On Possessions
Things you use for a significant fraction of your life (bed: 1/3rd, office-chair: 1/4th) are worth investing in.
“Where is the good knife?” If you’re looking for your good X, you have bad Xs. Throw those out.
On Productivity
Done is better than perfect.
Reward yourself after completing challenges, even badly.
On Body
Exercise is the most important lifestyle intervention you can do. Even the bare minimum (15 minutes a week) has a huge impact. Start small.
Exercise (weightlifting) not only creates muscle mass, it also improves skeletal structure. Lift!
On Success
Are you on the fence about breaking up or leaving your job? You should probably go ahead and do it. People, on average, end up happier when they take the plunge.
Discipline is superior to motivation. The former can be trained, the latter is fleeting. You won’t be able to accomplish great things if you’re only relying on motivation.
You can improve your communication skills with practice much more effectively than you can improve your intelligence with practice. If you’re not that smart but can communicate ideas clearly, you have a great advantage over everybody who can’t communicate clearly.
Cultivate a reputation for being dependable. Good reputations are valuable because they’re rare (easily destroyed and hard to rebuild). You don’t have to brew the most amazing coffee if your customers know the coffee will always be hot.
How you spend every day is how you spend your life.
On Rationality
Noticing biases in others is easy, noticing biases in yourself is hard. However, it has much higher pay-off.
If something surprises you again and again, stop being surprised.
Selfish people should listen to advice to be more selfless, selfless people should listen to advice to be more selfish. This applies to many things. Whenever you receive advice, consider its opposite as well. You might be filtering out the advice you need most.
On Self
If you’re under 90, try things.
Keep your identity small. “I’m not the kind of person who does things like that” is not an explanation, it’s a trap. It prevents nerds from working out and men from dancing.
On Hazards
There are two red flags to avoid almost all dangerous people: 1. The perpetually aggrieved ; 2. The angry.
Some people create drama out of habit. You can avoid these people.
It is cheap for people to talk about their values, goals, rules, and lifestyle. When people’s actions contradict their talk, pay attention!
On Others
Bored people are boring.
A norm of eating with your family without watching something will lead to better conversations. If this idea fills you with dread, consider getting a new family.
On Relationships
In relationships look for somebody you can enjoy just hanging out near. Long-term relationships are mostly spent just chilling.
On Compassion
Compliment people more. Many people have trouble thinking of themselves as smart, or pretty, or kind, unless told by someone else. You can help them out.
Remember that many people suffer invisibly, and some of the worst suffering is shame. Not everybody can make their pain legible.
On Joy
Human mood and well-being are heavily influenced by simple things: Exercise, good sleep, light, being in nature. It’s cheap to experiment with these.
Bad things happen dramatically (a pandemic). Good things happen gradually (malaria deaths dropping annually) and don’t feel like ‘news’. Endeavour to keep track of the good things to avoid an inaccurate and dismal view of the world.