June 24 2018

Content

1. A community of makers (Link)

We are a community of makers

and here’s why you might want to join us…

We hold each other accountable 💪

We ship every single day 🚢

Seems cool.

2. On the value of determination (Link)

Advice for nearly everything: start slowly and maintain traction.

Yes, yes, yes.

3. On intelligence (Link)

Intelligence is not the same as critical thinking and the difference matters

Being smart doesn’t prevent stupid decisions, but critical thinking does. Be an amiable skeptic: treat your beliefs as hypotheses to be tested, and refine them based on evidence.

The advantages of being intelligent are undeniable. Intelligent people are more likely to get better grades and go farther in school. They are more likely to be successful at work. And they are less likely to get into trouble (e.g., commit crimes) as adolescents. Given all the advantages of intelligence, though, you may be surprised to learn that it does not predict other life outcomes, such as well-being. You might imagine that doing well in school or at work might lead to greater life satisfaction, but several large-scale studies have failed to find evidence that IQ impacts life satisfaction or longevity. University of Waterloo psychologist Igor Grossmann and his colleagues argue that most intelligence tests fail to capture real-world decision-making and our ability to interact well with others. This is, in other words, perhaps why “smart” people, do “dumb” things.

The ability to think critically, on the other hand, has been associated with wellness and longevity. Though often confused with intelligence, critical thinking is not intelligence. Critical thinking is a collection of cognitive skills that allow us to think rationally in a goal-orientated fashion, and a disposition to use those skills when appropriate. Critical thinkers are amiable skeptics. They are flexible thinkers who require evidence to support their beliefs and recognize fallacious attempts to persuade them. Critical thinking means overcoming all sorts of cognitive biases (e.g., hindsight bias, confirmation bias).

Highlights the value of critical thinking.

4. On the value of determination, pt 2 (Link)

I don’t know a highly successful person who isn’t really damn persistent.

Yes. The capacity for extreme determination and persistence is vital. (This doesn’t mean you need to be persistent about everything. But it does mean that you need to be capable of extreme determination when you’re after something that you deeply (both logically and emotionally) want.)

5. On learning (Link)

The more primitive your building blocks, the more complex the structures are that you can build. Think from first principles.

Thats why Charlie Munger says everybody should have at least rudiments in physics, mathematics, biology and engineering

Start with the basic building blocks.

Example building blocks for startups: selling things, making things, making things that people want. (Which themselves can go back to things like psychology, etc)

Bonus: 6. Book recommendations on strategy (Link)

Good Strategy, Bad Strategy

Written by Strategy Guru Richard Rumelt, this book lays out the basics of good strategy, and (perhaps more importantly) steers you away from the most common deadly mistakes.

Playing to Win

The book that Ebay and HP CEO Meg Whitman most frequently gives to her Entrepreneurs, this book by Proctor & Gamble CEO and his Advisor will help you navigate brand-building in competitive space.

Strategy, A History

For the die-hard strategist on your list, this mammoth book compiles all of the most interesting strategic challenges, decisions, and outcomes of history.

Seems like a good list.

Please share with friends (or not if you do not love this).