Self Help

Only by ensuring the alignment of interests can we fundamentally reduce the principal-agent problem and maximize the protection of our own interests. To me, the principal-agent problem is the single most fundamental problem in microeconomics. If you do not understand the principal-agent problem, you will not know how to navigate your way through the world. It is important if you want to build a successful company or be successful in your dealings.

Asking someone a question is giving them a chance to speak The Cycle of Refusal and Explanation When someone refuses our request, our immediate reaction is usually to explain why they should accept our proposal. If the other party doesn’t choose to concede, we often continue to explain or present more arguments. We try to force acceptance through our own explanation, and the other party is doing the exact same thing. This is like a conversation between two deaf people: “No, because…”, “Yes, because…”, “No, because…”, “Yes, because…”, endlessly. ...

I never ask if “I like it” or “I don’t like it.” I think “this is what it is” or “this is what it isn’t.”

Part of making effective decisions boils down to dealing with reality. How do you make sure you’re dealing with reality when you’re making decisions?

By not having a strong sense of self or judgments or mind presence. The “monkey mind” will always respond with this regurgitated emotional response to what it thinks the world should be. Those desires will cloud your reality. This happens a lot of times when people are mixing politics and business. The number one thing clouding us from being able to see reality is we have preconceived notions of the way it should be.

To see the truth, you have to get your ego out of the way because your ego doesn’t want to face the truth. The smaller you can make your ego, the less conditioned you can make your reactions, the less desires you can have about the outcome you want, the easier it will be to see the reality.

The problem is their desire is colliding with reality and preventing them from seeing the truth, no matter how much you say it. The same thing happens when I make decisions. The more desire I have for something to work out a certain way, the less likely I am to see the truth. Especially in business, if something isn’t going well, I try to acknowledge it publicly and I try to acknowledge it publicly in front of my co-founders and friends and co-workers. Then, I’m not hiding it from anybody else. If I’m not hiding it from anybody, I’m not going to delude myself from what’s actually going on.

Almost all biases are time-saving heuristics. For important decisions, discard memory and identity, and focus on the problem.

Don’t play zero-sum games .

Any end goal will just lead to another goal, lead to another goal. We just play games in life. When you grow up, you’re playing the school game, or you’re playing the social game. Then you’re playing the money game, and then you’re playing the status game. These games just have longer and longer and longer-lived horizons. At some point, at least I believe, these are all just games. These are games where the outcome really stops mattering once you see through the game.

The Time Factor in Achieving Success It takes time. Even once you have all the necessary elements in place, there’s an indeterminate amount of time you must invest. If you’re constantly counting the hours or days, you’ll likely run out of patience long before you achieve success.

This is not to say it’s easy. It’s not easy. It’s actually really freaking hard. It is the hardest thing you will do. But it’s also rewarding.

You don’t get rich by spending your time to save money. You get rich by saving your time to make money. In an age of leverage, one correct decision can win everything. Without hard work, you’ll develop neither judgment nor leverage.

You have to put in the time, but the judgment is more important. The direction you’re heading in matters more than how fast you move, especially with leverage. Picking the direction you’re heading in for every decision is far, far more important than how much force you apply. Just pick the right direction to start walking in, and start walking.

Reading is a reliable method that ensures you stay above the passing grade—meaning you avoid becoming excessively vulgar, mediocre, and self-important, while possessing moderate-to-high level thinking and introspection. Once you reach this baseline, wanting to advance further and become even more capable is actually very simple: practice. Put what you read in books into practice.

The brain is an extremely energy-intensive organ. Despite making up only about 2% of the body’s weight, it consumes 20%-30% of the body’s total energy. Since the brain’s daily output is limited, you must dedicate your mental energy to important matters. Don’t waste your life in vain.

The one thing you have to avoid is the risk of ruin. Avoiding ruin means stay out of jail. So, don’t do anything illegal. It’s never worth it to wear an orange jumpsuit. Stay out of total catastrophic loss. Avoiding ruin could also mean you stay out of things that could be physically dangerous or hurt your body. You have to watch your health .Stay out of things that could cause you to lose all of your capital, all of your savings. Don’t gamble everything on one go. Instead, take rationally optimistic bets with big upsides. [

Choosing what kinds of jobs, careers, or fields you get into and what sort of deals you’re willing to take from your employer will give you much more free time. Then, you don’t have to worry as much about time management. I would love to be paid purely for my judgment, not for any work. I want a robot, capital, or computer to do the work, but I want to be paid for my judgment.

Value your time at an hourly rate, and ruthlessly spend to save time at that rate. You will never be worth more than you think you’re worth.

If someone can train other people how to do something, then they can replace you. If they can replace you, then they don’t have to pay you a lot. You want to know how to do something other people don’t know how to do at the time period when those skills are in demand.