The Hardest Truth

Obsess over substance, not status. What endures is what matters.

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The hardest truth about happiness is that it's a choice.

Watch how people discuss their problems. They'll spend hours explaining why things are terrible, how unfair life is, and how others need to change. But suggest they might have the power to improve things and they suddenly have countless reasons why that's impossible.

Self-pity feels safer than responsibility.

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Persistence isn't just pushing harder—it's having energy that demands new ideas.

Think of a founder solving a problem. Someone with just determination keeps trying the same approach. But a truly persistent founder has a restless energy that demands new solutions. When one approach fails, their energy compels them to imagine new ones. This cycle—energy demanding imagination, imagination feeding energy—is rare.

Energy without imagination is force. Energy with imagination is persistence.

Insights

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Joan Didion reminds us that self-respect blooms when we break free from others’ expectations:

“To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves—there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect.”

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Sylvester McNutt III urges us to stop overthinking:

“Overthinking is the biggest waste of human energy. Trust yourself, make a decision, and gain more experience. There is no such thing as perfect. You cannot think your way into perfection, just take action.”

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Schopenhauer on

“The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. — A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.”

The Repository

Discipline isn’t just for big decisions—it’s built in the small ones. Warren Buffett understood this better than anyone.

“Warren (Buffett) was playing golf at Pebble Beach with Charlie Munger (Berkshire Hathaway Vice-Chairman), Jack Byrne (Fireman’s Fund Chairman), and another person. One of them proposed. “Warren, if you shoot a hole-in-one on this 18-hole course, we’ll give you U$10,000. If you don’t shoot a hole-in-one, you owe us U$10”. Warren thought about it and said, “I’m not taking the bet.” The others said, “Why don’t you? The most you can lose is U$10. You can make U$10,000.” Warren replied, “If you are not disciplined in the little things, you won’t be disciplined in the big things.”