Collective Wisdom

think deeply and embody those that speak to you

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Motivation

• About 99% of the time, the right time is right now. ¹

• Three things you need: The ability to not give up something till it works, the ability to give up something that does not work, and the trust in other people to help you distinguish between the two. ¹

• The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high so even in failure it may be a success measured by the ordinary. ¹

• What you do on your bad days matters more than what you do on your good days. ¹

• We tend to overestimate what we can do in a day, and underestimate what we can achieve in a decade. Miraculous things can be accomplished if you give it ten years. A long game will compound small gains to overcome even big mistakes. ¹

• The only productive way to answer “what should I do now?” is to first tackle the question of “who should I become?” ¹

• Average returns sustained over an above average period of time yield extraordinary results. ¹

• Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Make progress by making habits. Dont focus on getting into shape. Focus on becoming the kind of person who never misses a workout. ¹

• If you repeated what you did today 365 more times will you be where you want to be next year? ¹

• Our descendants will achieve things that will amaze us, yet a portion of what they will create could have been made with today’s materials and tools if we had had the imagination. Think bigger. ¹

• Every breakthrough is at first laughable and ridiculous. In fact if it did not start out laughable and ridiculous, it is not a breakthrough. ¹

• Rather than steering your life to avoid surprises, aim directly for them. ¹

• Show up. Keep showing up. Somebody successful said: 99% of success is just showing up. ²

• There is no limit on better. Talent is distributed unfairly, but there is no limit on how much we can improve what we start with. ²

• Following your bliss is a recipe for paralysis if you don’t know what you are passionate about. A better motto for most youth is “master something, anything”. Through mastery of one thing, you can drift towards extensions of that mastery that bring you more joy, and eventually discover where your bliss is. ²

• Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems. ²

• If something fails where you thought it would fail, that is not a failure. ³

• Don’t create things to make money; make money so you can create things. The reward for good work is more work. ³

• Contemplating the weaknesses of others is easy; contemplating the weaknesses in yourself is hard, but it pays a much higher reward. ³

• Don’t worry how or where you begin. As long as you keep moving, your success will be far from where you start. ³

• Everything is hard before it is easy. The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a stupid idea. ³

• This is the best time ever to make something. None of the greatest, coolest creations 20 years from now have been invented yet. You are not late. ³

• Take one simple thing — almost anything — but take it extremely seriously, as if it was the only thing in the world, or maybe the entire world is in it — and by taking it seriously you’ll light up the sky. ³

Work, Business & Leadership

• Dont ever work for someone you dont want to become. ¹

• When you lead, your real job is to create more leaders, not more followers. ¹

• Criticize in private, praise in public. ¹

• Always give credit, take blame. ³

• Ask funders for money, and they’ll give you advice; but ask for advice and they’ll give you money. ¹

• Immediately pay what you owe to vendors, workers, contractors. They will go out of their way to work with you first next time. ¹

• Your growth as a conscious being is measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have. ¹

• There is no such thing as being “on time.” You are either late or you are early. Your choice. ¹

• You can be whatever you want, so be the person who ends meetings early. ¹

• You cannot get smart people to work extremely hard just for money. ¹

• Experience is overrated. When hiring, hire for aptitude, train for skills. Most really amazing or great things are done by people doing them for the first time. ²

• When checking references for a job applicant, employers may be reluctant or prohibited from saying anything negative, so leave or send a message that says, “Get back to me if you highly recommend this applicant as super great.” If they don’t reply take that as a negative. ¹

• When you don’t know how much to pay someone for a particular task, ask them “what would be fair” and their answer usually is. ¹

• Train employees well enough they could get another job, but treat them well enough so they never want to. ³

• When you have some success, the feeling of being an imposter can be real. Who am I fooling? But when you create things that only you — with your unique talents and experience — can do, then you are absolutely not an imposter. You are the ordained. It is your duty to work on things that only you can do. ¹

• Your best job will be one that you were unqualified for because it stretches you. In fact only apply to jobs you are unqualified for ¹.

