Resenhas - Ikigai

Ana Viebrantz 14/12/2020

Não compartilho da visão do autor em muitas questões abordadas.

Moitta 18/11/2016

Buddhism encourages the center path–neither wanting nor aversion. Most people think Buddhism is about no desires, but they're kind of mistaken. It's about being very neutral about getting, but also about staying away from. It's easy for me to walk the center path with other people's objectives, very calm. Neither wanting nor aversion.


Week 1: Research and list 10 people achieving at the target level he wants. Week 2: Research all of their marketing channels and credentials. Week 3: Figure out which channels/credentials might be attempted to build the fastest. Weeks 4 and 5: Put in a couple hours each day trying to get those credentials. For instance, make an amazing brochure with what you know in week 4, and then in week 5 print it on super high quality glossy paper at $30 per brochure. (High quality paper is a super hack to come across as ultra-professional.) Send the brochure to the top 50 people you want as clients. Cost: $1500. Follow up with them relentlessly. Offer free services to all of them as a trial. Get a testimonial when one of them inevitably says yes. See if you can use that to approach a key person in their organization and get discount purchasing on your services—sell in bulk. Get a testimonial. Go pitch to people who need elite performance that you're the official supplier for this major prestigious organization.


My life is so weird and interesting and cool and crazy, but I don't have any particularly rare talent. I just do a bunch of stuff that might work, and won't hurt too bad if it doesn't work.


The million dollar question … why don't people take the large opportunities in front of them? Why don't they allow their dreams to become realities? Because it means you won't be understood.


Those are some general guidelines for what to do if you're not sure what you want yet. Start building skills, credentials, money, contacts. Study some history to see what's possible. Study rationality and learn how to think. Learn practical skills, like how to do arithmetic fast, type fast, get along with people, negotiate. Establish good habits. These all prepare you to be really exceptional once you do have an excellent mission or goal at the end of the road. Once you find what you want to do, you'll be very happy you prepared.


There's many ways to live a good and meaningful life, but I think one of the most important steps is to think on what a good and meaningful life would be to you.
Be honest when you do it. Don't write down stuff that just sounds nice, or be like what you think you "should" want. Write what actually comes down to you. Put the time into this, and the questions you've got will eventually become more clear. Not necessarily right away—of course not, this is about finding what you're going to make the main cause of your life, what you live and breathe for. It doesn't necessarily happen fast. But it's time well spent, even if you don't get fast results. If you spend time thinking with pen and paper, you'll come to some conclusions. Be honest with yourself when you do it, do it for just yourself and nobody else when you're writing about what really matters to you, and that helps a lot.


It'd be impossible to evaluate whether "trust people and don't worry about written agreements" or "write down agreements and sign them" is better without data. If you were guessing, you might think the goodwill from the first way is worth the chance of miscommunication or dishonesty. But you'd be wrong. Writing things down is better across the board, does not imply a lack of trust, and in fact leads to better operations and better agreements in most business contexts.


So, marketing—marketing happens, it exists, and someone's going to do it. Now, there's things I won't do because of my personal opposition to them, but in a world where marketing and advertising exists, you need to do it because that's the equilibrium. If you fight against equilibriums, you lose. As for changing your values, you'll want to constantly get exposure to new ideas and get a better understanding of how things actually work in the real world over time. Previously I thought something like, "Most marketing and advertising is only something that bad people do, so I won't do it" to "Marketing and advertising is part of the landscape, it's going to happen regardless of how I feel about it, so the best produces and services should be marketed and succeed and reach people." (I'm simplifying a little, my views were a bit more complex than that and are a bit more complex than it now, but that's the gist of it)


I do differentiate personally between "low happinesses" and "high happinesses"—this isn't ultra-scientific, just how I personally think about it. Low happinesses like contentment, sensory pleasure, etc. I don't think those are important to pursue. High happinesses—triumph, camaraderie, epiphany, wisdom—those I think are worth pursuing.


