Agency, earnestness, and integrity are all in short order.
Why is this? I think we have a culture of putting off dreams for later by preparing ourselves
through experience (analyze -> act) rather
than one of
maximizing hits at bat (act -> analyze). The issue with the former is that it is impossible to
have complete information on most important things.
Earnestness is an honest form of charisma, and it needs to be earned, not learned. You earn
confidence through setting goals and
self-actualization.
Society as a whole has a deep, deep problem with a lack of integrity. Being honest with one's
flaws is the only way to recognize and grow past weaknesses.
Spending time with students at other schools and those older/younger than you (± 3 years) really
opens your eyes. Easy way to escape local homogeneity.
Most advice is just a series of Forer
statements. Sounds useful, pretty useless in reality.
I'm not entirely convinced about the Five
Chimps Theory. More generally, it makes more sense that
you are a linear
combination of the five people you spend time with it. You probably have more control of the
coefficients than you
believe.
We should dramatically scale up genius grants.
First appearances matter. Maintain an enjoyable workout schedule, attempt to dress well, and
generally eat healthy.
You should be doing everything to maximize your energy throughout the day. Avoid carbs + supplement
with caffeine, vitamin D, more than enough sleep, and some form of exercise.
The only way to develop information asymmetry is to either be early (throgh some kind of in-group)
or be willing to dig through books/essays/podcasts/classes/etc. that others are ignoring.
It's often better to make a poor decision quickly than the best decision too late. You can always
correct course with more information, but you can't get back time.
Sillyness and eccentricity is severely underrated. The world needs more whimsy.