Brain Food: On voicing opinions, reciprocation, and boring results

FS | BRAIN FOOD

Sunday Brain Food: a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights for life and business.

FS

“I have never understood why Homer is viewed as a creative writer and Plato isn’t. Why is a bad poet a creative writer, while a good scientific essayist is not?”

— Umberto Eco’s Four Rules

"You’re entitled to your own opinion if you keep your opinion to yourself. If you decide to say it out loud, then I think you have a responsibility to be open to changing your mind in the face of better logic or stronger data. I think if you’re willing to voice an opinion, you should also be willing to change that opinion."

— Adam Grant on rethinking your position

Explore Your Curiosity

★ “This is what I learned from those years in the prison camp, where all those constraints just were oppressive. You must never confuse, on the one hand, the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail despite those constraints with, on the other hand, the need for the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are.'”

— Admiral Jim Stockdale (source)

★ "The clearest signal that a novel risk is emerging is anomalies—things that just don’t make sense. This sounds obvious, but most anomalies are difficult for people to recognize."

— The Risks You Can't Foresee

Timeless Insight

"You don’t just reciprocate affection, you reciprocate animosity, and the whole thing can escalate."

— Charlie Munger

Tiny Thought

What's boring doesn't get attention and what's exciting doesn't drive results.

Most people are so focused on optics they forget that it's the repetition of the boring basics that makes a difference.

Older messages

Brain Food: On keeping your options open, leverage, and courage

Sunday, May 30, 2021

FS | BRAIN FOOD Sunday Brain Food: a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights for life and business. FS Before we reinvent the wheel, it's worth looking back to leverage what we've

Brain Food: On Chosen Talent, Writing, and Reasoning

Sunday, May 23, 2021

FS | BRAIN FOOD Sunday Brain Food: a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights for life and business. FS If you want to make progress in any area, you need to be willing to give up your

Brain Food: On focus, the keys to achievement, and flexible frameworks

Sunday, May 16, 2021

FS | BRAIN FOOD Sunday Brain Food: a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights for life and business. FS What we achieve, how we think, and how we act, can be influenced by the expectations

Brain Food: Avoiding Bad Decisions, Ordinary Words, and Starting Today

Sunday, March 14, 2021

FS | BRAIN FOOD Sunday Brain Food: a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights for life and business. FS Sometimes success is just about avoiding failure. Here are five of the biggest

Better than yesterday

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Thanks for signing up for Brain Food ... We help you go to bed smarter than when you woke up. We have three things to cover in this short email. 1. A free chapter. As a thanks for signing up, I want to

Viral giveaway template (+ free tool)

Thursday, September 28, 2023

FlowMattic, supersonic, hypnotic, funky fresh! You'll be singing praises after you see what this badass WP automation plugin can do. Put it on your sites and connect everything or charge your

Token of depreciation

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Also in today's edition: Course correction at BYJU'S; Opal for local; Shoppers steal retailers' thunder; Whattay valuation ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Use Cases for Foundation Models and Key Benefits

Thursday, September 28, 2023

(but don't give up your decision tree yet!) ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

DIP 041: Some personal news