December 29, 2024 | #609 | read on fs.blog | Free Version

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

I wish you all a new year filled with learning, love, and curiosity.

Tiny Thoughts

*

I learned this formula for success from Charlie Munger:

1. Don't sell stuff you don't want to buy.
2. Don't work for people you don't want to become.
3. Create win-win relationships for all.

**

When you start caring more about credit than truth, your judgment decays.

The scientist racing to publish first overlooks crucial evidence that doesn't fit their story. The writer chasing popularity loses what made their voice worth hearing.

The strange thing is that recognition comes most reliably to those who forget about it and focus simply on seeing clearly.

***

Smart people know an unsettling truth: loyalty must be given before it's earned.

The best leaders I know extend trust and loyalty long before receiving it - they treat people as if they've already proven trustworthy. This seems naive until you realize it's a forcing function: by acting as if people have already earned your trust, you create the conditions that make it almost inevitable that they will.

Instead of searching for win-win deals, create an environment where nothing else can exist.

Insights

*

Relationship therapist Esther Perel on family and friends:

“The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life.”

**

Ludwig Jesselson on understanding the underlying trends:

“You can mess up a lot of things in business and still do well as long as you get the big trend right.”

***

Richard Feynman sums up dialectical thinking:

“We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way we can find progress.

Mental Model of the Week

V2 | Chemistry | Activation Energy

Activation energy is the spark that ignites the fire of change, the initial burst of effort required to kick-­ start a reaction or transformation. It’s the metaphorical push that gets the boulder rolling down the hill, the investment of energy needed to overcome inertia and set a process in motion.

In chemistry, activation energy is the minimum energy that must be input for a reaction. It’s the hurdle molecules must overcome to break their bonds and form new ones, the energetic barrier separating the reactants from the products.

But activation energy isn’t just a chemical concept. It’s a principle that applies to any system where change is possible but not automatic. In personal growth, activation energy is the effort required to break old habits and form new ones. In innovation, it’s the investment needed to turn an idea into reality.

The key is recognizing activation energy for what it is: a necessary upfront cost, not a permanent obstacle. Once things are moving, momentum takes over. Once the reaction starts, it becomes self-­sustaining.

— Source: The Great Mental Models v2: Physics, Chemistry, and Biology,

Reading

I used the break to copy my highlights from Brad Jacobs's book How to Make a Few Billion Dollars and put them into the repository. I particularly enjoyed this part about being kind to yourself:

“'Not beating myself up' has been a hard-learned lesson for me and those around me. I became much happier in my middle age when I stopped expecting unrealistic levels of perfection from myself and my family, my friends, and my co-workers, not to mention customers, vendors, and shareholders.”

+ Members can read all 124 of my highlights in the repository.

Best of The Knowledge Project 2024

The Knowledge Project had a great year. Here are the top 5 episodes from 2024:

1. Morgan Housel: Get Rich, Stay Rich - Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube

2. Matthew Dicks: The Storytelling Expert: Hidden Triggers That Make People Act - Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube

3. Brent Beshore: Business Brilliance and Happiness at Home - Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube

4. April Dunford: Product Positioning - Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube

5. Brad Jacobs: How To Build a Billion-Dollar Company - Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube

And one bonus that likely would have made the top 5 if it wasn't published in December:

Ryan Holiday: How to Win the War with Yourself - Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube

Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish

P.S. The Daredevil cartwheel.

P.P.S. Here is a copy of my annual review framework. These are the questions I'm asking myself this year to help make 2025 amazing.

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