MY UNPOPULAR OPINIONS

“What do you believe is true that nobody else agrees with?”

This question, popularized by Peter Thiel, is a very good one. Recently, I heard Derek Sivers re-coined his answer as “unpopular opinions I hold,” and the more I thought about it, the more I felt the burning impulse to share my own.

• If you’re within the 18–24-year-old range and you aren’t embarrassed by the person you were one year ago, you’re not growing enough
• “Follow your passion” is not only terrible career advice, it’s also extremely dangerous because it tells people that they should start with something they “love” before they even know 1) what they’re good at, and 2) what “career love” even feels like
• Being a little cocky is a good thing
• Anyone with persistent, low-grade anxiety or stress (read: all of us) should spend less time talking about it and more time either near the ocean or by an open fire
• By the time you’re 25, you have the face and body you deserve
• People who don’t care about what they wear are less cool and independent as they are lacking thoughtfulness
• People who say that they don’t read on Kindle because they prefer physical books are snobs
• Women (or Men if you are a woman) and alcohol are sources of more stress than they are worth, a vast majority of the time
• If you have to say that you are funny, interesting, powerful, or sexy, you are not any of these things
• Only boring people get bored