my favorite resources

When I find a great idea / book / resource, I test it out. If it sticks, I add it to this page. I’ve been curating these golden nuggets since 2016. They’ve shaped my thinking, worldview, and aspirations. PS: If it’s grey, click it. It links an absolute gem of content. But don’t stop there! This page is just the start of your own rabbit hole.

last updated @ December 16, 2023

💡 Ideas

Be present above all else.
Whoever has the most fun wins.
Life motto: do it for the story.
Explore without expectation and the beauty of life will fall in front of your lap.
We’re all just a monkey with a plan. A bunch of atoms and cells interacting randomly with each other. Everything is just human concepts in our mind. Don’t take things too seriously.
Our ancient, tribal, scarcity-optimizing brains aren’t built for this world. Internalize this. Life gets so much easier when you figure out how your brain works and tailor your actions around it.
Clear mind > smart mind
Zoom out. You’ll see the insignificance of your problem. We are a tiny little dot in the vast vast universe.
A bias for action can defeat any problem.
Deserve what you want.
The most interesting man in the world also must be the most interested man in the world. Stay curious.
The coolest humans are those who define success for themselves and then make it happen.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Adventures only happen to the adventurous
Intensity is the strategy.
Don’t surround yourself with “smarter” people. The trick is to surround yourself with people who are free in ways you’re not.
People love standing in line. It makes them feel safe. But it’s not the only way.
Easy conversations, hard life. Hard conversations, easy life.
Life is a single player game. The most important relationship you have is the one with yourself. Period. You are the only person, quite literally, that accompanys you from the day you are born till the day you die.
Who we are is the average of 5 people we spent most time with. 5 ideas we most think about. 5 pieces of media we consume the most. Choose wisely.
3 seconds of confidence can lead to a lifetime of glory.
Play positive-sum games with long-term people. Positive sum so everybody wins. Long-term so you benefit from compounding.
Abundance of potential opportunities → “Hell Yea!” or “No.” Scarcity of potential opportunities → say yes more.
Define your anti-goals. Then avoid them.
Knowledge is a tree. If you try to learn about a topic (a branch) without understanding its fundamentals (the trunk), it won’t stick. You need to know the basics to get the hard stuff.
If everybody’s waiting in line for the main door and you want to go in, look for the side door.
You are what you read.
Goals are a means to develop processes (not the other way around).
Consuming and producing fight for the same resources. Talking and doing also fight for the same resources.
Moods are like muscles. The more you do a certain mood (eg. playful, anxious etc.), the better you are at it.
Who is it for? > What are you building?
Why not be the most unapologetic, positive, caring person in the world?
Man plans and God laughs.

➗ Equations

Inevitable Success = Big Ambitions + Low Expectations + High Standards + Persistent Action
Happiness = Reality - Expectations
Health = Exercise + Diet + Sleep + Relationships
Fitness = Strength + Power + Speed + Mobility + Balance + Endurance + Coordination
Content Success = Quality + Consistency + Duration
Income = Accountability + Leverage + Specific Knowledge
Accountability = Personal Branding + Personal Platform + Taking Risk?
Leverage = Tools + Products + People + Capital + Experience
Specific Knowledge = (Skills + Experience)*(How easy those are to replace)
Rewarding Work = Creativity + Impact + Control
Charisma = Presence Authenticity

🎤 Quotes

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
“You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” - James Clear
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right”
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
“You don’t become confident by shouting affirmations at the mirror. You do it by having an undeniable stack of proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your self-doubt.” - James Clear
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
“Good friends consume together, great friends create together.” - Shaan Puri
“Show people that they matter to you: pay atttention, listen, give them meaning, & love them. But, you have to go first.” - Brenè Brown
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.” - James Clear
“It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us… And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Marianne Williamson
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.” - Calvin Coolidge
“The character that takes command in moments of crucial choices has already been determined. It has been determined by a thousand other choices made earlier in seemingly unimportant moments.” - Ronald Reagan
“If we take man as he is, we make him worse. If we take man as he should be, we make him what he is capable of becoming.” What someone is today is not what they will be tomorrow. Help them become what they can be. - Victor Frankl
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space you can choose your response.” - Victor Frankl
“What the pupil must learn (if he learns anything at all) is that the world will do most of the work for you, provided you cooperate with it by identifying how it really works and aligning with those realities. If we do not let the world teach us, it teaches us a lesson.” - Joseph Tussman
“When we see beautiful things, we instinctively take out our phones to capture the moment. But can you really capture the nuances of the lights, the vibration of the explosions, or the cheering of the crowd? As we are busy attempting to “freeze these moments,” we give up the serendipity to let the wonder of these moments carry our minds away.” - Andy Hsu
Be curious, not judgemental - Walt Whitman

