Inspired by Naval Ravikant, when I learn life lessons, I try to compress them into a short phrase so I remember the lesson better. Here are 75 of my personal learnings:

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1. Your lowest points might be your greatest opportunities in disguise.
2. All truly incredible outcomes start as “crazy” ideas.
3. If believing everything happens for a reason makes life better, believe it.
4. Only keep tense what absolutely must be. Relax everything else.
5. Before they call you visionary, they call you weird.
6. Everything useful in the world was created by someone who cared enough to push it into reality.
7. Just because all your friends do something, doesn’t mean you should.
8. Just because all your friends don’t do something, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.
9. Mix your interests to find your area of world-class potential.
10. World-class expertise is more attainable than you think.
11. Zoom in unusually far and narrow on anything, and you’ll see things no one has seen before.
12. Good ideas aren’t enough – they need to look incredible.
13. It’s easier to get a good deal if you have cash in hand, exact change, arm extended.
14. Be able to distinguish investments that look like luxuries.
15. The true cost of things: (Price Paid – Price Sold For) / (# of Times Used).
16. Invest aggressively in tools used daily.
17. Money is the worst form of capital. Prefer health, relationships, knowledge, experience.
18. Half the battle of making great art is knowing the tools to use.
19. People will tell you the tools they use, if you ask nicely.
20. Investing aggressively in the right tools will save money in the long run.
21. When beginning an art form, try many styles, share, and see what works.
22. When you find what works, stop exploring. Create in that style until you get tired.
23. Repeat.
24. New hobbies can have defined, planned lifetimes.
25. But previous pursuits do remain part of your identity.
26. Everything you make builds toward your global body of work.
27. Your global body of work is a ball of dry kindling, waiting for a spark.
28. The bigger the ball of kindling, the bigger the flame.
29. The spark might come soon, in decades, or never.
30. Being public and meeting many people reduces the risk of the latter.
31. You don’t need to be a world expert to generate novelty.
32. Remixing is easier than synthesizing from scratch to generate novelty.
33. The paradox of art: creative decisions lead to different ends. There is no best end, but some are better than others.
34. Your life is a decades-long performance art project.
35. A master chef can answer not only the “right” way to make rice, but also: “What if we use half the water? Twice as much? Half the heat?” – because she’s tried.
36. Everything good in life comes from people.
37. Find a community where it’s normal to do the things you aspire to do.
38. Buy your way in if that’s the easiest way.
39. Cold email or DM people with gratitude and one hyper-specific question.
40. Don’t assume you’ll be ignored. Test it.
41. Lack of reply = Test to see how serious you are.
42. Don’t rely on your memory for following up. Have a system.
43. Don’t rely on your memory, in general. Have a system.
44. Mentorship begins the moment they reply.
45. Finding mentorship is about making yourself an attractive investment.
46. You’re not a nobody; you’re a rocket on the launch pad.
47. Show proof of work to de-risk yourself as a mentee.
48. Go out of your way to travel to where your mentors live.
49. Some seeds take years to sprout, but bear the most incredible fruit.
50. Buying something from them is a way to get closer to a potential mentor.
51. Being in need is a great way to start conversations with strangers.
52. You can invent small needs on a moment’s notice, anywhere.
53. For example, simply needing a recommendation.
54. Compliments are a great way to start conversations with strangers.
55. You can take actions that make it easier for strangers to start conversations with you, like wearing interesting clothes.
56. When surrounded by strangers, gravitate toward who shows you warmth.
57. Mingling is easier when you’re early to an event.
58. The transition from stranger to friend can happen in seconds.
59. The connection isn’t crystallized until you’ve followed up later online.
60. Reach out to everyone on the internet whose work you admire.
61. Move from email to text message to deepen relationships.
62. You’re not competing against the best – only those who show up.
63. Any great pursuit is a marathon. Learn the art of long-term consistency.
64. Genuine passion = endurance.
65. Copycats will have weak endurance.
66. You can often bypass bureaucracy by showing up in person, early.
67. Do things that terrify you.
68. Sometimes impossible decisions solve themselves with time.
69. Focus less on winning; focus more on not losing. (Warren Buffett)
70. Don’t be afraid to exploit your unfair advantages.
71. Have a personal agenda.
72. When no one has a strong opinion, that’s an opportunity to advance your agenda, if you wish.
73. “A healthy man wants a thousand things. A sick man wants one.”
74. The only competition is to know yourself as fully as possible, and act with maximum authenticity towards that truth.
75. Remember: Millions would switch lives with you in a heartbeat, and readily inherit every single one of your problems.

My YouTube channel recently crossed 10,000 subscribers, and I’ve done this by exploiting an intersection of three of my unique strengths:

• Systems programming
• Not being camera shy
• Discipline & Consistency

I’m not world class in any of these by themselves, but the combination is a bit more rare and helps me to stand out.

I’m definitely not the best programmer in the world.

I’m also definitely not the most charismatic person in the world. But the bar is pretty low for programmers, especially in my niche of systems programming. I’m a lot less camera shy than most programmers I know.

I’m also not the most consistent person, but I’ve been able to sustain a pace of one livestream per week for about two years.

The end result is that I don’t really have competitors. 95% of the people with the technical skill set that I do have no interest in making content or putting themselves out there online. The remaining 5% either don’t quite have the skill set, or don’t quite have the consistency and burn out.

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Everyone has unfair advantages relative to the other players in the field.

• Maybe you have a natural inclination for [thing]?
• Maybe you’re young and beautiful?
• Maybe you’re experienced and wise?
• Maybe you have a lot of energy?
• Maybe you’re calm and comforting?
• Maybe you have a nice voice?
• Maybe you’re really tall or strong?
• Maybe you’re a man in a female-dominated field?
• Maybe you’re a woman in a male-dominated field?
• Maybe you’re not shy?
• Maybe you can hyper-focus so intensely?
• Maybe you find talking to people effortless?
• Maybe you have a lot of time?
• Maybe you have a lot of money?
• Maybe you’re resourceful under constraints?

Exploiting your unfair advantages is nothing to be guilty for, once you realize that everyone has them.

Doing things in the world is hard enough as it. You can choose to attempt it without exploiting your strengths, but just know you’re playing on extra hard mode.