Self Help

A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.

The leverage for ordinary people

Probably the most interesting thing to keep in mind about new forms of leverage is they are permissionless. They don’t require somebody else’s permission for you to use them or succeed. For labor leverage, somebody has to decide to follow you. For capital leverage, somebody has to give you money to invest or to turn into a product.

If you’re looking toward the long-term goal of getting wealthy, you should ask yourself,

“Is this authentic to me? Is it myself that I am projecting?” And then, “Am I productizing it? Am I scaling it? Am I scaling with labor or with capital or with code or with media?” So it’s a very handy, simple mnemonic.

Play Long-Term Games with Long-Term People

Compound interest is a very powerful concept. Compound interest applies to more than just compounding capital. Compounding capital is just the beginning. Compound interest also happens in your reputation. If you have a sterling reputation and you keep building it for decades upon decades, people will notice. Your reputation will literally end up being thousands or tens of thousands of times more valuable than somebody else who was very talented but is not keeping the compound interest in reputation going. ...

I’m not saying don’t do the 99 percent

because it’s very hard to identify what the 1 percent is. What I’m saying is: when you find the 1 percent of your discipline which will not be wasted, which you’ll be able to invest in for the rest of your life and has meaning toyou—go all-in and forget about the rest.

Take on Accountability

Embrace accountability and take business risks under your own name. Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage.

Clear accountability is important.

Clear accountability is important. Without accountability, you don’t have incentives. Without accountability, you can’t build credibility. But you take risks. You risk failure. You risk humiliation. You risk failure under your own name. 如果你说同学们帮我擦黑板，那么就不会有人擦

Realize that in modern society, the downside risk is not that large.

There’s not really that much to fear in terms of failure, and so people should take on a lot more accountability than they do.

the real wealth is created by starting your own companies or even by investing.

In an investment firm, they’re buying equity. These are the routes to wealth. It doesn’t come through the hours.

Find a Position of Leverage

I only really want to do things for their own sake. That is one definition of art. Whether it’s business, exercise, romance, friendship, whatever, I think the meaning of life is to do things for their own sake. Ironically, when you do things for their own sake, you create your best work. Even if you’re just trying to make money, you will actually be the most successful. ...

The limits of my language are the limits of my world.

Mental models are concepts that represent your understanding of how something in the world works. Think of driving a car: What do you expect when you press down on the right-side pedal? If the car slows down, you’ll be surprised—that pedal is supposed to be the accelerator. The accuracy of your model of the world determines your expectations, decisions, behavior, and—in the long run—your results. ...

Should You Go to Business School?

There is a difference between (A) what an MBA does to help you prove your abilities to others . (B) what getting an MBA actually does to improve your abilities. They are two different things.

绝不要用短期的解决方案来应对长期问题。

我绝不能让别人认为我很吝啬。于是我经常邀请朋友去餐厅吃饭；我还需要一辆大轿车来展现身份；此外，我还必须支付一些其他费用 —— 税收。最终，我只得求助于这一伟大的发明：信用卡。有了信用卡，我就不用自己付钱了，信用卡公司的人会帮我付款，至少我暂时先不用付钱了 …… 之后我就听到有人说：“他真是个人生赢家，他过的是头等生活。”我过起了头等生活：不喝气泡酒 —— 只喝香槟酒；不吃牛排 —— 只吃上等里脊。我想像一个富人一样，生活在未来世界。而很快，过去以账单、催债信和高贷款利率等方式不断地打扰我。作为一个业绩优异、收入颇丰的销售人员，我总是能够获得新的信用卡。于是我开始进行交替还款，也就是说，我得到一张新的信用卡，然后用新信用卡去还旧信用卡的账单。就这样，我将自己卷入了一个螺旋式下降的财务状态中。 ...

整天工作的人，没有时间来赚钱。

你越努力工作，你老板换豪车豪宅的机会越大。你今天的收入就是你昨天所做之决定的结果，如果不理解这一点，你就不能说：“现在我要另做选择。

永远不要让别人替你承担责任的情况出现。

•“ 将来我也会为现在拥有的一切感到满足。” •“ 假如我能全力以赴，我就会成为最优秀的。” 这两句话的背后，通常都隐藏着自我欺骗、恐惧和缺乏自我价值感。 ...

没有哪个奇迹的发生不需要冒险

• 我们常常忘记，顺着我们目前为止走过的道路继续前行，同样有风险。这条路给我们一种熟悉感，但也不会更安全。 • 生活就是一场比赛。不去冒险的人不可能获得成功。 • 在这个星球上，没有“必胜”，只有“机会”。 • 立即采取行动！因为你永远不能为成功做好完美的准备。 •世上唯一从来不犯错的人，是从来不做任何事的人。（西奥多 · 罗斯福） • 不确定性带来的痛苦，比确定的痛苦要强烈得多。 • 每一次行动计划都有风险，都需要付出代价。但比起无所事事的舒适，它们的长期风险和付出的代价要小得多。（约翰 · 费茨杰拉德 · 肯尼迪） • 如果你害怕失去，你永远都不会获得。 • 去冒险吧，你不可能从地面摔下去的。 ...

给你责任的人同时也给你了权力。

大多数人都会推卸责任。当人们不想承担责任时，我们总是听到他们用这 3 个理由来搪塞责任： 1 ．“是基因的错。” 2 ．“是父母的错。” 3 ．“是客观环境的错。” ...

Life’s tough. It’s tougher if you’re stupid.

everyone has these unfounded fears, and they’re normal. Don’t let them hold you back from pursuing what’s important to you. Businesses are created, operated, and improved by ordinary people just like you; there’s no magic or secret knowledge involved. All you need to do is learn a few simple concepts that will change the way you think about how businesses work and allow you to identify promising opportunities. ...

No Experience Necessary

This isn’t rocket science—we’ve chosen one of the world’s most simple professions.

他们总是有那么多紧急的事情要做，以至于没有时间来关注重要的事情。

困难总是在不断地出现。尽管如此，你每天还是要不间断地去做对你的未来意义重大的事情。你为此花费的时间不会超过 10 分钟，但是就是这 10 分钟会让一切变得不同。大多数人总是在现有的水平上停滞不前，就是因为他们没有拿出这 10 分钟。他们总是期望情况能向有利于自己的方向转变，但是他们忽视了一点，那就是他们首先必须改变自己。 ...

第一份工作的建议

第一，无论在什么时候都不能把希望只寄托在一份工作上，它持续的时间不会像你设想的那么长，所以你要立即寻找另一份替代的工作。第二，你肯定会遇到一些困难，这些困难是你现在还难以预料的。到那时候就能看出来 ...