📚 Books

Check out a ranked list of all of the books I’ve read:

📚
Bookshelf

🤔 My Online Tribe of Mentors

Click on each link!

Tim Urban

Tim Urban writes the most fascinating blog on the internet - Wait But Why. He’s a “curious baby” fascinated by the world around us and its future. His writing is entertaining, in-depth, & easy to understand. He has influenced my approach towards life & excitement for the future more than any other person (besides my parents).

Check out:

Naval Ravikant

Naval completed changed the way I look at happiness and how I’d approach my career. Reading his stuff feels like I can see into the matrix of professional and personal pursuits. So good.

Check out:

Brenè Brown

Brenè is the GOAT thinker on vulnerability, shame, & leadership. Along with my sister & Dax Shepard, Brenè taught me how to form deep, meaningful relationships by being authentic & vulnerable. Relationships are the most important factor in our quality of life. Since reading Brenè’s work, my life has been a beautiful tapestry of flourishing connections & memories.

Check out:

Shaan Puri & Sam Parr

Shaan & Sam are serial entrepreneurs who host my favorite podcast - My First Million. Each episode funny, ambitious, & insightful. I have learned countless applicable frameworks & helpful tips from them. Far more important than that, they showed me that building companies is fun, completely doable, and my ideal professional path.

Check out:

Derek Sivers

Derek had a range of unique experiences as a musician, entrepreneur, author, circus performer…etc. He writes in a simple yet thought-provoking way. He challenges conventional beliefs and represents a way to live a life driven by curiosity and active exploration. A lot of my big mindset shifts in life came from him.

Check out:

Shane Parrish

I completely binged the majority of Shane’s podcast & blog during my senior year of high school & freshman year of college. It was wonderful. And impactful. It led down the rabbit hole of mental models, decision making, learning how to learn…meta skills.

Check out:

Tim Ferriss

Tim is a successful founder, huge podcaster, & legendary angel investor. He also competed in Brazil’s Tango National Championship, was an All-American wrestler, led the charge on psychedelic studies for mental health, & million other things. It’s ridiculous. He showed me you can have it all, just not at the same time. He embodies the idea that 20% of work can get you 80% of benefit. The best part? He shares all of his insights.

Check out:

Jakob Greenfield

Jakob is a serial entrepreneur, indie hacker, & digital nomad. He’s created tons of cool projects - some of which make a lot of money. He shares no-bullshit insights as he learns. Above all, he’s shown me a completely new flavor of work-lifestyle & entrepreneurship.

Check out:

James Clear

James Clear is a best-selling author and big-time newsletter writer. I read his book (Atomic Habits) in high school and it fundamentally changed how I view myself, my actions, & the world around me. It felt like I took the red pill and could see into the matrix of human behavior. I now had the tactical tools & nuanced language to understand my monkey mind. To proactively drop bad habits and pick up good ones. It empowered me to believe I could do just about anything (if I set up the right systems).

Check out:

Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan is one of my life role models. He’s built a beautifully holistic & authentic life. He can talk to anyone, sell out comedy shows, lift heavy weight, shoot a deer from 75 yards out, comment at the UFC’s biggest fights, call people out on bullshit without being a dick, support his family, and be happy (despite being famous). Joe also introduced me to the world of long-form interviews. During high school, his interviews with experts stoked a deep level of curiosity that I still carry around with me today.