The low happinesses do frequently conflict with expansion, and also conflict with the high happinesses … . To that end, I say that you need enough low happiness to function. I actually rate it as very important—easily as important as having good respiration or circulation. Without enough low happiness, you stop functioning well. With none at all, you die sooner or later.


As I suggested previously, if you don't know what you're doing, here are some useful things to be doing: Starting to study and develop your own ethical system Making good friends, advisors, and mentors who are strong and decent people Learning universally useful skills Earning a few credentials Putting money in the bank Getting your credit up Studying history to learn what's possible Establishing good habits that'll carry you through life Becoming very fit and healthy Learning how to think … and so on.


I figure, if I chase meaning, the happiness and fun largely takes care of itself. To be sure, some happiness is important—it's important the way good respiration, circulation, and good immune system is important. It's part of being a healthy, functioning human.


No, most people who accomplish amazing things do it because it's the road they walk. Yes, if you rule the nation, your belly still only holds a fistful of rice. But rarely do people who found nations care about what's in their belly. They wouldn't reach the height of greatness if they did.


It's always interesting for me to see how people weight intentions and results. Me? I'm like 99% results/1% intentions. If someone consistently acts in an excellent, upstanding, thorough, efficient, consistent, helpful in order to … boost their reputation or get paid or get promoted or whatever, that's totally cool with me. This is contrary to how most people in society think. They'd prefer someone with altruistic motives who is a bit of a screw-up than someone with self-interested motives who behaves well.


By doing an action repeatedly, eventually you become the kind of person who does that action. If you repeatedly ask, "What can I do to come across as helpful?" and execute on that, then you become a helpful person.


In any field, brilliant maneuvers are remembered and celebrated. But brilliant maneuvers without consolidation amounts to nothing long-term except the empty glory.


Brilliance is brilliant, but brilliance without consolidation gives you empty entries in the history books. There's many examples of companies that led great innovations, but were unable to capitalize on them. Tesla was a brilliant scientist, but Edison was better at consolidation.


"Command Flows to the Worthy 'Command' is having people listen to you and accept your recommendations and instructions. 'Worthiness' is achieved by: 1.) Being competent, 2.) Understanding everyone’s needs, and 3.) Taking care of people’s needs (both intrinsic and extrinsic). Everything else about command is a derivation of those three."


A lot of people don't understand good negotiating. They think it's about getting the best price—no, no, no. Good negotiation is about figuring out what you can offer that's worth more to the other person than you, and what they can offer that's worth more to you than them.


If you're buying, you want to be a dream customer.


A lot of times when someone is buying, yes they're concerned with what they get, but they also have other concerns that people ignore. You need to make everyone look good.

Those little details go a long, long ways. Does a guy getting his kitchen remodeled care more about the kind of countertop used, or how his wife thinks about him? Make people look good to the people they really care about.


Aristotle's approach to defining the correct balance is to treat money like any other useful thing, and say that the virtue is to know how to use money: giving to the right people, the right amount at the right time.


Keep in mind you're going to die. It puts things into perspective. Mild discomfort? Who cares, you're going to fucking DIE at some point. DO SOME COOL STUFF BEFORE THAT HAPPENS. As far as I know, you get one bite at the apple that is life. Embarrassment? Dude, eternity stretches before and after us. Embarrassment is your neurochemistry in a mildly uncomfortable position. It doesn't matter at all. None of us are such a big deal that we can't be embarrassed. Do some cool stuff today, there's no reason not to. Thank some people, do some art, drop a line to an old mentor or teacher or to your family or whatever. Life is fleeting. I meditate on this daily, which helps put things in perspective. The worry of being embarrassed pales in comparison to the the very real concern with wasting my limited life energy. The worry of coming across poorly or un-genuine or fake pales in comparison to the very real concern of wasting my limited life energy.


"The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him."


Doing things without reasons (usually because of habit/custom, or out of emotion) leads to ineffectiveness and misery. The first dictum of strategy, then, is "do things for reasons." The way to start doing that is to ask, "What is my objective here?"


