Thinking Space

Summary:

Fantastic book. Reads as short instructions or modern aphorisms.

Key Takeaways for me :

1. Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.
2. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
3. The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high so even if your effort falls short it may exceed an ordinary success.
4. Whenever you have a choice between being right or being kind be kind. No exceptions. Don’t confuse kindness with weakness.
5. If you ask for someone’s feedback you’ll get a critic. But if instead you ask for advice you’ll get a partner.
6. At first, buy 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.
7. Keep showing up. 99% of success is just showing up. In fact, most success is just persistence.
8. Experience is overrated. Most breakthrough accomplishments were done by people doing them for the first time. Therefore when hiring hire for aptitude and attitude and then train for skills.
9. The foundation of maturity: Just because it’s not your fault doesn’t mean it’s not your responsibility.
10. Calm is contagious, be calm to help others.
11. It is the duty of a teacher to get everything out of a student and the duty of a student to get everything out of a teacher.
12. Speak confidently as if you are right but listen carefully as if you are wrong.
13. Learn how to be alone without being lonely. Solitude is essential for creativity.
14. Half the skill of being educated is learning what you can ignore.
15. 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.
16. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t appreciate you or your work. The only thing that counts is how many do.
17. The real test of your character is not how you deal with adversity— although that will teach you much. The real test is how you deal with power. The only cure for power is humility and the admission that your power comes from luck. The small person believes they are superior; the superior person knows they are lucky.
18. There is no perfection, only progress. Done is much better than perfect.