10 Powerful Lessons from Marcus Aurelius

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15 Deep Philosophy Quotes From “Soren Kierkegaard"

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1. "The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays."

- Soren Kierkegaard

2. "There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true."

- Soren Kierkegaard

3. "People settle for a level of despair they can tolerate and call it happiness."

- Soren Kierkegaard

4. "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

- Soren Kierkegaard

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 🙏

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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 Powerful Lessons from the book "Antifragile"

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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1. The book is about decision-making under uncertainty/volatility.

- EVERYTHING either benefits or is harmed by volatility

- The FRAGILE is harmed (think a glass)

- The ROBUST is unchanged (think The Phoenix)

- The ANTIFRAGILE gets better (think The Hydra)

2.

- There is no way to accurately predict WHICH events will occur

- We CAN measure how fragile we are to events

- We CAN take steps to robustify ourselves

- When shit hits the fan, the fragile breaks

- This applies to the economy, politics, health, etc

3. Naive Interventionism

- Systems are COMPLEX

- Most are beyond our understanding

- When we intervene, we introduce potential harm

- These 2nd and 3rd order effects introduce MORE volatility into the system

- This makes systems even less predictable

- STAY in YOUR lane

4. Via Negativa: Removing is superior to Adding

- Less can be More

- Don't add, subtract

- Eliminate the Artificial

- Eliminate the Unnatural

- Eliminate the Unnecessary

Apply these in all areas of your life. When in doubt, SUBTRACT

15 Powerful Philosophy Quotes From "Epictetus"

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1. “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master."

- Epictetus

2. “Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself."

- Epictetus

3. “Don't just say that you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better."

- Epictetus

4. “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will."

- Epictetus

10 Powerful Lessons of the book “The Art of Thinking Clearly”

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1. Never underestimate the hard work and lower probability of success, just because we are shown more successful people than many more actual failures.

It does not mean, in any way, that you should not dream big. It just says that dont get overawed by the number of success stories you read and assume that success would be easy. No one prints the failure stories.

2. Confirmation bias is the mother of all misconceptions.

It is a tendency to interpret new information so that it becomes compatible with our existing theories.

Warren Buffet has seen people losing money with this because they ignore facts which contradict the theory in the mind of the investor.

Dis-confirming evidence must be seeked out to beat this theory.

20 ideas I can’t stop thinking about:

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.

Intellectual Sparring Partners

Most of us need fewer friends and more intellectual sparring partners.

Friends are easy to come by.

Intellectual sparring partners are harder to find.

They will call you on your BS, question your assumptions, and push you to think deeply.

Boredom Alpha

Experiencing regular periods of boredom is a competitive advantage.

Your most creative moments come during bouts of boredom.

In the shower, on a walk, at a dinner by yourself.

You’re bored, your mind wanders, and creative insight strikes.

Boredom creates alpha.

Paths Open vs. Closed

Black Lines = paths closed
Green Lines = paths open

We spend too much time focusing on what might have been (black) and not enough time focusing on what may be (green).

Never underestimate the density of opportunity that lies ahead.

(h/t @waitbutwhy)

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.

10 fascinating traits of highly-successful people:

1) Enjoy Being Wrong: The most successful people legitimately enjoy being wrong. They’ve learned to embrace new information that forces you to change your viewpoint—these "software updates" improve upon the old.

(read on)

2) Work in Sprints: Parkinson's Law says that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. Winners typically work like lions instead—sprint, rest, repeat.

3) Antifragile: Life is chaotic. The best aren't broken by the chaos—they build structure to benefit from it.

4) Paranoia: Highly-successful people share a surprising fear that all of the success is suddenly going to disappear. It creates a drive for continued growth.

5) Self-Awareness: The most successful people are hyper self-aware. They know their unique edge (and their weaknesses).

6) Compartmentalization: An uncanny ability to compartmentalize. They turn off outside stressors and focus exclusively on the task at hand.

7) Focus on Questions, Not Answers: They ask great questions. It allows them to aggregate insights more effectively.

8) Expert Advice Filters: Winners have learned how to filter and selectively implement advice—take the signal, skip the noise.

9) Impatient Long-Term Thinkers: Long-term thinking plus short-term impatience for action is the recipe for success.

Top 20 Most Powerful Philosophy Quotes of All Time

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1.

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

– Confucius

2.

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche

3.

"Quality is not an act, it is a habit."

– Aristotle

4.

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."

– Lao Tzu

5.

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."

– Plato

15 Deep Philosophy Quotes From "Heraclitus"

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1. "The content of your character is your choice.

Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become."

- Heraclitus

2. "Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings."

- Heraclitus

3. "Dogs bark at what they don't understand."

- Heraclitus

4. “No man ever steps in the same river twice,

for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

-Heraclitus