• Knowledge is Attainable

    Knowledge is Attainable

    Knowledge is attainable. If you are willing to put in the time to learn, you can become an expert in just about anything. Books is your best way to start. Elon Musk has a famous quote on this… whenever anyone asks him how, with no engineering background, he learned to build space rockets, this is his three-word answer: “I read books.”

    I learned this lesson early. My dad, a MIT physicist, used to have no mercy on me as a kid when we played chess. He would destroy me every game. I got so mad once that I decided I was going to spend the entire summer between my freshman and sophomore year studying the game. I read every book I could get my hands on. I remember my dad would come home from work with countless pages made by his copier at work scanned from chess books. Well, by the end of the summer the tables had turned and it was me who was mercilessly beating him at chess. After that summer, he didn’t want to play chess much any more. And I learned a lesson that has been serving me ever since: You can get really good at stuff just by reading books.

    (change this image to playing chess with Dad)

  • Marriage

    Marriage

    Marry the right person – this one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
    Also realize that you are marrying that person’s family. I didn’t realize how important this is and really lucked out that your mom’s family is AWESOME. If they weren’t, it would have been really tough given how much time we all spend together.

  • While Taking Risk, Protect the Downside

    Always take measures to protect the downside. This applies to all areas of your life, and has been most relevant to me with my startups.
    Entrepreneurs are typically portrayed as reckless risk takers… the fact is entrepreneurs are some of the best people at taking calculated risk while protecting their downside. The best entrepreneurs don’t dive headfirst without looking… they prepare for multiple scenarios and get creative in ways to protect the downside of what they are doing. You can do this with financial investments,

    Said another way: Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

  • On Becoming a Millionaire

    On Becoming a Millionaire

    Become a millionaire, but not for the money. For what it will make of you to achieve it. – Jim Rohn
    Greatest value of your activities is not what you get. It’s what you become.
    The flip side of this is beware of what you become in pursuit of what you want.
  • Don’t Wish It Was Easier. Wish You Were Better.

    Don’t Wish It Was Easier. Wish You Were Better.

  • Deciding What You Want to Do

    Deciding What You Want to Do

    Sam Altman: “If you can’t figure out what kind of work you like, pay attention to what’s easy to concentrate on and gives you energy vs. what makes you tune out and feel tired. Sounds obvious but remains some of the best advice I ever got.”

  • Patience

    Patience

    Patience makes time your greatest asset. It will work for you, not against you.

    Saw this on Twitter: The greatest threat to results is impatience. If you let it, a tiny daily advantage will compound into a massive generational one. A lack of patience changes the outcome.

  • Friends

    Friends

    Who am I around? What are they doing to me? Is that okay?

    Friends are such a major influence on your life and what happens to you.

    You are the sum of your five closest friends.

  • Advice to a Young Leader

    Advice to a Young Leader

    I was a young leader. I was the president of my high school and college. I was an officer in the Air Force and put in charge of 23 people… at only 22 years old. I made a lot of mistakes, and if I could go back and give some advice to my younger self, this is what I would say:

    A title is not authority. Just because you are “in charge” doesn’t mean you are actually in charge. If you want to lead, you have to earn credibility over time, especially if you’re a young leader. How do you earn credibility and followers?

    • Capable – learn how to do your job extremely well – this will earn you respect
    • Committed – be in it for the long haul
    • Open minded – realize you may not be right and be open to other approaches as you learn
    • Humble – defer to the more experienced people around you and openly recognize that you are learning and don’t have all of the answers
    • Patient – young people typically want results overnight. Realize success and progress can take time
    • Curious – ask a lot of questions and learn why things work the way they do
    • Passion – young people are also passionate – don’t be shy or embarrassed about this, it’s one of you best tools to rally other people around you
    • Don’t Judge – be slow to form opinions and judgements about those around you. While someone may not fit your ideal mold for something, it doesn’t mean s/he can’t contribute to the overall success of the team.
  • Be a Finisher

    Be a Finisher

    When you choose to start something, you have to train yourself to also finishing it. It is one choice, not two. You chose to start this, so you also chose to finish it.

    This was a hard lesson for me to learn and profoundly important in pretty much every aspect of my life. My friends used to joke that I was a “parallel” entrepreneur because I started two or three companies at the same time. I would take on any project without giving much thought to how I would finish it, or how I might be overwhelmed in the pursuit of too many goals. I ended up scattered and unfocused, just trying to keep up with the demands that I signed up for. It was an unsatisfactory life and taught me a crucial lesson. If I didn’t escape this trap, it would have doomed me to a mediocre life.