• When negotiating, dont aim for a bigger piece of the pie; aim to create a bigger pie. ¹

• The best time to negotiate your salary for a new job is the moment AFTER they say they want you, and not before. Then it becomes a game of chicken for each side to name an amount first, but it is to your advantage to get them to give a number before you do. ¹

• Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. It prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different. Different is better. ²

• To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just re-do it, re-do it, re-do it. The secret to making fine things is in remaking them. ²

• To make mistakes is human. To own your mistakes is divine. Nothing elevates a person higher than quickly admitting and taking personal responsibility for the mistakes you make and then fixing them fairly. If you mess up, fess up. It’s astounding how powerful this ownership is. ²

• You can obsess about serving your customers/audience/clients, or you can obsess about beating the competition. Both work, but of the two, obsessing about your customers will take you further. ²

• Separate the processes of creation from improving. You can’t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgement. ²

• You are what you do. Not what you say, not what you believe, not how you vote, but what you spend your time on. ²

• Be prepared: When you are 90% done any large project (a house, a film, an event, an app) the rest of the myriad details will take a second 90% to complete. ²

• If you desperately need a job, you are just another problem for a boss; if you can solve many of the problems the boss has right now, you are hired. To be hired, think like your boss. ²

• Recipe for success: under-promise and over-deliver. ³

• In all things — except love — start with the exit strategy. Prepare for the ending. Almost anything is easier to get into than out of. ³

• The foundation of maturity: Just because it’s not your fault doesn’t mean it’s not your responsibility. ³

• On the way to a grand goal, celebrate the smallest victories as if each one were the final goal. No matter where it ends you are victorious. ³

• Your passion in life should fit you exactly; but your purpose in life should exceed you. Work for something much larger than yourself. ³

• When you are stuck, sleep on it. Let your subconscious work for you. ³

Materialism

• No one is as impressed with your possessions as you are. ¹

• Acquiring things will rarely bring you deep satisfaction. But acquiring experiences will. ²

• Eliminating clutter makes room for your true treasures. ²

Relationships

• Cultivate 12 people who love you, because they are worth more than 12 million people who like you. ¹

• Hatred is a curse that does not affect the hated. It only poisons the hater. Release a grudge as if it was a poison. ²

• When you forgive others, they may not notice, but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is a gift to ourselves. ¹

• You’ll get 10x better results by elevating good behavior rather than punishing bad behavior, especially in children and animals. ¹

• A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others. ¹

• Getting cheated occasionally is the small price for trusting the best of everyone, because when you trust the best in others, they generally treat you best. ¹

• For the best results with your children, spend only half the money you think you should, but double the time with them. ¹

• You see only 2% of another person, and they see only 2% of you. Attune yourselves to the hidden 98%. ¹

• If you loan someone $20 and you never see them again because they are avoiding paying you back, that makes it worth $20. ¹

• Treating a person to a meal never fails, and is so easy to do. It’s powerful with old friends and a great way to make new friends. ²

• Reading to your children regularly will bond you together and kickstart their imaginations. ²

• The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they find you. To be interesting, be interested. ²

• Friends are better than money. Almost anything money can do, friends can do better. In so many ways a friend with a boat is better than owning a boat. ²

• Your best response to an insult is “You’re probably right.” Often they are. ³

• Ignore what others may be thinking of you, because they aren’t. ³

• Children totally accept — and crave — family rules. “In our family we have a rule for X” is the only excuse a parent needs for setting a family policy. In fact, “I have a rule for X” is the only excuse you need for your own personal policies. ³

