Wisdom for Personal Growth: The Hardest Truth

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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.

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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 exploring why what you don’t read is as important as what you do:

“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.”

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.”

Source: Interview with Walter Schloss carried in Outstanding Investor Digest (June 23rd, 1989)

V4 | Art | Audience

The audience is the invisible participant in every work of art.  They are the eyes that see, the ears that hear, the minds that interpret.  Without an audience, art is like a tree falling in an empty ­ forest—­   it may make a sound, but does it matter?  The audience is what gives art its meaning, its purpose, and its very existence.

Every observer infuses art with personal significance, transforming it into a co-creation. A painting of a sunset may evoke feelings of peace and beauty for one person and feelings of melancholy and loss for another. The artwork is the same, but the audience is different, so the meaning is different.  In this sense, the audience is a cocreator of the art.

Great artists design their work for these silent judges, balancing authenticity with expectation without succumbing to pandering. The audience is their silent collaborator and their ultimate judge. 

The audience is something real in a world where so much can be faked. You can fake likes, followers, and reviews, but you can’t fake the genuine human experience of engaging with art.  The spontaneous laughter, unexpected tears, and long, thoughtful silence are the honest reactions that both the audience and the artist lives for.

Never forget your audience, but never let them dictate your creation.

— Source: The Great Mental Models v4: Economics and Art

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Credit: Thanks to https://fs.blog/