Money is simply a tool to organize humans around ideas. There's the idea of earning income, the idea of consumption, the idea of private property. These are just stories we tell ourselves and choose to live within. Ignore for a moment the gap between rich and poor. Can&
Language. It's what took us from ape to apex. More than fire or the wheel. In the beginning was the word. Agriculture and the internet bow to language. It precedes and undergirds all of our many revolutions: French, Communist, Haitian, Industrial—language doesn't care. Nature cannot
Went for a lovely walk in the woods. We were encouraged to do better than "So what do you do?" as an opening question. Many interesting people. Ended up having dinner with a YC founder whose company with hundreds of employees does at least 8-figures of revenue.
We can argue about whether it's important to teach children to turn off the lights when they leave the room. Small houselights are not a high priority for improving social responsibility or reducing carbon emissions. But I'm personally quite neurotic, so if I ever have kids
When you enter my house, you become part of my family. I'll bring you a glass of water before drinking any myself. If there's one piece of pizza left, I'll encourage you to have it. If the building is burning, I will carry you
Last Friday, I ate some delicious coffee-glazed baby back ribs with Phu. Every time we have Asian food, he's immensely grateful to the point where I shed tears. He hasn't had the resources to visit home since arriving to the U.S. two years ago,
Blogging is actually googling for friends. If you read 20 books in a row from your favorite author, you'll probably end up finding their next live signing or at least emailing them a short "thanks - love your writing!" It might take a few years, but gravity
I've only ever blogged for myself. This was not intentional, it just happened. I needed to create something, to push out some words. You can feel the urgency in my first post. I felt motivated to publicly journal. I had deleted my Facebook account, and I wanted to
I never heard of Elizabeth Gilbert before. But I had a flight to endure in the middle seat, and I liked finding one's "deep inner voice" as the podcast title. Around minute 36 she tells this incredible story about the Dalai Lama's first visit
For the longest time I was confused. I thought I was both. It wasn't clear to me that either skill might be more important. There are certainly arguments for each. For example, maybe doing is more important. If we're constantly thinking, we'll just make
Recently I was looking for an apartment. I went to Craigslist and narrowed down to a very specific area on the map, price range, etc. There were only 4 results of which 1 was viable for me. I visited the apartment and rented it immediately. This is not how I
What have you "doubled down" on? We naturally underestimate the power of this phrase. Kids are awestruck at the Rice and Chessboard parable. Adults can't comprehend more than a few doublings without some napkin math or a spreadsheet. Every day we make lots of choices. We