• You don’t marry a person, you marry a family. ³

• Something does not need to be perfect to be wonderful. Especially weddings. ³

• Be nice to your children because they are going to choose your nursing home. ³

Courtesy & Kindness

• If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar. ¹

• Courtesy costs nothing. Lower the toilet seat after use. Let the people in the elevator exit before you enter. Return shopping carts to their designated areas. When you borrow something, return it better shape (filled up, cleaned) than when you got it. ¹

• You will be judged on how well you treat those who can do nothing for you. ¹

• It’s thrilling to be extremely polite to rude strangers. ¹

• Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away. ²

• Perhaps the most counter-intuitive truth of the universe is that the more you give to others, the more you’ll get. Understanding this is the beginning of wisdom. ²

• Before you are old, attend as many funerals as you can bear, and listen. Nobody talks about the departed’s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving. ²

• Leave a gate behind you the way you first found it. ³

• The worst evils in history have always been committed by those who truly believed they were combating evil. Beware of combating evil. ³

• If you borrow something, try to return it in better shape than you received it. Clean it, sharpen it, fill it up. ³

• Don’t treat people as bad as they are. Treat them as good as you are. ³

• Be a good ancestor. Do something a future generation will thank you for. A simple thing is to plant a tree. ³

Communication

• Anything you say before the word “but” does not count. ¹

• Speak confidently as if you are right, but listen carefully as if you are wrong. ¹

• Never ask a woman if she is pregnant. Let her tell you if she is. ¹

• Spend as much time crafting the subject line of an email as the message itself because the subject line is often the only thing people read. ¹

• Denying or deflecting a compliment is rude. Accept it with thanks, even if you believe it is not deserved. ¹

• You cant reason someone out of a notion that they didn’t reason themselves into. ¹

• A wise man said, “Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself, “Is it true?” At the second gate ask, “Is it necessary?” At the third gate ask, “Is it kind?” ¹

• It’s possible that a not so smart person, who can communicate well, can do much better than a super smart person who can’t communicate well. That is good news because it is much easier to improve your communication skills than your intelligence. ¹

• When introduced to someone make eye contact and count to 4. You’ll both remember each other. ¹

• Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love keep asking them “Is there more?”, until there is no more. ²

• Rule of 3 in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and once more. The third time’s answer is close to the truth. ²

• Everyone is shy. Other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself to them, they are waiting for you to send them an email, they are waiting for you to ask them on a date. Go ahead. ²

• Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you: busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works. ²

• Don’t say anything about someone in email you would not be comfortable saying to them directly, because eventually they will read it. ²

• How to apologize: Quickly, specifically, sincerely. ²

• When a child asks an endless string of “why?” questions, the smartest reply is, “I don’t know, what do you think?” ³

• Calm is contagious. ³

• Each time you reach out to people, bring them a blessing; then they’ll be happy to see you when you bring them a problem. ³

• Every person you meet knows an amazing lot about something you know virtually nothing about. Your job is to discover what it is, and it won’t be obvious. ³

Quality of Life

• Efficiency is highly overrated; Goofing off is highly underrated. Regularly scheduled sabbaths, sabbaticals, vacations, breaks, aimless walks and time off are essential for top performance of any kind. The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic. ¹

• If winning becomes too important in a game, change the rules to make it more fun. Changing rules can become the new game. ¹

• The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally. ¹

• Ask anyone you admire: Their lucky breaks happened on a detour from their main goal. So embrace detours. Life is not a straight line for anyone. ¹

• When you open paint, even a tiny bit, it will always find its way to your clothes no matter how careful you are. Dress accordingly. ¹

• What you actually pay for something is at least twice the listed price because of the energy, time, money needed to set it up, learn, maintain, repair, and dispose of at the end. Not all prices appear on labels. Actual costs are 2x listed prices. ¹

• At a restaurant do you order what you know is great, or do you try something new? Do you make what you know will sell or try something new? Do you keep dating new folks or try to commit to someone you already met? The optimal balance for exploring new things vs exploiting them once found is: 1/3. Spend 1/3 of your time on exploring and 2/3 time on deepening. It is harder to devote time to exploring as you age because it seems unproductive, but aim for 1/3. ¹

