August 25, 2024 | #591 | read on the web | Free Version

Welcome to Brain Food, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and actionable insights you can use.

Insights

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“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.”

— Dr. Joan Borysenko

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“There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.”

— Christopher Morley

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“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”

— Joel Arthur Barker Ratcliffe

Tiny Thoughts

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“Commitment starts when motivation stops.”

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“Two real friends that love you are better than a hundred people that kinda like you.”

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“Talk either leads to action or substitutes for action.

Two friends discuss their dreams. One describes starting a business, solving a problem mid-conversation, and immediately making a call. The other talks about a novel they've been "writing" for years but never seem to make progress on.

Build, don't babble.”

(Share Tiny Thought one, two, or three on X).

Mental Models

Circle of Competence

"The first rule of competition is, you are more likely to win if you play where you have an advantage. Doing so requires a firm understanding of what you know and what you don’t know. Your circle of competence is your personal sphere of expertise, the area where your knowledge and skills are concentrated. It’s the domain where you have a deep understanding, where your judgments are reliable, and your decisions are sound.

The size of your circle isn’t as important as knowing the boundaries. The wise person is the one who knows the limits of their knowledge, who can say with confidence, “This falls within my circle,” or “This is outside my area of expertise.”

Operating within your circle of competence is a recipe for confidence and effectiveness. But venturing outside your circle of competence is a recipe for trouble. You’re like a sailor navigating unfamiliar waters without a map, at the mercy of currents and storms you don’t fully understand. This isn’t to say that you should never venture outside your circle. Learning new things, gaining new skills, and mastering new domains is one of the most beautiful things about life.

Celebrate your expertise, but also acknowledge your limitations."

— Source: The *Updated* Great Mental Models v1: General Thinking Tools

Clear Thinking

Clear Thinking is the most practical guide to mastering decision-making, managing emotions, and turning desired behavior into default behavior.

The Kindle Edition is the Daily Deal on Amazon in the U.S. for $2.99. (I don't control pricing.)

(For international editions, see here.)

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Thanks for reading,

— Shane Parrish

P.S. I did not expect this outcome.

P.P.S. I don't recommend apps often, but Overlap has changed how I listen to podcasts. You search for a topic, and it gives you relevant clips from various shows. There's no need to sit through an hour to get the answer to your question. Instead, you get 5 to 6 guests on different shows talking about the same thing. Game changer.

P.P.P.S You can use this link to share this newsletter: https://fs.blog/brain-food/august-25-2024/

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