is your edge—your ultimate competitive advantage.

No one can compete with you, at being you.

Work Hard

If you want to accomplish anything in life, you have to work hard.

Don't believe the hype. Hard work isn't the sexy, flashy Instagram posts saying "rise & grind”—it's the ugly, painful effort in the dark, when no one is watching.

If you want something, go get it.

Show Up in the Darkest Hour

It's easy to be there for people to celebrate their wins.

It takes character to show up for them in their darkest hour.

People never forget who supported them when the chips were down.

Be the friend who is always there—in good times and bad.

Don't lose today planning for tomorrow.

Don't join the pack –– Lead it.

10 Stoic principles that will immediately change your life: 🧵

On Wealth:

We all want more.

More things, more money, more prestige...

Whatever 'it' is, we never seem to have enough.

But what if we measured wealth differently?

Not by what we don't have, but by what we don't need?

True wealth is found in wanting less, not having more.

On Truth:

Too often we become set in our ways.

We believe our opinion is right, and are unwilling to consider alternate perspectives.

Have an open mind.

Be willing to change.

He who thinks he knows everything knows nothing.

On Control:

Some things we can change, some we cannot.

The secret to happiness lies in the ability to differentiate between the two.

Ask yourself:

Do I have the power to change this?

If so, get to it.

If not, move on.

On Looking Back:

Quit living in the past.

I've been guilty of this, as I'm sure you have as well.

Stop worrying about what could have been or what you should have done.

Start new. Start fresh. Start today.

What's done is done, but the future has yet to be written.

Frameworks provide clarity in complex situations.

Here are 20 useful frameworks (on startups, investing, writing, & life):

The Feynman Technique

To learn anything:

Step 1: Identify a topic.
Step 2: Try to explain it to a 5-year-old.
Step 3: Study to fill in knowledge gaps.
Step 4: Organize, convey, and review.

True genius is the ability to simplify, not complicate.

Simple is beautiful.

Directional Arrow of Progress

"Study the undeniable arrows of progress." - @wolfejosh

The future is extremely difficult to predict—but there are clues.

Look at the trend line of progress and where it's pointing—directionally, not precisely.

Invest (or build) accordingly.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

Place all of your tasks on a 2x2 matrix of urgency and importance.

(1) Important & Urgent
(2) Important & Not Urgent
(3) Not Important & Urgent
(4) Not Important & Not Urgent

Prioritize, delegate, or delete accordingly.

The Regret Minimization Framework

The goal is to minimize the number of regrets in life.

When faced with a difficult decision:
(1) Project yourself into the future.
(2) Look back on the decision.
(3) Ask "Will I regret not doing this?"
(4) Take action.

A “razor” is a rule of thumb that simplifies decision making.

The most powerful razors I’ve found:

The Feynman Razor

Complexity and jargon are used to mask a lack of deep understanding.

If you can’t explain it to a 5-year-old, you don’t really understand it.

If someone uses a lot of complexity and jargon to explain something, they probably don’t understand it.

The Luck Razor

When choosing between two paths, choose the path that has a larger luck surface area.

Your actions put you in a position where luck is more likely to strike.

It’s hard to get lucky watching TV at home—it’s easy to get lucky when you’re engaging and learning.

The Arena Razor

When faced with two paths, choose the path that puts you in the arena.

It's easy to throw rocks from the sidelines.

It's scary and lonely in the arena—but it's where growth happens.

Once you're in the arena, never take advice from people on the sidelines.

The Optimist Razor

When choosing who to spend time with, prioritize spending more time with optimists.

Pessimists see closed doors. Optimists see open doors—and probably kick down the closed doors along the way.

Remember: Pessimists sound smart, optimists get rich.

The Feynman Technique—how to learn anything:

The Feynman Technique is a foundational learning method that prioritizes simplicity and depth of understanding.

It was developed by Richard Feynman—an American theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his groundbreaking work in quantum electrodynamics.

