Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
Be independent
- All misery comes from dependency.
- When you know what you're doing, you won't care what anyone else is doing.
- Never agree with anything the same day you hear it, because some ideas are persuasively hypnotic.
- Just like you can't read something if it's pushed up against your face, or too far away, you should keep your friends at arm's length — close but not too close.
Commit
- Stop seeking the best option. Pick one and irreversibly commit.
- Word 'decide' comes from Latin 'to cut off'.
- Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.
Do nothing
- Desire is the opposite of peace.
- Shallow rivers are noisy. Deep lakes are silent.
- Most actions are a pursuit of emotions.
- Wisdom comes from removing the junk, lies, and obstacles to clear thinking.
- The stock market takes money from the active traders and gives it to the patient.
Think super-long-term
- Actions amplify through time to have a massive impact on the future.
- Eat mostly vegetables. Exercise always. Get preventative health checkups. Make time for your relationships.
- Imagine your future self judging your current life choices.
Make memories
- Monotony is the enemy. Novelty is the solution.
- The more memories you create, the longer and richer your life feels.
- You do it for the journey, not the destination.
Master something
- Mastery is the best goal because the rich can't buy it, the impatient can't rush it, the privileged can't inherit it, and nobody can steal it.
- Goals don't improve your future. Goals only improve your present actions.
Pursue pain
- If you avoid pain, you avoid improvement. Avoid embarrassment, and you avoid success. Avoid risk, and you avoid reward.
- 'Passion' comes from the Latin word 'pati', meaning 'to suffer or endure'.
Learn
- Confidence is usually ignorance.
- Be surprised by something every day.
- If you can't explain it yourself, you don't know it.
Prepare for the worst
- A caveman would say, "Oh my god! A glass! What a great invention! I can see what I'm about to drink! This is amazing!"
- Fulfillment is more fun than fun.
Create
- You can improve something bad. You can't improve nothing.
- Creativity is a magic coin. The more you spend, the more you have.
- Originality just means hiding your sources.
Make a million mistakes
- A mistake only counts as experience if you learn from it.
- Share your stories from all your mistakes for the benefit of the world.
Originally published on Medium. Check out my bookshelf on Goodreads.