it's not who i am underneath, but what i do that defines me. every action is a choice and every choice is a sacrifice; sacrifice of what could have been in all other possible parallel universes where i choose the different options. that's the newton's third law, in order to get somewhere, we have to leave sth behind. we have to prioritize one thing over infinite others. there is never enough time/energy/resources for trying/perfecting everything and i have to choose wisely to minimize my accumulated regret. big people make big choices and those who can't sacrifice anything, will earn nothing.
don't make the same mistake twice
experience isn't the amount of times i've been around the sun. it's change. it's learning the patterns and rewriting my neurons. it's walking out of my comfort zone in order to discover more.
not to feel bad about feeling bad
there are many times that i'm down or not in good mood or can't work. there are waves of depression and tiredness that hit me once in a while. maybe i can't help it and they happen any way, but i can keep myself calm about it. i can accept them and just wait in peace until they pass and i start over again.
maslow's rock bottom
i need to take care of my body. maybe this world doesn't suck that much and all i need is an honest night of sleep, a full stomach and energized body from workout.
flame
find, choose or build a passion.
as durov said, i can't wait for it to emerge out of nowhere and then use it to build my life. i have to start doing things and it will appear in the middle of doing things.
gall law
i can't create a complex system like homo sapien all of a sudden out of nowhere. i need to start with a single cell and evolve it bit by bit over time. the same is true for a company, application, routine, relationship or any other complex system.
atomic loop
if you are not sure what project/idea/business to persue, just start with persistence wtih a random thing. choose a simple random idea like learning one new word every day or sending one cold email for advertisement of sth every day or whatever. then fix it in your life and keep it under every circumstance. when you are sad, depressed, tired, have a hadache, ... then try to substitute one piece of it with something more useful. something with more benefit or revenue or more exponential. for example share the new word you're learning or send the cold email for a more challenging but powerful product, ... repeat this atomic loop to infinity. the point is to start with imperfection right away and improve it bit by bit through our persistence.
cold shower
dopamine burst
non zero week / streak
it doesn't matter what is the maximum amount of time/energy i can spend for a goal. what really matters is to not letting the minimum of it to reach zero in any week. even when i'm sick or tired or depressed or super busy, take a tiny baby step toward that goal. if it's not possible, means i should lower the number of goals i'm focusing on or means that i'm not giving yourself enough hobbies and joys to get recharged again.
chill
you can't push yourself to the end of your body limits every day. it doesn't work in long term and you'll eventually burn out. you gotta listen to your body. give it time. attack each task when it's right time for both of you.
separate work with checking social media
for a deep work and staying in the zone, don't check the phone during work. set up certain boundaries.
temp
write down every task, thought, idea that comes to your mind during the day. have a special notebook or text file for it (i use a private telegram channel for it and call it temp, because it's meant for keeping this list temporarily). check this notebook everyday and empty its items by assigning them to one these groups:
- important & urgent: do it today and get rid of it.
- important & !urgent: schedule them for later and write them down in your system. (i'll write about the system later.)
- !important & urgent: if it takes almost zero time, do it write now or delegate it to someone else. if none of those are possible you have to sacrifice it and delete it.
- !important & !urgent: delete it and get rid of it for fucks sake. (or offer it and delegate it to someone else if you think they might like it)
important tasks are ones that have be done or otherwise there will be consequences. !important ones are those that are nice to do, but at the end of the day they are optional.
the point is to empty temp every day, so you empty burdens on your mind every day and process thoughts more easily.
system
main projects of life and tasks/ideas related to each of them, sorted by priority.
many of temp items will go to the system and it doesn't matter how big it's gonna get over time, because always it's gonna be sorted based on priorities on different levels. so we always engage with top of it and find our way to the bottom, as much as we can.
ideas on every level
have ideas for short, mid and long term. if all of your ideas/projects are long term ones you might not succeed or road might get very hard. but if you start with short ones and use earned resources from them for midterm ides, and again use their earned resources for the long term ones. (related: gall's law)
follow your bliss
you can't work on ideas/projects you are not passionate about. choose the ones that directly affect your life or your loved ones lives. otherwise, you'll burn out or lose creativity/happiness/flow in long term.
(inspired by joseph campbell book: power of the myth, chapter IV: sacrifice and bliss)
exponential
choose exponential over linear
choose big longterm gains with a hard start over small shortterm gains with easy start.
exponential games
create games that earn more than they spend.
delegate
try to build systems to delegate tasks over time. the more you be able to delegate them without meaningful drop in quality, the more exponential growth you'll achieve.
win-win
build win-win games. find common goals/paths/benefits with others
watch your debts
not documenting codes properly will lead to technical debts. not communicating enough and saying what's in your mind will lead to social debts.
non zero effort
just take a very teeny tiny step toward the idea. if you remember that you would like to become a sport champion, just try to do one pushup today. if you feel like to quit smoking, just cut the first millimeter from top of the ciggarette in your pocket. if you need to create more powerful friendships, just send a music to a random friend right now. if you want to have a healthier diet, just go open the refrigerator and move the apple a few centimeters forward.
detachment
"When friends ask me for advice, my new default is:
"What would you advise a friend in this situation?"
I listen to their reply and say "that's my advice".
It's often better than anything I could've said because they have more context than me -- they just needed detachment."
last resort
you need a last resort. someone to be able to call and talk to at any momnet. some activity that doing it gives you peace at any momnet. some music/movie/book that helps you get your shit together at any moment.
life is a exchange
money has no benefit on its own. what we actually buy with it is the thing matters.
our asset in life that works like money is time. we can trade it with hobby, work, study, relationships, etc.
some of our trades are long and some are short positions. in trading we make money out of arbitrage. selling assets that are not too valuable for us but they are for others. buying things that others don't care about or have too much, but we crave for.
