Narratives & Concepts – 2021

This is dense. It’s worth the time, I promise. I’d encourage one a day for a few weeks. I chose 25 out of thousands of notes jotted. These will move you. If you find any or a lot of this interesting, highly encourage you to listen to Tim Ferriss’s podcast, follow Naval Ravikant, listen to ‘Greenlights’, and set aside more time for yourself for discovery and learning in 2022. Enjoy…

1. Bitcoin is an exit from the Fed. DeFi is an exit from Wall St. Social media is an exit from mass media. Homeschooling is an exit from industrial education. Remote work is an exit from 9-5. Creator economy is an exit from employment. Individuals are leaving institutions.

2. I said: what about my eyes?He said: Keep them on the road.I said: What about my passion?He said: Keep it burning.I said: What about my heart?He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?I said: Pain and sorrow.He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”― Attributed to Rumi

3. As entrepreneurs, we’re always looking ahead. We’re always focused on the exciting future in front of us rather than the negative past behind us because we assume the future is where growth happens and we can impact it by our choices.

In reflecting on this past year, however, I’ve realized that it’s not our future that’s exciting. The future is, in fact, always normal. It’s the past that offers the real excitement.

Think about it: Any future, no matter how great it seems when you imagine it ahead of time, becomes normal when you actually get there. So many of the things we take for granted today were still on the drawing board 10 years ago. That includes Zoom, which was new and exciting and even a little bit scary at the start of the pandemic, but is now an essential part of our lives.

The future becomes normal so quickly. But the past gets more exciting every day because it represents a change or improvement you made that took you from one point to another, better point.

Yet our expectations of the future are always high. We demand that it transform us. We expect that, when we achieve something or get to a certain level of success, we will be a transformed human being. But when we get there, we’re just normal.

That inevitably leads to disappointment, so we then assume that the next future will be the exciting one. We need it to be, because that’s the only way we can escape our past.

The thing is, the transformation we’re looking for is actually the comparison of our present with our past. It happens backwards. It’s about having a negative experience and transforming it into something positive. It’s about getting confronted with something painful, scary, and uncomfortable, and developing new capabilities and courage that take us in a new direction.

The only way to escape this cycle of expectation and disappointment, then, is to look at how far you’ve come rather than where you hope to be.  When we take a few minutes out of our day to think about and write down our progress and achievements, and the ways we can expand on them, it raises our energy levels and puts us in a more productive and confident frame of mind. If you do this for a month, I guarantee you’ll see a huge shift in your perspective—and your confidence.

4. Cave process: sitting in a space that is empty enough to get away from the inertia or reactivity of where were coming from

5. The idea is not to “do what you love”, rather its about finding that intersection between your skills, talents and passion; your skills are something you can work at and make progress when you practice; your talent is something your born with, an inherent ability; passion is something youre interested in; when your skills and talents match up, you can start to find something you are passionate about; the notions that winners never quit is flawed, it does a disservice to people bc it discourages us from trying new things bc fear of not liking it or failure; good reasons for quitting are you ive identified an upper limit of your ability or cant beat the competition; wrong reason is quitting because youve encountered resistance

6. If you want to have a highly functioning democracy, you need to teach ppl about the country’s history and have an informed citizenry, thats what the founding fathers believed; right now we don’t teach civics or about American history in our academic institutions; recent survey, 2/3 of Americans couldn’t name 3 branches of the Government; 49/50 states majority of citizens could not pass the basic citizenship test required to become a citizen

7. The key to being successful is being able to find quick, easy, and cheap ways to test out your ideas and iterate. One of the keys to entrepreneurship is courage. You have to have the confidence and be willing to walk away from sure mediocrity to bet everything on the long shot of success. “The Canada Principal” – The real key is picking the 2 or 3 things that are most important and allocate all of your resources to them and that if you get those right, nothing else matters; and avoid distractions and focusing on things that are easy but wont move the needle “Scraping the barnacles off the hole” – constantly trying new things and slowly but surely adding new features that enhance your business If you’re gonna take on a new commitment, what are you gonna stop doing? When you set boundaries people will learn to figure things out on their own and realize that they can do more than they give themselves credit for Life is about what works for you. Business is secondary. You can have all the money in the world but if you don’t have strong relationships or not doing what makes you happy when you’re not at work, whats the point? Most people have tons of great ideas and never act on them

8. “How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races–the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses. Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are only princesses waiting for us to act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

9. The Hero’s Journey of our lives takes us from believing that we are what our parents or society told us we are or what we imbue from our culture to shedding that and finally finding out who we really are 

10. The first half of life is finding our identity and establishing ourselves, creating the vessel that is our lives (Hero’s journey), 2nd half of our lives is filling that vessel up (the Artist’s journey); art meaning anything thats a contribution to the world, Richard Rohr 

