Insights

I was telling Standard MBA students in 2009: "The constraints are your friends. Under-do the competition." Fifteen years later, it's still true, and we're still doing just that.

I’ve been mega-obsessed with this feeling.

A year as a 36-year-old seems so much shorter as compared to when I was a kid or even as a teen.

It seems cosmically unfair – we have fewer years to live, and each year flies by faster.

But, why is that happening?

Every Western institution was unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic, despite many prior warnings. This monumental failure of institutional effectiveness will reverberate for the rest of the decade, but it’s not too early to ask why, and what we need to do about it.

Чи ви пам’ятаєте, як нещодавно комп’ютер пройшов тест Тьюрінга? Пропоную розібратись з тим, що таке суперінтелект, чого нам від нього очікувати і куди взагалі ведуть нас сучасні комп’ютерні технології. В цьому дописі переклад відразу 2-х частин статті. Щоб ви були готові — це лонгрід.

Ми на порозі четвертої технологічної революції, але яку можна порівняти лише з виникненням людського життя на Землі. — Vernor Vinge

І як це бути на порозі технологічної революції?

What's an Effective Engineer?

• They are the people who get things done. Effective Engineers produce results.

If you keep working on your strengths, you become unique.

If you keep working on your weaknesses, you become average.

Work with your strengths, delegate your weaknesses.

CREATE before you CONSUME.

Don’t read emails first thing in the morning. Don’t look at your twitter feed. Don’t let distractions interrupt your stream of consciousness.

Grab your cup of coffee and Create.

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been" -Wayne Gretsky

Rich people have nothing in common. They seem totally random.

But powerful people—one thing is absolute: they wake up early every day.

People don't want to get rich, they want not to have to worry about money. We created a society where you can only do that by getting rich.

Собственно говоря, лишь очень немногие живут сегодняшним днем. Большинство готовиться жить позднее. Джонатан Свифт

People overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten

Don’t quit

As you get older, if you’re at all self-aware, you learn two important things about yourself: what you like, and what you’re good at. Anyone who gets to spend his day doing both of those things is a lucky man.

Goal in life is to always be busy.

Busy doing nothing.

“Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty." Tim Ferriss

The only way to get what you want in life is to repeatedly say no to what you don't

In the modern world, don’t minimize your risks - maximize your opportunities

Your ability to simply show up consistently separates you from 99% of competitors.

No one can compete with you on being you.

Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.

The secret to getting rich is the same as the secret to being an outlier in most fields: to enjoy doing things that make one rich.

Не помню, у кого я нашел эту картинку, но 2-3 часа в день на книги это круто. Тем более заставить себя снова и снова перечитывать "основу", а не бегать в поисках shiny new things каждый день.

I’m excited to finally be letting the world know that I’ve moved onto a new opportunity after three years at Toptal. I've founded Integral Labs, a company that will allow me to work more closely with many companies on a variety of projects. For those wondering, I'll still be fully remote.

While this article touches on my personal thoughts and experiences, I hope it’ll provide a framework for others looking to make important and often difficult career decisions, in a world where change is the only constant.

One of my favorite soundbites is: if it hurts, do it more often. It has the happy property of seeming nonsensical on the surface, but yielding some valuable meaning when you dig deeper

Apple’s last quarter was the second most profitable quarter of any company ever in US history. Only ExxonMobile topped them slightly in 2008 when oil was at an all-time high. That’s an astounding and awe-inspiring accomplishment.

Люси — представитель поколения Y: людей, рожденных в конце 70-х — начале 90-х годов. Сейчас им по 20-30 лет, они закончили вузы и теперь работают. Если они работают в большом городе и занимаются интеллектуальным трудом, их называют «Юппи» — young urban professionals, молодые трудоустроенные горожане. Люси как раз такая.

Один венгерский профессор психологии написал нескольким известным людям запросы на интервью для своей книги про творческих людей. Его удивило то, сколько из них ответили твердым отказом.

“I’d love to start a company / become a great programmer / write an awesome blog, but there’s just not enough time in the day!” Bullshit. There’s always enough time, you’re just not spending it right.