So yes, you could say that Richard Feynman was intelligent...

But there are a lot of intelligent people in the world.

Feynman's true genius was found in his ability to convey extremely complex ideas in simple, elegant, digestible ways.

He had observed that complexity and jargon are often used to mask a lack of deep understanding.

As a rule:

If someone uses a lot of acronyms, complexity, and jargon to explain something to you, they probably don’t understand it.

We've all encountered this type of "expert"...

The Feynman Technique is a learning framework that forces you to develop a deep, elegant understanding of a given topic.

It involves four key steps:
(1) Set the Stage
(2) ELI5 (Explain It To Me Like I'm 5)
(3) Assess & Study
(4) Organize, Convey & Review

Let's cover each step:

20 of the smartest things that have ever been said: 🧵

"Holding onto your anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

–Buddha

“We are what we repeatedly do, Excellence is therefore not an act but a habit."

–Aristotle

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end.

It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's a day you've had everything to do and you've done it."

–Margaret Thatcher

“There are only two great tragedies in life: one is not getting what you want and the other is getting it.”

–Oscar Wilde

15 Deep Philosophy Quotes of "Marcus Aurelius"

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1. "It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people,

But care more about their opinions than our own."

- Marcus Aurelius

2. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

- Marcus Aurelius

3. "If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change.

I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone:

The harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance."

- Marcus Aurelius

4. "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive

to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."

- Marcus Aurelius

15 Deep Philosophy Quotes From "Socrates"

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1. “Strong minds discuss ideas,
average minds discuss events,
weak minds discuss people.”

- Socrates

2. "Awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom."

- Socrates

3. “The mind is everything; what you think you become”

- Socrates

4. "By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy;

if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."

- Socrates

The spiritual path, a thread:

The spiritual path is not for the faint of heart.

It is both the toughest of life’s paths and the most rewarding.

All journeys are unique.

But all lead to the same place: total love and oneness.

The path requires alignment of mind, body, and spirit.

All are a part of You.

One without the other leads to imbalance.

Recognize and nurture all aspects of You.

I’ll show you how.

1/ Mind

Your mind is trying to process all available information to protect you.

The problem: it gets tripped up.

We live in a world of constant fear-based stimulation.

Most of modern society is designed to feed and profit off of your mind.

1.1/ Pause your mind

This is effectively what meditation is and why it’s so powerful.

Some meditators use a mantra so as to have one repetitive thing to repeat.

This helps unwind cyclical thoughts.

It breaks the mind free from it’s shackles.

It stops the churn.

10 Powerful Lessons from Marcus Aurelius

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1. "The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have."

- Marcus Aurelius

2. "Receive without conceit, release without struggle."

- Marcus Aurelius

3. "To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony."

- Marcus Aurelius

4. "Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. "

- Marcus Aurelius

15 of the most powerful and timeless insights from @Naval Ravikant

Naval risked his reputation and fortune to bring life lessons to us all. And he's impacted the life of millions around the world.

Enjoy this thread 🙏

| Thread 🧵

1. “I, and I alone, am responsible for everything I think and feel."

@naval

2. “Pain is a fact.

Suffering is a choice."

@naval

3. “No one can compete with you on being you.

Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most."

@naval

4. “The more seriously you take yourself, the unhappier you’re going to be."

@naval

15 Deep Philosophy Quotes From “Rumi "

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1. “Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes.

Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation."

– Rumi

2. “Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”

- Rumi

3. “Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form."

– Rumi

4. “Whenever you are alone, remind yourself that God has sent everyone else away so that there is only you and Him."

- Rumi

15 Deep Psychology And Philosophy Quotes From "Carl Jung"

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1. "The world will ask you who you are, and if you don't know, the world will tell you."

- Carl Jung

2. "You are what you do, not what you say you'll do."

- Carl Jung

3. "Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves."

- Carl Jung

4. "If a man knows more than others, he becomes lonely."

- Carl Jung