33 Takeaways
From entrepreneurship and engineering to health and wellness, I’ve never learned so much in a single year from so many incredible people.
When I say “learned”, I don’t mean “heard” or “observed”—I mean truly, deeply, and measureably experienced these lessons first-hand.
What follows are my 33 takeaways of the year. Each includes bracketed initials crediting the friend, colleague, client, or family member who best embodies the lesson as I understand it today.
- If whatever you’re doing now isn’t the greatest thing you’ve ever done, you’re headed in the wrong direction. Maintain nonnegotiable standards to filter high volumes of opportunity. [MW]
- From girlfriends to customers, people deserve clarity. Even if they don’t like what you have to say, they’ll appreciate your transparency in the long run. [TZ]
- All tools have inbuilt limitations. If you recognize these limitations, most tools become twice as valuable. [TK]
- True “experts” know not what they’ve learned, or how much, but what they haven’t. It’s not immediately clear to me why anyone is particularly qualified for anything. [EG]
- To help others solve problems, don’t tell the answer—facilitate their thinking to help them arrive at your solution independently. They’ll adopt it more eagerly, completley, and creatively. [MW]
- If you’re smart, nothing is a big deal. If you haven’t solved a problem, it’s usually because you haven’t tried and are lying to yourself. [TR]
- Success is built on failure. If you haven’t failed along the way, it’s an indication you probably aren’t approaching success. [SS]
- You’re only done learning when you choose to be. If there was nothing useful left to learn, you’d rule the planet. And you don’t. [AM]
- Genius, unlike stupidity, is bound by ego. Transcend the self to transcend the problem. [RV]
- Distributing more risk is often safer than consolidating less risk. The only thing you have to fear is risk itself. [SvS]
- Semantics aren’t semantics. Words matter, and don’t deserve to be an afterthought. [LP]
- When making strategic decisions under pressure, consider three key criteria: sustainability, scalability, and stability. Also consider what kinds of capital it can cultivate: economic, social, intellectual, individual, political, human, risk, spiritual, brand, or legal. [JW]
- Authenticity is liberation. Don’t fall in love with anything that doesn’t involve you at your truest and your best. [TZ]
- Constraints can be good. They force you to expose what you value. [RS]
- “But” is the wrong word 99% of the time. Often, no conjunction is needed. [OA]
- You haven’t “empowered” someone until they’re able to empower others. Accessibility, freedom, motivation and capacity are hallmarks of empowerment. [BE]
- Hierarchy works because it’s natural. Horizontalism works because everyone tries harder. [GK]
- How you think about how you think, matters. Do you think of yourself as realistic? Or are you actually pessimistic or optimistic? [BO]
- Failure “per se” is not a good thing, as many people believe. That doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. And it’s OK to be OK with failure. [KR]
- “Lead from the back, and let others believe they are in the front.” It doesn’t matter that you’re the leader, only that you’re good at what you do. [BE]
- When used properly, money is not a motivation, but a measure of motivation. And untainted motivation is usually self-perpetuating. [DE]
- Organization hinges on three things: control flow, intent, and function. Everything else is superfluous. [MW]
- People prioritize intent. It’s what they pay for, fall in love for, and go to war over most of the time. [RK]
- Flip a coin. Just before it lands, you’ll know what you want. [AK]
- Most opportunities are just accidents captured and capitalized upon. They’re neither the most nor least significant path to a win. [YF]
- Truth is a state of mind. And everyone has their own opinion. [MK]
- “Human systems move in the direction of the questions they ask.” Asking what question to ask is often underrated. [DC]
- Teaching and selling are just two sides of the same coin. Teaching is making someone care enough to understand; selling is teaching someone to love something the way you do. [EG]
- “A poem is never finished as long as you’re still breathing.” There’s always impulse for improvement or change. [JB]
- “Reality divided by expectations equals happiness.” Likewise, you are under no obligation to give people what they expect. [SW]
- Assumptions are everywhere. Identify them pathologically. [RA]
- There’s no such thing as “luck”. Either you make your own luck, or the people around you make it for you. [SS]
- The difference between confidence and arrogance is empathy. Leaders know this and claim responsibility for it. [CB]
To all those who have made me a better person, I thank you. In a very real way, I wouldn’t be the learner I am today if not for each of you. To everyone else, I encourage you to broaden my horizons: please, leave your comments in the margins to question, support, or extend these nuggets.
After all, there’s nothing like a good conversation to uncork the New Year. ■