Now that’s some tough love, but I’m sick and tired of hearing “no time” as an excuse for why you can’t be great. It really doesn’t take that much time to get started, but it does take wanting it really bad. Most people just doesn’t want it bad enough and protect their ego with the excuse of time.

Over the years, we’ve all encountered our fair share of successes and failures. As I’ve acquired more of both under my name, I’ve started to contemplate which experiences were truly “great” and why.

The ultimate productivity hack is saying no.

Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This statement reminds me of the old computer programming saying, “Remember that there is no code faster than no code.”

Steve Jobs was clearly a very smart man, without a lot of empathy for lesser beings. So is he saying “Everything was made up by people no smarter than Steve Jobs”, or does he actually mean it that the average world/company/industry leader really is no smarter than you?

If you’re like me, you’re maybe a jobbing dev taking on contracts and occasionally your own gigs (and by-and-large this works out OK) but maybe you secretly hate yourself for being terrible at estimation, and wish you were better at it.

If that sounds like you, read on!

The advice I find I have to give more frequently than any other in my career as a manager, a board member, an advisor, and a friend is for people to more directly leverage their leaders.

It is not the most intelligent who succeed, but the most determined.

Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy.

There is only one state of mind that makes you a successful entrepreneur:

Problem solving.

No one is going to pay you what you’re worth. You have to start a company.

Discipline is a cheat code to life

Being easily offended means you're easily manipulated.

If you want to be taken seriously, show, don't tell.

The day you normalize 4 hours of focused work a day is the day your life will completely change.

Promote yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.

We think a lot about those black lines, forgetting that it’s all still in our hands.

Don't talk to me about self love if you don't care for your body.

You’re not going to get rich renting out your time.

You must own equity, a piece of a business - to gain your financial freedom

Someone with half your IQ is making 10x as you because they aren't smart enough to doubt themselves.

If you have young children, 5AM is one of the only times you can get deep work done. No one is awake, and it’s silent. And no notifications from family/friends.

Is 5AM a requirement for success? No, but that’s when I get my best work done every day.

The minute you launch your startup you're more successful than 99.99% of other entrepreneurs because most people never get that far.

90% know what to do. 10% actually go and do it. 1% continue for long enough to win.

My desk setup to stay motivated building a startup for 4 years.

Перше правило стартапа: краще одна задача в статусі done ніж чотири задачі в статусі almost done

The productivity system that makes me $1M/year:

(steal this)

1. Open apple notes.
2. Add the tasks that need to get done today.
3. Do them.

Неймовірно, як часто талановиті підприємці настільки сильно сумніваються у своїх досягненнях, що поступаються місцем тим, хто вміє голосно кричати про себе.

99% of your productivity relies on your ability to prioritize and then focus.

"Everyone talks about how if you went back in time, some tiny change could make everything different now, but no one talks about how some tiny change now could make everything different in the future."

— 14 yo

Steve Jobs' email to himself 13 months before he died... Hard work leads to accomplishment leads to humility

Anyone can steal your idea, but no one can steal your execution.

Go solo Take 100% ownership Pay people if you need them Avoid drama

If you launch and no one notices, launch again. We launched 3 times.

Make things that you wish existed.

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” ― Aristotle

STOP wishing and START doing!

"Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming." - Richard Branson

Make friends ...

✅ Inside your industry to help each other, share ideas, and know people who can actually relate to you/your situation

✅ Outside your industry to share experiences, temper your ideas, and remind yourself there's a huge world outside your little corner of it

Criticism is easy. Creating something worth criticizing is the hard part.

Remember, mondays are fine. It's your life that sucks.

"It's never too late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot

If you never try, you'll never know.

When you say "Thank god it's Friday", I hear "I hate my job".

no one is gonna give it to you. you gotta take it.

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. - Bill Cosby

“The most precious resource we all have is time.” - SJ. Remembering you always.

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”―Eleanor Roosevelt

Busy is a new stupid

There's always better. There's always faster. There's always more. But there will never be another now.

If you don't build your dreams, someone will hire you to build theirs.