Becoming a Magician on how to become a person that your current self would perceive as magical. (archive)
Beginner's Guide to Arguing Constructively is an interesting article on how to treat arguments as an opportunity to expand knowledge, finding points of disagreement, and collaborating towards a common truth. (archive)
Betting on Things That Never Change by Morgan Housel. In the last 100 years we've gone from horses to jets and mailing letters to video facetime. You can make big, long-term bets on these things that never things, because there's no chance people will stop caring about them in the future. But every sustainable business is accompanied by one of a handful of timeless strategies — read on. (archive)
Don't End The Week With Nothing is an interesting article by Patrick McKenzie for the entrepreneurial mindset who wants meaning and outsized returns from their efforts. The idea is to work on things you can show, where people can see you, and to work on things you can own. (archive)
Don’t Shave That Yak! by Seth Godin. Yak Shaving is the last step of a series of steps that occurs when you find something you need to do. “I want to wax the car today.” Which is why solo entrepreneurs and small organizations are so much more likely to get stuff done. They have fewer yaks to shave. The minute you start walking down a path toward a yak shaving party, it’s worth making a compromise. Doing it well now is much better than doing it perfectly later. (archive)
Nobody Cares by Ben Horowitz. When things go wrong in your company, nobody cares. The press doesn’t care, your investors don’t care, your board doesn’t care, your employees don’t care, even your mama doesn’t care. Nobody cares. (archive)
Paul Graham has some pretty great essays, especially for founders and entrepreneurs.
Keep Your Identity Small If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible. (archive)
The Right Kind of Stubborn (archive) - persistence and obstinance are seemingly similar to an outsider. The difference between persistence and obstinance is that obstinant people feel that every step on the path to solving the problem is a moment where they may be judged and found wanting. Persistent people give themselves enough grace to make mistakes along the way, take in advice from others, and explore dead ends.
Seeking Advice in Startups is a simple article yet powerful advice. If you have the option or luxury of picking advisors, then find Expert Advisors with a reflective method. (archive)
The Art of Money Getting by PT Barnum is from the 1880s but still valid and holds true today in ways that can help you kickstart shaping your life’s finances from an early age. (archive)
The Idea Maze (archive) simplifies the idea that the Idea do matter. A good startup ideas are well developed, multi-year plans that contemplate many possible paths according to how the world changes.
The Most Precious Resource is Agency (archive). Most people live their lives never questioning the scripts that are given to them. Gaining agency is gaining the capacity to do something differently from, or in addition to, the events that simply happen to you.