(Excerpt from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) While a definitely optimistic future would need engineers to design underwater cities and settlements in space, an indefinitely optimistic future calls for more bankers and...
(Excerpt from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) Instead of working for years to build a new product, indefinite optimists rearrange already-invented ones. Bankers make money by rearranging the capital structures of already...
(Excerpt from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) A definite pessimist believes the future can be known, but since it will be bleak, he must prepare for it. Perhaps surprisingly, China is probably the most definitely...
(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) You’ve probably heard about “first mover advantage”: if you’re the first entrant into a market, you can capture significant market share while competitors...
(Extracted from Zero to One by Peter Thiel) You can expect the future to take a definite form or you can treat it as hazily uncertain. If you treat the future as something definite, it makes sense to understand it in...
(Extracted from Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb) One of the best traders I have ever encountered in my life, Nigel Babbage, has the remarkable attribute of being completely free of any path dependence in his...
(Extracted from Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb) There is another type of satisfaction provided by the option seller. It is the steady return and the steady feeling of reward—what psychologists call flow. It...
(Extracted from Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker) The study came up with four metrics that matter most: 1. HAPPINESS: having feelings of pleasure or contentment in and about your life 2....
(Extracted from Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker) If you go to a buffet and the buffet is organized in one way, you will eat one thing. If it’s organized in a different way, you’ll eat different things....
(Extracted from Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker) Most of us use our calendars all wrong: we don’t schedule work; we schedule interruptions. Meetings get scheduled. Phone calls get scheduled. Doctor...