The simpler version is to ask yourself, "What is winning?" Do things for reasons. Don't "do shit" for no reason. Your naive impulse is unlikely to produce the best result. Ask, "What is my objective here? What gives me the best chance of reaching it?" Ask, "What is winning?" Follow up with action. Adjust if necessary. Win.


I don't think stupidity causes as many problems as I originally thought. Nah, it's not stupidity. You know what causes problems? People who are oblivious and aren't paying attention.

Maybe the biggest problem really intelligent people have is that they spend more time being clever than being effective. I used to suffer from this disease of the mind. I'd want to do something new, novel, and fascinating—instead of just getting something done. The really effective people I know, the people who make the biggest difference in the world, who make the best things, who get the most done, who live the best lives—they all are more concerned with getting something done that fits than with making it clever.

Trying to reinvent the wheel constantly. Using words people don't know—maybe makes you seem clever, but makes you much less clear and less effective. Trying to show off instead of listening. Trying to make a point in an obscure way for no good reason—instead of just saying it outright. The absolute worst one? Arguing with people over stuff that doesn't matter—you win the point, but become radioactive to whoever you were arguing with. Proving someone wrong? Yeah, clever. Very ineffective, though.


1.) The ugliest win in the world is superior to the prettiest defeat. You usually don't want risk losing in order to win a little prettier. 2.) It ain't over 'till it's over. Don't party until the cash is in the bank. Finish things when they can be finished.


"After victory, tighten the straps on your helmet."—Tokugawa


"They don't get it!" No, you don't get it. I'm writing this largely as a reminder to myself. Sometimes I do something that I think is really cool. Then I go share it with the world. And sometimes, I get feedback that seems off-base to me.


No, it's on you, if you're creating, to make sure people get it. And that doesn't just mean being logical if you're writing or having great features if you're marketing a product you made or having the right qualifications if you're trying to land a job or a contract. Nope. Being right isn't enough. You also have to do everything else. If you're writing a piece, you have to make sure the title, introduction, images, and formatting all fit the expectations and heuristics of the people who you care about if they "get it" or not.

Because if you're getting your ass kicked by a competitor that's got a worse product than you, it's not your customers that don't get it—YOU don't get it.


 My guess is that here, as with the calculus test, the main problem is that most courses of action are extremely ineffective, and that there has been no strong evolutionary or cultural force sufficient to focus us on the very narrow behavior patterns that would actually be effective. 

 We do not automatically: (a) Ask ourselves what we're trying to achieve;  (b) Ask ourselves how we could tell if we achieved it ("what does it look like to be a good comedian?") and how we can track progress;  (c) Find ourselves strongly, intrinsically curious about information that would help us achieve our goal;  (d) Gather that information (e.g., by asking as how folks commonly achieve our goal, or similar goals, or by tallying which strategies have and haven't worked for us in the past);  (e) Systematically test many different conjectures for how to achieve the goals, including methods that aren't habitual for us, while tracking which ones do and don't work;  (f) Focus most of the energy that *isn't* going into systematic exploration, on the methods that work best; (g) Make sure that our "goal" is really our goal, that we coherently want it and are not constrained by fears or by uncertainty as to whether it is worth the effort, and that we have thought through any questions and decisions in advance so they won't continually sap our energies; (h) Use environmental cues and social contexts to bolster our motivation, so we can keep working effectively in the face of intermittent frustrations, or temptations based in hyperbolic discounting; .... or carry out any number of other useful techniques.

 Instead, we mostly just do things.  We act from habit; we act from impulse or convenience when primed by the activities in front of us; we remember our goal and choose an action that feels associated with our goal.  We do any number of things.  But we do not systematically choose the narrow sets of actions that would effectively optimize for our claimed goals, or for any other goals.

Why?  Most basically, because humans are only just on the cusp of general intelligence.  That is not at all the same as the ability to automatically implement these heuristics.  Our verbal, conversational systems are much better at abstract reasoning than are the motivational systems that pull our behavior.

