68: Rules Aren't Real ๐
Dispensing with the status quo is the key to escaping mediocrity.
Dispensing with the status quo is the key to escaping mediocrity.
In one morning I came across three stories that made me think twice about the โmetaverseโ. Itโs not some abstract future dystopiaโitโs already here. Many of us already inhabit mini-metaverses full of personalised algorithms, and few of us are ready to take off the headset. The first...
Sometimes in order to win the game you're optimising for, you must lose the ones you've been told were important.
How often do you revisit ideas you believe to be common sense? When thinking of possible ways we could develop our thinking or improve our lives we naturally gravitate to new ideas instead of investigating existing patterns. When you start thinking from first principles, a lot of things you might...
People become great by being creative within the boundaries and persisting when others might quit.
Sometimes you will be out in the field, pushing the limits of expectation, on the verge of changing the world, and not a single soul will care. The masses often sleepwalk through innovation. You can only make great things if youโre willing to be ignored and unafraid of going...
Brandon Sanderson is one of my favourite authors. If he writes something Iโm going to eat it up. But not immediately. Because Brandon likes to write big beefy books that could double as self-defence weapons or stools for small cats. He writes a LOT. He recently surprised his entire...
Whenever words are carried by saltine winds over vast expanses of water, they somehow gain the magical property of resonating clearer in our minds. This is why we seem to fall head over heels in love with wisdom from faraway lands. It explains our obsession with Ikigai. Itโs why...
No one human knows how to make a pencil from scratch despite it seeming like a fundamentally basic thing - something every child can use. To construct something as simple as a pencil takes mining graphite, cutting wood, shaping metal, and figuring out whatever modern erasers are made out of....
If the cameras turn off, do the Kardashians still exist? People are designing their lives and actions around black camera lenses, hoping that an audience will exist on the other side. People stand alone in rooms swinging their arms violently and making faces at the wall, because TikTok promises their...
People spend their lives chasing passion. We have dreams of what life should be like. What it could be like, once we find the magic that's missing. We all want to get paid to do something we love. And we want to be paid well for it! To achieve the...
What if I told you that nearly every island in Polynesia was discovered without maps or compasses by men in canoes who navigated by the stars?
How to give the best gifts to your past, present and future selves.
Pattern-matching and robust thinking are more important than tactics and abstraction.
How to give the best gifts to your past, present and future selves.
Everyone wants to be first. Our competitive and status-seeking nature drives us to chase the novel. We want new experiences. We want to make fresh discoveries. When it comes to learning, despite being frequently frustrated at how little we know, it is important to remember that there is no expectation...
I spent half a decade at one of the biggest corporate law firms in the world. The kind where equity partners make a couple mill per year. Here are 15 unconventional lessons I learned about life, money, and success: Don't wait to be happy. Your satisfaction won't be unlocked by...
From a young age, we all naturally gravitate towards art . We scribble, draw, and paint - even if itโs just to make a mess. Art is something children do instinctively. Since humanityโs primal ages weโve made art. Faces on clay vases. Stick figures on cave walls. Itโ...
We're the sum of our choices. Every decision we make is a vote for the person we want to be. Here's how you optimise your choices and actions to do work with lasting impact: Guard your attention closely. People say time is money but most of them don't act like...
David speaks with Alex Fefegha, the co-founder and principal director at COMUZI. This episode was two or three years in the making, and it was definitely worth it. Alex Fefegha works at the intersection of design, programming, speculative fiction, and art, expressing societal challenges and exposing the technology systems that...
Someone once said it takes money to make money. They lied. By the time I was 12 Iโd mastered the art of making money appear from thin air. I started by selling my lunch. Item by item. The sandwich my mum made me, a pack of crisps, and a...