• When buying a garden hose, an extension cord, or a ladder, get one substantially longer than you think you need. It’ll be the right size. ¹

• When someone tells you about the peak year of human history, the period of time when things were good before things went downhill, it will always be the years of when they were 10 years old — which is the peak of any human’s existence. ¹

• Your time and space are limited. Remove, give away, throw out things in your life that dont spark joy any longer in order to make room for those that do. ¹

• If you are looking for something in your house, and you finally find it, when you’re done with it, don’t put it back where you found it. Put it back where you first looked for it. ²

• Buying tools: Start by buying the absolute cheapest tools you can find. Upgrade the ones you use a lot. If you wind up using some tool for a job, buy the very best you can afford. ²

• If you have any doubt at all about being able to carry a load in one trip, do yourself a huge favor and make two trips. ³

• Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand. For the rest of your life you’ll use this knot more times than you would ever believe. ³

• Worth repeating: measure twice, cut once. ³

• Writing down one thing you are grateful for each day is the cheapest possible therapy ever. ³

• When making something, always get a few extras — extra material, extra parts, extra space, extra finishes. The extras serve as backups for mistakes, reduce stress, and fill your inventory for the future. They are the cheapest insurance. ³

Learning

• The biggest lie we tell ourselves is “I dont need to write this down because I will remember it.” ¹

• The best way to get a correct answer on the internet is to post an obviously wrong answer and wait for someone to correct you. ¹

• Half the skill of being educated is learning what you can ignore. ¹

• Thank a teacher who changed your life. ¹

• Buy used books. They have the same words as the new ones. Also libraries. ¹

• Dont believe everything you think you believe. ¹

• When you are stuck, explain your problem to others. Often simply laying out a problem will present a solution. Make “explaining the problem” part of your troubleshooting process. ¹

• For a great payoff be especially curious about the things you are not interested in. ¹

• If your opinions on one subject can be predicted from your opinions on another, you may be in the grip of an ideology. When you truly think for yourself your conclusions will not be predictable. ¹

• The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished. ¹

• Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe. ²

• Don’t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it. ²

• A worthy goal for a year is to learn enough about a subject so that you can’t believe how ignorant you were a year earlier. ²

• Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence to be believed. ²

• Don’t be the smartest person in the room. Hangout with, and learn from, people smarter than yourself. Even better, find smart people who will disagree with you. ²

• Rule of 7 in research. You can find out anything if you are willing to go seven levels. If the first source you ask doesn’t know, ask them who you should ask next, and so on down the line. If you are willing to go to the 7th source, you’ll almost always get your answer. ²

• Being wise means having more questions than answers. ³

• You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind. ³

• I have never met a person I admired who did not read more books than I did. ³

Public Speaking

• When public speaking, pause frequently. Pause before you say something in a new way, pause after you have said something you believe is important, and pause as a relief to let listeners absorb details. ¹

• When speaking to an audience it’s better to fix your gaze on a few people than to “spray” your gaze across the room. Your eyes telegraph to others whether you really believe what you are saying. ¹

• People can’t remember more than 3 points from a speech. ³

IT

• Use a password manager: Safer, easier, better. ¹

• Be a pro. Back up your back up. Have at least one physical backup and one backup in the cloud. Have more than one of each. How much would you pay to retrieve all your data, photos, notes, if you lost them? Backups are cheap compared to regrets. ¹

Travel

• Keep all your things visible in a hotel room, not in drawers, and all gathered into one spot. That way you’ll never leave anything behind. If you need to have something like a charger off to the side, place a couple of other large items next to it, because you are less likely to leave 3 items behind than just one. ¹

• Always read the plaque next to the monument. ¹

• When you arrive at your room in a hotel, locate the emergency exits. It only takes a minute. ¹