11. The whale breathes fire in Pinnocchio. Why is that? Because it’s a dragon. Why? Because thats what humans are. We’re creatures that face the dragon. The dragon can burn you to a crisp but it has what you need. That’s the world. It will burn you up, but it has what you need. So how do you stop yourself from getting burned up and getting what you need? You mold yourself into the hero

12. Gandhi – first fought for his rights in S Africa during Apartheid because they wouldn’t let him on the train even though he had a ticket and every right to be there, stayed and fought for 23 years, went to jail and eventually won and got the law changed – this led to the only poem he ever wrote (“reducing oneself to zero”); he then fought against the British Empire for Indias freedom and figured out that their control of salt was the most important single thing towards wielding power; freed 300mm people, now 1B people; all he wanted to do was pursue his essential mission

13. Instead of placing blame on capitalism or socialism or other things can we focus on the values? What are we trying to solve? And then can we pullback and find the way to use tools we have to solve these problems

14. Grace is spiritual WD-40; Grace meets you exactly where you are and then doesnt leave you where it found you…tricks you into getting in a wheelbarrow and rolls you to where theres some light

15. It turns out that when I graduated from high school, I had already used up 93% of my in-person parent time. I’m now enjoying the last 5% of that time. We’re in the tail end.

It’s a similar story with my two sisters. After living in a house with them for 10 and 13 years respectively, I now live across the country from both of them and spend maybe 15 days with each of them a year. Hopefully, that leaves us with about 15% of our total hangout time left.

The same often goes for old friends. In high school, I sat around playing hearts with the same four guys about five days a week. In four years, we probably racked up 700 group hangouts. Now, scattered around the country with totally different lives and schedules, the five of us are in the same room at the same time probably 10 days each decade. The group is in its final 7%.

So what do we do with this information?

Setting aside my secret hope that technological advances will let me live to 700, I see three takeaways here:

• Living in the same place as the people you love matters. I probably have 10X the time left with the people who live in my city as I do with the people who live somewhere else.
• Priorities matter. Your remaining face time with any person depends largely on where that person falls on your list of life priorities. Make sure this list is set by you—not by unconscious inertia.
• Quality time matters. If you’re in your last 10% of time with someone you love, keep that fact in the front of your mind when you’re with them and treat that time as what it actually is: precious

16. “It is inevitable if you enter into relations with people on a regular basis…that you will grow to be like them. Place an extinguished piece of coal next to a live one, and either it will cause the other one to die out, or the live one will make the other reignite. … If you consort with someone covered in dirt you can hardly avoid getting a little grimy yourself.” — EpictetusWe unconsciously become what we are near. If you work for a jerk, sooner or later you will become one yourself. If your colleagues are selfish, sooner or later you become selfish. If you hang around someone who is unkind, you will slowly become unkind.Few things are more important in life than avoiding the wrong people. It’s tempting to think that we’re strong enough to avoid adopting the worst of others. But that’s not how it typically works. The changes are too gradual to notice until they are too large to address.Over a long enough timeline, bad people eventually destroy themselves. They ignore relevant data because it doesn’t agree with them, they take unwarranted risks, they end up alone, without any friends. They might achieve external success, but they lack inner calmness and clarity.Just as you watch what you put into your body or your mind, closely look at who you spend your time with. Are they kind? Are they honest? Are they thoughtful? Are they helping you or pulling you down? Are they reliable? Are they clear thinking? In short, are they the things you want to become? If not, don’t tempt fate, cut bate.Distance yourself from the people you don’t want to become. Cultivate people in your life that make you better. People whose default behavior is your desired behavior. If circumstances make this difficult, choose among the eminent dead.

17. When I read about clashes around the world–political clashes, economic clashes, cultural clashes–I am reminded that it within our power to build a bridge to be crossed.  Even if my neighbor doesn’t understand my religion or understand my politics, he can understand my story.  If he can understand my story, then he’s never too far from me.  It is always within my power to build a bridge.  There is always a chance for reconciliation, a chance that one day he and I will sit around a table together and put an end to our history of clashes. And on this day, he will tell me his story and I will tell him mine. – Paulo Coelho, 2014, ‘The Alchemist’

18. What you need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. Thats the point at which most people give up. Its the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’ Every search begins with beginners luck. And every search ends with the victors being severely tested. – The Alchemist, The darkest hour of the night comes just before the dawn.

