Weekly Mix #234 - How to make better decisions in your life

Thinking in Bets, Status Games, Augusta National & Harsh Truths

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Happy Monday!

The Masters—one of the major golf tournaments of the year—happened over the weekend.

I was chatting with a friend who didn't know much about golf, giving background on why this was a big weekend, the return of Tiger, and his history in the game.

The discussion moved to the mental side of golf, and my long-standing belief that professional athletes—and "performers" of any kind really—need a certain level of arrogance to perform at their best.

The mindset acts like a bit of a mental barrier, allowing you to push through adversity, or doubt.

Arrogance has a negative connotation, but thankfully I stumbled upon this Tweet, which described this kind of mental state perfectly: earned confidence.

Shane Parrish-->

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@ShaneAParrish

@RyanHoliday Earned confidence.

Ryan Holiday-->

@RyanHoliday

Belief in yourself is overrated. Generate evidence.

April 9th 2022

2

Retweets

65

Likes

Earned confidence comes from repeatedly proving to yourself that you're capable of doing something. Of performing at a high level.

It comes from repetitive practice, not bluster or false confidence.

Mental fortitude is a key part of success in almost all areas of our lives.

Earn your confidence.

Have a great week.

Graham

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Links

📚 Book Notes: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke - One of the best, and most applicable, books on decision-making I've ever read. Annie is a former poker player and business consultant, and there's something in here for everyone to improve the quality of their thinking and decision-making.

📖 Choose Your Status Game Wisely - Nick Maggiulli - Of Dollars and Data - "Status games" have gained wider understanding as a term and a concept in the age of social media. As humans, we seek status: wealth, beauty, fame. Primates do the same thing; it's hard for us to ignore. But we do get to choose which games we play, which are often heavily influenced by our environment. So which should you choose? How can you lower their influence?

📖 Inside the Cultish Dreamworld of Augusta National - Nick Paumgarten - The New Yorker - A long piece from 2019 about the Masters, which happened this weekend. A bit of a cynical take, it does well to balance small experiences with the overall surreal quality of the event.

📖 Tesla, Block and Blockstream team up to mine bitcoin off solar power in Texas - MacKenzie Sigalos - CNBC - The emphasis of this project is two-fold: prove that Bitcoin mining can be done in an environmentally way, and show how Bitcoin mining can make energy generation in remote areas viable. The second part is fascinating: Bitcoin mining can make it so that energy generation is no longer required to be connected to the grid.

🔧 Thinking in colour - Knack - This interactive test was developed in conjunction with Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and is meant to measure how black and white your thinking is. Use these tests with a healthy dose of skepticism, and as a good reason to reflect on how you think. All of us should probably be thinking a little less black-and-white and a little more in shades of grey.

​10 Tweets

​3 simple steps to edit your writing​

​How to turn writing and YouTube into businesses​

​Trust in media organizations by political affiliation​

​11 harsh truths about life​

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