Weekly Wisdom #302 - "Overnight Successes," Just Keep Buying, The Five Regrets of the Dying and Mental Models for Reading

"Overnight Successes," Just Keep Buying, The Five Regrets of the Dying and Mental Models for Reading

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Happy Sunday!

It seems like the world is moving faster than ever.

Crypto, AI, biotech breakthroughs—there's something new every day, and progress is measured in months.

Many of these breakthroughs are considered "overnight successes," a term that everyone loves to use, but is rarely accurate.

In most cases, those breakthroughs and successes look more like this:

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The "breakthroughs" are actually built on years of hard work with results that weren't nearly as visible, or successful.

And that work was probably only possible because of the work of others that came before.

So the "overnight success" is more of a myth, and we should be wary whenever the term is used.

Instead, we should praise those that stuck with it for so long, and aim to apply the same kind of persistence and patience to our own pursuits.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📚 Book Notes: Just Keep Buying - Nick Maggiulli - A great book to recommend to anyone looking to up their personal finance game.

If you’re well-versed in personal finance, you won’t find a ton of new material here, but it’s a quick read, with some fresh viewpoints on a number of topics.

Read this alongside The Psychology of Money and I Will Teach You To Be Rich and you’ll be ahead of the vast majority when it comes to personal finance.

📖 The Top Five Regrets of the Dying - Bronnie Ware - Palliative care worker Bronnie Ware put together a list of the most common regrets of the dying:

I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

I wish I had let myself be happier.

It's a list that we should all try and keep in mind a little more often, in a world where striving to be better is a constant focus.

Paul Graham adds some useful commentary to the list:

"The alarming thing is, the mistakes that produce these regrets are all errors of omission. You forget your dreams, ignore your family, suppress your feelings, neglect your friends, and forget to be happy. Errors of omission are a particularly dangerous type of mistake, because you make them by default."

His solution?

"Don't ignore your dreams; don't work too much; say what you think; cultivate friendships; be happy."

Tweet of the Week

Alex is a fellow book-lover who publishes all kinds of reading-related content. This is a great list of mental models that you can spe

Alex & Books 📚-->

@AlexAndBooks_

10 Mental models that will make you a better reader:

1) Lindy Effect 🏛️

Read more old books–the longer a book has been around, the longer it will stick around.

A book that has been useful for the past 80 years will be useful for the next 80. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1765373536569299084

8:47 AM • Mar 6, 2024

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