October 20, 2024 | #598 | read on fs.blog | Free Version

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

Tiny Thoughts

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Behind every great achievement lies a long, unseen journey.

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Results are forged from invisible efforts.

That hit song? Years of practice, countless unheard tracks.
The championship athlete? Countless hours of unseen training.
The successful entrepreneur? Working on a Friday night, again.

The invisible advantage is choosing to do what other people could do, but don't.

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Your body reflects what you eat. Your mind reflects what you consume.

For a healthy body, choose whole foods. For a sharp mind, choose lasting knowledge.

What’s lasting knowledge?

It’s wisdom that endures: Timeless principles, foundational ideas, and insights that remain relevant for years, not hours.

Before diving into the news or scrolling through feeds, ask: “Will this still matter next year?” If not, it’s probably mental junk food. The sugar high will leave you craving even more.

Avoid mental junk food. Feed your mind substance. Your future self will thank you.

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

Insights

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Nassim Taleb on why you should avoid bad information:

“...bad information is worse than no information at all.”

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Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah on knowing what matters:

“In life the challenge is not so much to figure out how best to play the game; the challenge is to figure out what game you’re playing.”

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A reminder from Robert Fritz on creating an environment that brings about the changes you want:

“If a riverbed remains unchanged, the water will continue to flow along the path it always has, since that is the most natural route for it to take. If the underlying structures of your life remain unchanged, the greatest tendency is for you to follow the same direction your life has always taken.”

Mental Model

V4 | Economics | Monopoly and Competition

"Monopoly and competition are the yin and yang of the business world. They’re the opposing forces that shape the landscape of every market, the tides that lift and sink the fortunes of every firm. To understand business, you must understand the dance between these poles.

Competition is the default state of the market. It’s the Darwinian struggle where many firms vie for the same customers and resources. In a competitive market, no one firm has the power to set prices or dictate terms. They’re price takers, not price makers. They survive by being efficient, delivering value, and innovating.

If competition is the natural state, monopoly is the entrepreneur’s dream. A monopoly dominates a market so completely that it becomes the market. Think of the only bridge that crosses a river. But monopolies inevitably sow the seeds of their own destruction. The question is how long they will last.

We need both monopoly and competition. Competition keeps firms honest and drives innovation. But we also need monopolies’ deep pockets to fund big visions and moon shots. The ideal is a balance: enough competition to check monopolies, but enough monopoly to reward innovation.”

— Source: The Great Mental Models v4: Economics and Art

TKP

Rob Fraser discusses the mindset required to excel in elite sports and business.

"Sometimes you don’t push as hard because there’s no personal mission there. There’s no reason to push. You don’t necessarily take that mindset into everything you do, but it’s really helpful for those larger goals. And it’s similar with business; I think success in any large goal comes down to your ability to endure over the long term. Perseverance. Resilience. People always talk about hacks and quick wins and “How can you shorten the timeline?” And ultimately I think that leads to maybe a quick win here and there, but not longevity. In business and in sport, careers are built on longevity, and that really comes down to a mindset because along that path on anything worth doing, there are just so many ups and downs and sideways and there’s just so much going on.”

— Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube. (Members have access to the transcript and my reflections.)

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Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish

P.S., Not all beaches are the same.

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