Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life. They can be applied again and again in similar situations to help you achieve your goals. (Location 68)
Having a good set of principles is like having a good collection of recipes for success. (Location 72)
To be principled means to consistently operate with principles that can be clearly explained. (Location 74)
If you can think for yourself while being open-minded in a clearheaded way to find out what is best for you to do, and if you can summon up the courage to do it, you will make the most of your life. (Location 90)
People who have shared values and principles get along. People who don’t will suffer through constant misunderstandings and conflicts. (Location 97)
I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well. By failing well, I mean being able to experience painful failures that provide big learnings without failing badly enough to get knocked out of the game. (Location 113)
how invaluable it is to reflect on and write down my decision-making criteria whenever I made a decision, so I got in the habit of doing that. (Location 131)
The most important thing is that you develop your own principles and ideally write them down, especially if you are working with others. (Location 143)
power of a group is so much greater than the power of an individual, (Location 178)
“He who lives by the crystal ball is destined to eat ground glass” (Location 669)
what was most important wasn’t knowing the future—it was knowing how to react appropriately to the information available at each point in time. (Location 670)
Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones. (Location 797)
judging people before really seeing things through their eyes stands in the way of understanding their circumstances—and that isn’t smart. (Location 832)
bad times coupled with good reflections provide some of the best lessons, and not just about business but also about relationships. (Location 890)
having an ability to figure things out is more important than having specific knowledge of how to do something. (Location 900)
Making a handful of good uncorrelated bets that are balanced and leveraged well is the surest way of having a lot of upside without being exposed to unacceptable downside. (Location 954)
Put our honest thoughts out on the table, 2. Have thoughtful disagreements in which people are willing to shift their opinions as they learn, and 3. Have agreed-upon ways of deciding (Location 1042)
the quest for business excellence and the search for personal realization need not be mutually exclusive—and can, in fact, be essential to each other.” (Location 1206)
greatest success you can have as the person in charge is to orchestrate others to do things well without you. (Location 1254)
life consists of three phases. In the first, we are dependent on others and we learn. In the second, others depend on us and we work. And in the third and last, when others no longer depend on us and we no longer have to work, we are free to savor life. (Location 1413)
On the Role of the Individual in History. (Location 1679)
“Capable people are those who sit there worrying about the future. The unwise are those who worry about nothing. (Location 1681)
A hero is someone who “found or achieved or [did] something beyond the normal range of achievement,” and who “has given his life to something bigger than himself or other than himself.” (Location 1694)
Heroes don’t begin as heroes; they just become them because of the way one thing leads to another. (Location 1696)
the satisfaction of success doesn’t come from achieving your goals, but from struggling well. (Location 1888)
Dreams + Reality + Determination = A Successful Life. (Location 1972)
Idealists who are not well grounded in reality create problems, not progress. (Location 1974)
getting more out of life wasn’t just a matter of working harder at it. It was much more a matter of working (Location 1982)
effectively, because working effectively could increase my capacity by hundreds of times. (Location 1983)
1.2 Truth—or, more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality—is the essential foundation for any good outcome. (Location 1986)
1.3 Be radically open-minded and radically transparent. (Location 1990)
a. Radical open-mindedness and radical transparency are invaluable for rapid learning and effective change. (Location 1994)
b. Don’t let fears of what others think of you stand in your way. (Location 2002)
c. Embracing radical truth and radical transparency will bring more meaningful work and more meaningful relationships. (Location 2016)
1.4 Look to nature to learn how reality works. (Location 2020)
I start from the premise that nature is smarter than I am and try to let nature teach me how reality works. (Location 2059)
a. Don’t get hung up on your views of how things “should” be because you will miss out on learning how they really are. (Location 2060)
b. To be “good” something must operate consistently with the laws of reality and contribute to the evolution of the whole; that is what is most rewarded. (Location 2079)
c. Evolution is the single greatest force in the universe; it is the only thing that is permanent and it drives everything. (Location 2084)
1.10 Look at the machine from the higher level. (Location 2271)
a. Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine and know that you have the ability to alter your machines to produce better outcomes. (Location 2276)
b. By comparing your outcomes with your goals, you can determine how to modify your machine. (Location 2283)
c. Distinguish between you as the designer of your machine and you as a worker with your machine. (Location 2286)
d. The biggest mistake most people make is to not see themselves and others objectively, which leads them to bump into their own and others’ weaknesses again and again. (Location 2295)
e. Successful people are those who can go above themselves to see things objectively and manage those things to shape change. (Location 2298)
f. Asking others who are strong in areas where you are weak to help you is a great skill that you should develop no matter what, as it will help you develop guardrails that will prevent you from doing what you shouldn’t be doing. (Location 2324)
g. Because it is difficult to see oneself objectively, you need to rely on the input of others and the whole body of evidence. (Location 2326)
h. If you are open-minded enough and determined, you can get virtually anything you want. (Location 2330)
1. Don’t confuse what you wish were true with what is really true. 2. Don’t worry about looking good—worry instead about achieving your goals. 3. Don’t overweight first-order consequences relative to second- and third-order ones. 4. Don’t let pain stand in the way of progress. 5. Don’t blame bad outcomes on anyone but yourself. (Location 2336)
when setting goals, just set goals. Don’t think about how you will achieve them or what you will do if something goes wrong. When you are diagnosing problems, don’t think about how you will solve them—just diagnose them. (Location 2412)