19. Byron Katie – ‘The Work’ on dispelling narratives and beliefs; a belief is a thought we take to be true; the beliefs are what create the stress and anxiety
Is this belief true?
Can you absolutely know it’s true?
Whats it like when you really believe that you’re right?
What would it be like if you just couldn’t believe it?
Can we go look at the opposite…you can hold your righteous stories but can we at least look at the opposites as at least as true so we can get the mind to neutral?
Use movement and breath to handle your blood and brain chemistry before you do this to relax your nervous systemWere trying to get the mind to recognize that if both can be true and therefore both are not true, then what are we left with
What smart people are doing on the weekends is what the rest on the world will be doing in 10 years from now

20. Jerry Colonna (w/ Tim Ferriss) on Sabbaticals – Build business/revenue projections based on having X months off per year Give employees increased vacation/sabbatical time as part of their bonus/compensation Don’t turn the sabbatical into another round of self criticism; The people you love always get responded to Sleep, eat and rest well + exercise your mind w new book or something; spend time w family or close friends; Pattern of sabbaticals done right = resting mind and body and taking care of both NOT GOING WELL = load up w expectations Number one rule in sabbatical = SABBATH = rest – the body, the mind, the heart need rest; don’t try to make sabbatical PRODUCTIVE; a holy time for those who are exhausted to rest; be excessively gentle with yourself; rest is turning brain off, bringing heart rate down Its all of the emotional load that we put into the notion of productivity that exacerbates the stress and tension that causes us to need the rest in the first place. “Free-floating anxiety” How am I complicit in creating the conditions I say I don’t want?  What benefit to I get from the conditions I say I dont want? The side effect of the excitement from investing is the associated complexities; the opposite of excitement is boredom The proclivity to be uncomfortable with hot boredom is not DNA, its programming, its nurture, are we afraid of boredom bc were afraid of being alone w our own thoughts Is boredom bad? Being busy keeps us from having to feel our feelings and be alone w our thoughts; family systems can reject feelings, not just individuals Cold boredom is like seeing a bird flying by and finding it interesting; thats the mind resting

21. ‘Greenlights’ – Noise-Signal Ratio, Solitude & “Walkabouts” — we are unnaturally bombarded by constant stimuli–we need to put ourselves in places of decreased sensory input so we can hear the background of our psychological processes; as the noise decreases the signals become clear, we can hear ourselves again
Because our unconscious mind has room to reveal itself, we see it again — it dreams, perceives, and thinks in pictures which we can now observe — in our solitude we then begin to think in pictures and actualize what we see–our souls become anonymous again and we realize we are stuck with the one person we can never get rid of, ourselves
Now with nowhere to run and forced to deal with ourselves, our ugly everyday self impressions break out of the zoo and monkey around where we find ourselves in the ring with them deciding either no more or to let it slide.
Whatever the verdict, we grow; we tend to ourselves and get back into our good graces and then we return to civilization better able to tend to our tendencies because we took a walkabout

22. ‘Greenlights’ – The Truth – first, we have to put ourselves in the right place to receive the truth; the noisy world with its commitments, deadlines and to do lists make it hard to get clarity so we have to consciously put ourselves in place to receive clarity.  Then, after we’re in place to hear the gospel and music, we have to be aware enough to receive it, conscious enough to recognize it. IT will arrive nameless because it is clear, omnipresent, and imminent–usually lands like a butterfly, quick and quiet; when we let it in, it needs no introduction, then the relationship can begin–we need the presence to personalize it–this is where the anonymous truth gets intimate and becomes autonomous–we ask ourselves what it means and why its here now; then comes the harder part–having the patience to preserve it, getting it from intellect into our bones, soul and instinct; we must pay attention to it–it takes time and commitment and if we make it this far, then comes the cous de gras–having the courage to live it–actually walk away from that place where it found us, take the truth with us into the screaming arena of our daily lives, practice it and make it an active part of who we are, then we are on our way to heaven on earth…what we want becomes what we need OR what we need is what we want

23. ‘Greenlights’ – Success – define it for yourself…even our cultural values have been financialized; humility is not in vogue anymore, it’s too passive; the question we need to ask ourselves is what is success to us? continue to ask yourself that question–how are you prosperous?  what is your relevance?  your answer may change over time and thats fine, but whatever your answer is, don’t choose anything that would jeopardize your soul; prioritize who you are, who you want to be, and dont spend time with anything that antagonizes your character; dont depend on drinking the kool-aid, its popular — tastes sweet today but will give you cavities tomorrow; life is not a popularity contest, be brave, take the hill…but first answer the question, what’s my hill?

24. ‘Greenlights’ – Double down on what feeds you, create more green lights to pass through and eliminate yellow and red lights; give the green lights more power to shine by learning to live

25. ‘Greenlights’ – The best path is one that leads us to having more values and competence, values are not only guiding principles and fundamental ethics that bring people together; when we are competent at our values and place more value on competence, we create a more valuable society and that means more return on our investment, ourselves

I haven’t made all A’s the art of living, but I give a damn and I’ll take an experienced C over an ignorant A any day; ive always believed that the science of satisfactions is about learning when and how to get a handle on the challenges we face in life; when you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze, when youre stuck in the storm, pray for luck and make the best of it

We all have scars and we’re gonna get more so rather than struggle against time and waste it, lets dance time and redeem it because we dont live longer when we try not to die, we live longer when we’re too busy living

Life is our resume, it is our story to tell and the choices we make write the chapters; can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back? Inevitably, we are going to die…begin with the end in mind.

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