Mind As Real Estate

Your mind is the most valuable piece of real estate in the world.

Your attention is limited. What you give your attention to is what you give your energy, your life force to.

Any thought that’s hanging around in your head needs to deserve to be there.

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind.
— Marcus Aurelius

Spend a bit of time thinking about what you would like to think about and less time rushing to act. Action drives out thought. When you rush to use your phone first thing in the morning, your thoughts will…

When you’re facing a situation next, try to ask yourself, Which One Of Those Am I Dealing With?

It helps you detach and see more clearly.

If you’re very emotional about a person or subject, you’re less likely to think clearly about it.

Asking this question will reinforce the idea that you’re not the only one dealing with this and that it’s not a unique situation that you alone are facing. Once you start seeing that, it’ll become easier to distance yourself from the situation as well as reduce any potential anxiety or tension rising from what’s happening.

You will…

Any year that passes in which you don’t destroy one of your best loved ideas is a wasted year — Charlie Munger

Think about how we form ideas and opinions. How many of them go through critical thinking and gets stress tested? The odds are, not many.

The more we talk or write about our ideas and opinions, the more they get cemented in our brain, even if they’re false. The effect is amplified if we’re publishing papers and building a career around those ideas.

Science Progresses One Funeral At A Time

When you’re buying something online, it’s of course easy to know whether you’re prepared to pay the price because the price is clearly displayed.

You know exactly what you’re getting. You pay $15.00 and you get a salad in exchange — it’s an easy yes or no decision.

There’s no confusion about the price that you’re expected to pay.

But what about for all of the other activities in life that don’t have a clear price tag? In such cases, it can be easy to forget that we’re still paying a price — with time, mind space, emotion, and effort.

…

When you see a good person, think of becoming like her. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points. — Confucius

Whenever I find myself judging a person, I try to remember to ask myself the question, Why Am I Judging?

We as human beings have a natural tendency to judge others. It feels comforting, helps us make sense of things and validates us.

What I’ve found is that the stronger my reaction (that person is a bit lazy versus that person is completely useless!), …

“Any year that passes in which you don’t destroy one of your best loved ideas is a wasted year.” — Charlie Munger

It’s good to question our knowledge occasionally.

How can you be certain that what you believe to be true isn’t complete bullshit?

Our worldview is shaped by many factors and those influences often lie beneath the surface, outside of conscious thought.

A friend says something to you, then it comes up again in an article that you read or in your Facebook Newsfeed, then the next day you see something about it on Twitter. …

The closer you are to something, the more your judgment is likely to be impaired. Maybe it seems obvious. Until you’re in the moment and then it helps to have a reminder that, Maybe this is a good time to have some distance.

The question How Close Am I To This? is especially useful to ask in situations where you need to make important decisions.

To consider the question of how close you are to something, consider whether the following factors are present:

• Emotion — when emotions are charged as they tend to get in relationships and business
• Repetition— repetition…

We make millions upon millions of decisions during our lifetime. Some big, some small. We’re born with a lot of innate abilities but decision making certainly isn’t one of them. Smart people make dumb decisions all the time and are vulnerable to thinking errors. Since our lives are essentially the result of all our choices, it makes sense to devote a good deal of time to thinking about decisions and how we can improve our ability to make better decisions.

Thinking About Decisions

Each decision represents a bet about an uncertain future. …