My Table of Values: This is Who I am in 22 Bullets

A result of reading 100 books a year for 12 years & never letting being shy get in the way

I’ve kept a table of my most important values for the past 9 years. I updated it often whenever I realize something that is true and important for me.
It explains who I am extremely well and fast, so if you want to get to know me, here we go!

Preface, the things that shaped my worldview most are:

1. I listen to ~100 books a year and have done so for the past 12 years.
2. I have an extreme bias towards action, especially when it’s outside my comfort zone, so I tend to have extreme experiences (stolen laptop example, building 36 products in college example, Forbes example). These extreme experiences often result in me learning new things about myself that inform my values.
3. I love thinking about philosophy to understand myself, the world, and the meaning of life. I take time to learn what gives me energy and what makes me happy.
4. I won the lottery when it comes to parents, siblings, and friends.

My Table of Values

1. Love is one of the most important things in life, and is one of the only things that, the more you give of it to others, the more you have to give — It is like fire, flowing from one candle to another without diminishing the original flame (in this case, enhancing it).
2. There is a way around every obstacle. All systems for example, have been erected by and are governed by people. As a result, there is a way of getting around any rule within a human ran system by contacting the person at the top of the governance structure and convincing them to help you or give you a special exception.
3. I believe, unwaveringly, that I am capable of doing anything I set my mind to — even things most people consider impossible, given enough time.
4. I believe that I have personal agency and the power to change the world and the situations around me. [1]
5. Going outside your comfort zone is a virtue and leads to growth. [“You cannot fail unless you quit”; “Your success in life can be measured by the number of hard conversations you have”]
6. Economics is not a zero sum game. [2]
7. I can Create value in the world.
8. Education and self improvement are a virtue.
9. Personal growth is a virtue. Any activity that makes me a better or a more capable person advances all three of my top goals (listed below), and thus is greatly encouraged.
10. Using my time unproductively is an anti-virtue. [3]
11. If, in a short unit of time I can significantly improve someone else’s life, do it. This usually happens in the form of helping someone adopt a habit, keeping them accountable, or introducing them to new resources or information.
12. Decision making necessitates information. The more perfect one’s information the better one’s decision making (for the most part).
13. Each person has a model of the universe in their brain. To make a great model/map I need to gather a lot of good information, then I need to organize this information into the most correct form possible. An excellent extrapolate-able model with little data (.SVG) is usually superior to a lot of data that is organized in good static form (.JPEG). Start by crafting an excellent model and then update that model constantly. Fill data into the model to flesh it out. [4]
14. Knowledge is like a tree. Building a great trunk will allow me to add branches easily. Once I have a trunk and branches adding leaves is easy and requires little memory because they just fit in place. If I don’t have a branch at a certain spot it will be almost impossible to retain a new leaf of information in that space. This is why re-reading books is sometimes extremely useful. Learning is all about growing my tree, improving my model of the universe, and iterating on this table of values.
15. I can take on groups and win: Just because a group thinks something and I think something different it does not mean that I am wrong and the group is right. Just because a group is competing against me as an individual it does not mean that the group will win.
16. If you smile at people (usually) they will smile back.
17. The world is big and diverse but in practice it is now small due to technology.
18. People by default are good and will help me if I ask.
19. I am one of the happiest people I have ever met (though happiness is difficult to measure). My hypothesis is that this is because of how much love I regularly shared with others, how frequently I feel gratitude and appreciation, that I’ve been able to overcome and achieve WHILE having struggles, due to how I feel and react when I do not meet goals I set for myself, because I prioritize self growth, because I feel such strong personal agency, and because I’ve turned smiling at strangers into a standard way of being, and because of my parents and siblings. In other words, due to most of the philosophies on this list.
20. When in real life I’m presented with two choices I need to decide between, there are almost always a third and fourth option that are also accessible (and sometimes more desirable), they just take way more work to achieve (and often luck). Most people don’t realize these extra options exist because of how much work and luck they would take to achieve.
    If I go for the third and fourth option, often they will not pan out, but due to statistics and how luck works, sometimes they will. So, sometimes instead of needing to decide, I need to think outside the box, and then execute.
21. In the case of really big decisions, working for the third and fourth option, even if I achieve them 1 out of 100 times can result in massive, life-changing wins.
22. Goals: I believe that the things that will bring me the greatest happiness and satisfaction in life as a whole are:
    A. Making myself the best person I can be, and raising kids who are greater than me.
    B. Maximizing the love in my life — with my partner, family, friends etc.
    C. Creating as much value as possible in the world and elevating the collective quality of life worldwide, most likely by founding technology companies in the short term and mentoring in the long term.
    These three things are my top goals in life.

I wrote most of another article (which is gigantic)on how I came to these values. But I wanted to keep this short. If you message me I can share the longer article with you.

Notes:
[1] What is Personal Agency?
[2] Economics is not a zero sum game? Will write a follow up post to explain this if I get enough requests for it.
[3] Spending time on love is productive.
[4] Another article or a talk to expand on this coming soon as requested by Randy

Thank you Randy, Simeon, Matt, Justin, Valentin, Max, Chris, Hadar, Stephanie, Tyler, Paul, Nick, and Annie for reading drafts of this.