A few smart things I wrote on index cards last month [#87]

Monday, 10:48. The newsletter needs to go out at 12:05. I've been working on a long piece (called The Generalyst Manifesto), and it's just not ready to be sent yet. More refining necessary.

Skipping the newsletter? Not an option.

So I grabbed a few index cards from my box of ideas, and wanted to share the best ones with you. No structure, just gold. Hope you enjoy:

1. When you compete against others, no one helps you. When you compete against yourself, everybody does. Life isn't a zero-sum game. When you find your why and only use yourself as yardstick, people will support and follow you. (Simon Sinek)
2. Build a reputation for figuring it out. At any given point in your career, you'll be given a bunch of tasks that you have no idea how to do. There are few things more valuable than a person who can figure out these tasks. (Sahil Bloom)
3. Injured and hurt are different things. Injured is physical. Hurt is mental. When you're injured, your outlook is bright; you're in control of your recovery. When you're hurt, you're not.
4. Delegate to the future you. I like to say: "that's the problem of the Dominik of tomorrow." Somehow, this is super helpful to expend less mental energy on a problem that I can't solve right now anyway. Helps to be in the moment.
5. People aren't incompetent, they're uninterested. If your job doesn't interest you, you'll always be outperformed by someone who is. So find something you're interested in, and you'll perform well. (Matt Mochary)
6. If you don't know which career path to take, it's due to ignorance. You don't know what makes you happy. You don't know what types of work you like. You don't know how well you could do them. (Paul Graham)
7. Stay on the bus. When you begin something new, you quickly realize that others have done this before. They've been on the same bus. If you get off and go back to the station, you'll go the same way as others over and over again. The answer is to stay on it for longer, and you'll discover spots that are less known. Keep doing what you're doing. (Tim Duggan)
8. To change yourself, change your identity first. I only became an elite athlete once I adopted the identity of "national team player", and always asked myself: "what would a national team player do?" Then, do the thing that your identity tells you to. Do that for a while, and you'll become that person.
9. The bought status test. If you couldn't tell anyone about this thing, would you still buy it? If yes → buy it. If no, it's a status play.
10. The earned status test. Could the richest person in the world buy this today? If not, then you've earned it (eg. the richest person in the world couldn't buy an instant six pack.)
11. The Creativity Faucet. Your creativity is like a backed-up pipe of water. First, the wastewater must go before the clear water arrives. Start writing out everything on your mind; once the bad ideas are gone, strong ones will arrive. (Julian Shapiro)
12. Never think twice about investing in yourself. Doesn't matter whether it's education, fitness, sleep, personal development, mental health, experiences, quality food – your ROI won't be higher investing elsewhere.
13. Sell like a doctor. When you go to the doctor's office, they don't welcome you with the words: "here, I think you should take this 800mg ibuprofen pill, it's the best one out there; fantastic price, too"; they ask: "where does it hurt?" Sell accordingly.
14. More ideas = access to better ideas. The more ideas you generate, the higher the probability that you'll hit something good. Ideate without constraints, and you might just crate a breakthrough.
15. Pessimists are usually right. Optimists change the world. When in doubt, always be an optimist.

Enjoyed this? There's many, many more where those ideas came from:

Let me know if you'd like to see more random collections of ideas from this box. Simply send me an email, and maybe include your favorite idea of the last month too.

Next week, I'm confident I can finally release the Generalyst Manifesto. It's probably one of the best pieces I've written recently. Sign up now to not miss it.

Have a great week.

LFG. 🔥

PS: How increased affordable housing might be able to solve most of our society's problems.