June 2009
2 posts
Lucky Or Smart?: Fifty Pages for the First-Time...
The number-one killer of start-ups is when entrepreneurs confuse
“being lucky” with “being smart.” you must possess the humility to
distinguish one from the other.
you can create a company that gets lucky more often than your average
company. Indeed, there is a pseudo-scientific formula for creating
business luck. And the key element is this: Lucky things happen to
entrepreneurs who start...
When Good People Have Affairs: Inside the Hearts &...
We tend to look for what’s “right” or what’s “best.” But when things are murky, the only solution is to take things one step at a time, and make sure that with each step you ask yourself what you can do that’s least likely to lead to regret. Then things are most likely to turn out okay.
So here’s the radar-fixing question for you:
Imagine the...
March 2009
1 post
Against the Odds: An Autobiography
On James Dyson, inventor of Dyson Vacuum cleaners
7: it is only be remaining as close as possible to the pure function of the object that beauty can be achieved.
7: Anyone can become an expert in anything in six months.
7: After the idea, there is plenty of time to learn the technology.
38: the only way to make a genuine breakthrough is to pursue a vision with a single-minded...
February 2009
2 posts
In Spite of the Gods
book rec: arthashastra (the science of wealth)
242: on india’s first cricket match vs. pakistan, in karachi: “every indian i met said he had been treated like a long-ost brother; shopkeepers had refused to accept their cash; taxi-drivers had declined fares; hotels were waiving bills; and people kept approaching them on the streets to offer sweets and other small gifts. ‘it...
Personal Development For Smart People
Personal Development for smart people
TRUTH
7: In order to grow, you must repeatedly tackle fresh challenges and consider new ideas to give your mind resh input. If you merely repeat the same experiences, you’ll stagnate, and your mental capacity will atrophy.
7: Excessive routine is the enemy of intelligence.
7: Think about where your life is headed and and yourself “how do i...
January 2009
2 posts
The Future of Management
14: Max Weber has been dead for 90 years, but control, precision, stability, discipline, and reliability - the traits he saluted in his anthem to beaureacracy - are still the canonical views of modern management.
23: Toyota’s capacity for continuous improvement has been powered by a belief in the ability of “ordinary” employees to solve complex problems. In 2005, the company...
Man's Search For Meaning
more thoughts on MSFM. The biggest takeways for me:
* nobody can take away your ability to choose how you respond to any situation
* he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how - meaning is fucking important!
* there is potential for meaning in any moment - meaning is not something up in the clouds. your reaction to the moment can activate that potential… or not.
* man is...
May 2008
2 posts
Mating in Captivity
Chapter 1 Thesis: Can we have love and desire in same relationship over time? How? What would that relationship be?
- Challenge for modern couples lies in reconciling need for what’s safe and predictable with wish to pursue what’s exciting, mysterious, and awe-inspiring.
- Modern life has deprived us of traditional resources, and has created situation in which we turn to one...
Stumbling on Happiness
We have brains that allow us to predict the future
We predict the future based on past memories
BUT our past memories are falliable: we tend to fill in details in our memories - we remember things not as they actually happened, but as we think they happened when we think about them in the future.
AND we predict poorly because
1. we fill in details that will never come to pass (we are...
April 2008
1 post
Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage
6: marriage existed to speak to the needs of the larger group. it converted strangers into relatives and extended cooperative relations beyond immediate family or small band by creating far-flung networks of in-laws.
9: for centuries marriage did much of the work that markets and gov’ts do today. organized production and distribution of goods and people. set up political, economic, and...
January 2008
2 posts
Eat Pray Love
Getting out of a marriage is tough… it’s the emotional recoil that kills you, the shock of stepping off the track of a conventional lifestyle and losing all the embracing comforts that keep so many people on the track forever. To create a family with a spouse is one of the most fundamental ways a person can find continuity and meaning in any society. Claiming children as one’s...
The Unhooked Generation
many of my unhooked singles wanted to “do their own thing” and expected love and relationships to be on their schedule, on their terms, and to come without too much personal sacrifice. this is fine if you are happy to remain single, but if you want intimacy, this won’t work. the dopamine level one’s brain receives depends less on the experience itself than on one’s...