Lewis | Idea Illustrator

The most effective way to approach any new complex problem: Start with the fundamental non-reducible principles, then build your way towards the problem from the bottom up — not from the top down.

You can just do things.

"Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable." — Naval Ravikant

3 things that break your focus — and how to fix them: 1) Ideas → Keep a notepad at your desk 2) Notifications → Leave phone in another room 3) Meetings → Schedule ‘focus time’ in your calendar

Life Hack: Stick some sticky notes on the cover of your book while reading so you can take notes and write down any distracting thoughts without having to bring an extra notepad.

How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flown. — Dr. Seuss

If you care enough, you'll find a way.

Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

Instead of chasing success, you should be running from failure.

James Clear popularised the idea of atomic habits. Instead of chasing big overnight changes; try making small, consistent improvements. • Want to get fit? Just do 5 push-ups. • Want to read more? Just write one page a day. • Want to be more productive? Just close one tab. [Inspired by Ash Lamb]

Break your goals down. • Turn goals into plans • Turn plans into tasks • Turn tasks into habits Stick to those habits and you'll reach your goals in a manageable way.

Without systems you're left relying on your memory. Remembering something important pulls brainpower away from your current tasks. If your brain is filled with random junk, you'll never be able to give your full attention to anything. This is known as 'cognitive load'.

Andre Agassi once said that tennis is mostly a mental game... He was right. Most points aren’t won — they’re lost.

In 1922, Walt Disney started his first animation studio: Laugh-O-Gram Films. It went bankrupt within a year. He was broke, and sleeping in his office. He ate canned beans and washed at the train station. A few years later, Disney created a new character on the train. He called him Mickey.

...

Verschlimmbesserung: A German word that describes a sincere attempt to improve something that goes wrong and accidentally makes it worse. - Schlimm = Bad - Verbesserung = Improvement

Know the difference.

Small change. Big impact.

Turn goals into tasks, and tasks into habits.

Write it down.

Goodhart’s Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world” — Arthur Schopenhauer

Classics are classics for a reason.

Your focus determines your reality.

“The best marketing is a great product” — Noah Kagan

Do you know your freedom number?

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease”

“The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning.” — Stephen Jay Gould