The Big Idea: Losers have goals. Winners have systems.
- Losers have goals. Winners have systems.
- Your mind isn’t magic. It’s a moist computer you can program.
- The most important metric to track is your personal energy.
- Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success.
- Happiness is health plus freedom.
- Luck can be managed, sort of.
- Conquer shyness by being a huge phony (in a good way).
- Fitness is the lever that moves the world.
- Simplicity transforms ordinary into amazing.
- A smart friend can save you loads of time.
- Forget about passion. Be successful first and passion will follow.
- The market rewards execution, not ideas.
- Positive affirmations really work.
- Simple systems are probably the best way to achieve success.
- Simplification frees up time and energy, which makes other things possible and easier.
- Exercise, sleep, and food should be your first priority in maintaining good energy.
- Working on a big, world-changing project (on the side) can be very energizing.
- Smiling makes you feel better.
- Success at one activity can spill over to other activities.
- A clue to an innate talent: willing to embarrass yourself in something.
- Be persistent if something doesn’t work out perfectly. However, know that most big successes started out successful in some small, important way.
- Try to be good at several complementary things instead of excellent at only one. (Eg. good engineer + good marketer > great engineer.)
- Key skills for success: public speaking, psychology, business writing, accounting, design, conversation, conversation, overcoming shyness, foreign language, golf, grammar, persuasion, technology, voice control
- Be familiar with most common cognitive biases.
- Successful people tend to follow this pattern: lack of fear of embarrassment, they love learning, they exercise regularly.
- Luck can be engineered by consistently being in the right place at the right time.
- Experts are right about 98% of the time on easy stuff, but only 50% of the time on complicated stuff.
- Happiness should be your primary goal in life.
- If you’re not happy, look at your environment and fix what’s wrong.
- The flexibility in your schedule to take naps, all else equal, will make you much happier.
- Simply imagining a better future hacks your brain chemistry and makes you happier.
- People become unhappy if they have too many options in life.
- No two humans are alike, but eating too many simple carbs is probably depleting your energy.
- Think of food as the fuel that makes exercise possible.
- Vegetarianism is probably healthy and beneficial, but be wary of the science quoted because vegetarians have an agenda beyond nutrition. (Not a malicious agenda, however.)
- Coffee makes you more likely to exercise and has cancer-protective antioxidants.
- Any form of exercise that requires willpower is probably unsustainable for most.
- Make exercise fun, or at least, make exercise a non-negotiable habit.
- After exercise, always reward yourself with reading, healthy snack, or coffee.