Check out:

🎙️ Podcasts

Business

My First Million, Acquired, Indie Hackers, The Game w/ Alex Hormozi, Invest Like The Best, How I Built This, Masters of Scale, Pattern Recognition, Naval, Business Wars, Business Breakdowns, Where It Happens, & All-In

Smart People Getting Interviewed

The Knowledge Project, Where It Happens, Tim Ferriss Show, Lex Fridman Podcast, Joe Rogan Experience, The Axe Files, Coffee With The Greats, Modern Wisdom, & Indie Hackers

Other

Open to Debate, Armchair Expert, Huberman Lab, The Old Man & The Three, Thinking Is Cool, Oprah’s Super Soul, Dare To Lead, Trained, Life Kit, & a16z

📽️ YouTubers

Curiosity

Lex Clips, JRE Clips, Vox, Simplilearn, 3Blue1Brown, Ted-ed, Harvard CS 50, Ninja Nerd (biology), & MIT OpenCourseWare

Nature

BBC Earth, National Geographic,

Philosophy

Blank On Blank, Ray Dalio, Stanford GSB, Kurzgesagt, Freedom in Thought, Ben Shapiro, ColdFusion, CGP Grey, Welch Labs, & exurb1a

Skiing

Quiksilver, Candide Thovex, & Matchstick Productions

Crypto

Whiteboard Crypto

Entrepreneurship

Y Combinator & Garry Tan

Basketball

Old Man & The Three (JJ Reddick), Thinking Basketball, The Ringer, Clayton Crowley, & Daniel Li

For Fun

Cercle, Joma Tech, Key & Peele, Shane Gillis, Pat McAfee, Jomboy Media, Joseph Vincent, Sundae Conversations, Jeff Nippard, & NPR Tiny Desks

History

CrashCourse, Extra History

📜 Blogs

Tech / Career / Entrepreneurship

Elad Gil, Better Explained, Erik Torenberg, Jakob Greenfield, Patrick Collison, Chris Dixon, Paul Graham, Balajis Srinivasan, Julian Shapiro, Andrew Wilkinson, Not Boring, Eric Jorgenson, JSomers, Steph Smith, Jake Cooper, Unicorner, ZFoundr, BulletPitchAcceleratedStartup Search

Thinking / Life

Wait But Why, Molly Mielke, Isabel Unraveled, Young Money, Farnam Street, Paul Graham, More To That, Taimur Abdaal

Society / Religion / Culture

Jakob Greenfield, Erik Torenberg,

🎬 Movies

Interstellar → on the power of love intertwined w/ awesome sci-fi

Gladiator → on underdogs, Roman Empire, loyalty, & familial love

About Time → a heart-warming movie on romantic and family love

Good Will Hunting → on being wicked smahht & actively living life

Everything Everywhere All at Once → on the absurdity of life

🙊 Speeches

2004 DNC Keynote Speech (Obama)

This Is Water (David Foster Wallace)

Growth (Joe Rogan)

Good (Jocko Willink)

Wear Sunscreen (Baz Luhrmann)

USC Commencement Speech (Chris Sacca)

🥚 A few easter eggs since you care about learning enough to make it to the end & I’m the kind of guy that does that too

My Friends’ Personal Websites

Grant Hale, Rohan Hirani, Andy Hsu, Antony Silvetti-Schmitt, Alec Chen, Neel Khare, Alex Ovan, Amaan Sameer, Evan Siu, Garrett Kincaid

Others Great Personal Websites

Andrej Karpathy, Mental Nodes, Gwern Branwen, Shaan Puri, Julian Shapiro, Manu Edakara, Tim Ferriss, Ryan Doyle, Taimur Abdaal, Steph Smith, Marc Andreeson, Paul Graham, Patrick Collison, Andrew Finn, Alexey Guzey, Sachin Rekhi, List of Patrick Collison’s Fav Personal Websites, Spencer Kier, Devon Zuegel, Craig Mod, Brief Wolson, Chris Sacca, Sam Parr, Matt Lim, Louis Schulman, Neel Nanda, Erik Torenberg, Ben Casnocha, Neeraj Chouhan, Joshua Waitzkin, Taylor Pearson, Curated Notes, Blas Moros

thanks for making all the way to the end! don’t forget to say hi 👋🏼

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