January 9, 2021

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

FS

One big mistake people repeatedly make is focusing on proving themselves right, instead of focusing on achieving the best outcome. This is the wrong side of right.

— The Wrong Side of Right

Insight

“I notice that when all a man's information is confined to the field in which he is working, the work is never as good as it ought to be. A man has to get a perspective, and he can get it from books or from people — preferably from both. This thing of sleeping and eating with your business can easily be overdone; it is all well enough—usually necessary—in times of trouble but as a steady diet it does not make for good business; a man ought now and then to get far enough away to have a look at himself and his affairs.”

— Harvey S. Firestone (written in 1926)

Et Cetera

+ Being contrarian isn't hard - anyone can say the opposite of what most people believe. But being contrarian *and* right is extremely difficult. Those who can both go against the crowd and be correct achieve outsized rewards. This is called Advantageous Divergence and it's a mental model for thinking through ideas.

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Stay safe,
— Shane

P.S. What an insane ski run.