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Author Archives: AJ Kessler
Quit
Stephen Dubner, author of Freakonomics, also runs podcast by the same name. He recently put out an episode titled “The Upside of Quitting” that was full of interesting thoughts. Full transcript here, and my favorite quote below. “A quitter never … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Aptitude, Choice, Life, Path, Quitting, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Talent
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How to Earn Their Trust and Stop the Nagging
There’s generally a big lag time between the time you make a change and the time that change is recognized. You undoubtedly noticed this as a child. You demonstrate you know something, or know how to perform some task, but … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Creativity, Inspiration, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Goal, Growth, mastery, relationships, Skill, Trust, Wow
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Why We Really Loved Steve Jobs (It Wasn’t The Toys)
Steve Jobs was, by all accounts, an asshole. He was an ego maniacal, contemptuous, perfectionist who screamed at and even humiliated his employees when things weren’t to his liking. He was petty, held grudges, and went out of his way … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration
Tagged Dedication, Inspiration, Passion, Purpose, Steve Jobs, Work
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Embracing Death
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Quotes, Self-Improvement
Tagged Accomplishment, Death, Goal, Life, Plan, Steve Jobs
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How To Not Care When The Shit Hits The Fan
Successful people plan. People who don’t plan rarely become successful. You might hit the lottery, but if you want to succeed, you need a plan. Easy enough. But one plan is probably not enough. Now, someone who makes a plan … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Food For Thought, Self-Improvement
Tagged Advice, Pessimism, Planning, Prepare, Travel
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A 10 Second Guide To Mastering Capitalism
Capitalism is the ability to accumulate capital, which can then be deployed at will. The key to accumulating capital is delaying gratification.
Posted in Art, Business, Quotes, Rationality
Tagged Art, Business, Capitalisim, JSK, mastery, Rationality
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Slow Heroism
Some people risk their lives in briefs act of heroism. They pull a fellow soldier to safety during a gunfight, or land a plane in the Hudson after it loses both engines, or chase down the guy who stole an … Continue reading
Posted in Food For Thought, Inspiration
Tagged Change, Goal, Heroism, Inspiration, Nathan Myhrvold, Passion, Slow, Work
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Minimum Viable Personality
Excellent thoughts here on cultivating personality in your products. Note that just about everything can be thought of as a product. If you produce reports for a living, the report is your product. You can create a brand out of … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Quotes, Relationships
Tagged Art, Business, Creativity, Personality, relationships
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Stop: You Don’t Know His Motivation Until You Ask
A friend of mine once bought a house for roughly half of what it was worth. The market was still booming. The seller certainly could have gotten more. Why would anyone make such a terrible deal? John G. emailed to … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Rationality, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Interaction, Negotiation, people, relationships
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On Being Too Good
When Roger Bannister broke the 4:00 barrier, a wave of runners suddenly poured through the hole he had smashed. Before Bannister, a sub four minute mile was unthinkable. After Banister, well, who cares if you ran a 3:59? So did … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Inspiration, Self-Improvement
Tagged Art, Business, Creativity, mastery, Practice, Technique
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The Secret To Success Is Failure
Dominic Randolph is the headmaster at an elite New York prep school. His clientele is made up of offspring of New York’s elite, a group of rich and powerful people who fork over $38,500 for pre-kindergarten. These kids, you might … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Character, Ethics, Failure, Fortitude, Grit, Morals, Self-Improvement, Success
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Selling Out Your Dream For $140 A Week
You’ve got two job offers: Option 1 is a job at a fantastic company, with great people, doing something you want to be doing. Option 2 is a job at a good company, with good people, doing ok work. But, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Rationality
Tagged Decision making, Dream Job, Evaluation, Goal, Priorities
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Test Your Way To A Raise
Testing is fundamentally important to increase your odds of success. Yes, you may have been born an athletic freak. You may write a screenplay that strikes the right tone at the right time and is wildly successful. You may come … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Art, Business, Self-Improvement, Testing, Tracking
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Should I Go To Medical School?
A lot of bright young people consider going into medicine. Like any profession, it has its downsides, but, at least to me, it was pretty obvious that those downsides were much bigger than in many other fields. But, not having … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Relationships
Tagged Doctor, Mecial School, Medicine, Physician, Question
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