• Purchase the most recent tourist guidebook to your home town or region. You’ll learn a lot by playing the tourist once a year. ¹

• If you lose or forget to bring a cable, adapter or charger, check with your hotel. Most hotels now have a drawer full of cables, adapters and chargers others have left behind, and probably have the one you are missing. You can often claim it after borrowing it. ²

• On vacation go to the most remote place on your itinerary first, bypassing the cities. You’ll maximize the shock of otherness in the remote, and then later you’ll welcome the familiar comforts of a city on the way back. ²

Health

• Take the stairs. ¹

• You can eat any dessert you want if you take only 3 bites. ³

Wealth

• Actual great opportunities do not have “Great Opportunities” in the subject line. ¹

• Aim to die broke. Give to your beneficiaries before you die; it’s more fun and useful. Spend it all. Your last check should go to the funeral home and it should bounce. ¹

• Never use a credit card for credit. The only kind of credit, or debt, that is acceptable is debt to acquire something whose exchange value is extremely likely to increase, like in a home. The exchange value of most things diminishes or vanishes the moment you purchase them. Don’t be in debt to losers. ²

• When you are young spend at least 6 months to one year living as poor as you can, owning as little as you possibly can, eating beans and rice in a tiny room or tent, to experience what your “worst” lifestyle might be. That way any time you have to risk something in the future you won’t be afraid of the worst case scenario. ²

• Saving money and investing money are both good habits. Small amounts of money invested regularly for many decades without deliberation is one path to wealth. ²

• When you die you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation. ²

• If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a pyramid scheme. ³

• To be wealthy, accumulate all those things that money can’t buy. ³

• Don’t loan money to a friend unless you are ready to make it a gift. If they are true friend, offer it as a gift at the outset. ³

• All the greatest gains in life — in wealth, relationships, or knowledge —come from the magic of compounding interest — amplifying small steady gains. All you need for abundance is to keep adding 1% more than you subtract on a regular basis. ³

• To succeed, get other people to pay you; to become wealthy, help other people to succeed. ³

• Be frugal in all things, except in your passions splurge. ³

Time

• When you get an invitation to do something in the future, ask yourself: would you accept this if it was scheduled for tomorrow? Not too many promises will pass that immediacy filter. ²

• Be governed not by the tyranny of the urgent but by the elevation of the important. ³

• Your work will be endless, but your time is finite. You cannot limit the work so you must limit your time. Hours are the only thing you can manage. ³

• If your goal does not have a schedule, it is a dream. ³

• Don’t let your email inbox become your to-do list. ³

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References

Footnotes

1. Kevin Kelly - 103 bits of advice ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴² ↩⁴³ ↩⁴⁴ ↩⁴⁵ ↩⁴⁶ ↩⁴⁷ ↩⁴⁸ ↩⁴⁹ ↩⁵⁰ ↩⁵¹ ↩⁵² ↩⁵³ ↩⁵⁴ ↩⁵⁵ ↩⁵⁶ ↩⁵⁷ ↩⁵⁸ ↩⁵⁹ ↩⁶⁰ ↩⁶¹ ↩⁶² ↩⁶³ ↩⁶⁴ ↩⁶⁵ ↩⁶⁶ ↩⁶⁷ ↩⁶⁸ ↩⁶⁹ ↩⁷⁰ ↩⁷¹ ↩⁷² ↩⁷³ ↩⁷⁴ ↩⁷⁵ ↩⁷⁶ ↩⁷⁷ ↩⁷⁸ ↩⁷⁹ ↩⁸⁰

2. Kevin Kelly - 68 bits of advice ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴² ↩⁴³ ↩⁴⁴

3. Kevin Kelly - 99 bits of advice ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴² ↩⁴³ ↩⁴⁴ ↩⁴⁵ ↩⁴⁶ ↩⁴⁷ ↩⁴⁸ ↩⁴⁹ ↩⁵⁰