Identify -> (make decision to begin) -> Research -> (begin) -> Test -> (analyze early results) -> Focus -> (make firm commitment at this stage) -> Persevere -> (achieve or re-evaluate) -> (back to step 1) I believe Anna roughly laid out five key stages—Identify, research, test, focus, persevere. I believe there's seven other stages mixed in—make decision to begin, begin, analyze early results, make firm commitment, achieve or re-evaluate, repeat.

Make decision to begin – I believe this is an underrated component to achieving. Saying, "I have now decided start pursuing this goal." 

Envy and schadenfreude are common emotions. People like seeing their opponents fail. Is it possible to get over that? Would it be desirable to get over that?

I think looking for things to like, respect, connect with—even if you're playing a zero-sum game—goes a long way. Instead of rooting for Peyton Manning to throw an interception, you start trying to figure out what he sees that causes him to audible … this is something most Patriots fan are blind to, because they hate the guy. They don't want to appreciate his skills, so they blind themselves to things they could learn about.

This goes against human nature. We want enemies, and we want to root for our enemies to fail.

This is admittedly hard to do. But I think it's good. It's not always possible, but I think it's healthy to start to want everyone to win.


I'm working on doing important stuff. And I really think it does come down to: 1.) Constantly improve fundamentals 2.) Look for synergies in other fields 3.) Regularly complete attempts to do significant work (and ideally ship them) I think if you do those three regularly, you're pretty likely to produce some genius-quality work.


honestly, I don't think it's very hard to do genius-quality work, if you decide to try. Most people don't try. But if you did try, I think you could do some. What's genius-quality work? Hard to define. Let's try, though. "Something that makes a large, permanent impact on an important field." That's not quite right, but it's close enough for now. Here's the interesting point, here's why I wrote this post: I reject the notion of a person who is a "genius"–you're either doing genius-quality work or you aren't. Regular, normal people (you and me) who keep trying to make large, permanent impacts on important fields are likely to do so at some point, and that's genius-quality work.


I'd rank effectiveness, desire, and consistency/persistence all higher than intelligence for tangible success. By "effectiveness", I just mean the ability to get shit done. I don't have a fancy definition of it, but some people can obviously get shit done, and others can't. You need to be able to get shit done to get wealthy (or otherwise do meaningful things). Then "desire". A lot of people—it doesn't really occur to them to get wealthy. Or they don't want it. Or they don't think it's possible for them. Or—and this is totally fair—they rank other things as more important than wealth. That's fine, if that's what they choose.


Then "consistency/persistence". I think you've got to be working on your long term objectives almost daily, or at least weekly. If you put them off until some undetermined date in the future, it's very likely they never happen. So, the ability to consistently put in time and persist when things suck (and keep putting in time, even if you're sick/tired/demoralized/whatever), I think those are all important.

Something that is not done at that time at that place will remain unfinished for a lifetime.

1.) No one's coming to save you. You've got to scratch and claw forwards the first part of the journey. 2.) Bad feelings and tension aren't going to help solve this, so do the stuff that you know clears those out. Nature, exercise, breathing, etc. 3.) A lot of "effortless passion" you see is kind of an illusion. There's a component of working-through-suck in being successful at almost anything, but most successful people kind of mask that. 4.) Bouncing around is normal. In the process of bouncing around, try to pick up skills, assets, resources, connections, habits, experiences that you think are likely to make you successful later. 5.) I got quite a bit of mileage of going to a cafe, ordering a coffee, and writing at the top of the page, "What do I want?" Frequently nothing interesting would happen, but whenever I'd do it 10-20 times, I'd get 1-2 epiphanies out of it.

The dabbler moves on when things get tough. The generalist keeps going until he puts enough work out that he feels complete in a particular field, and then, and only then, is he on to the next thing.

In order to avoid dabbling, ship work in the fields you care about before moving on.

But here's what I think is the big problem—people expect their passion to hit them in the head someday, then they'll "get it", and then they're driven and motivated and ready to go. I don't think so. I don't think you can sit and think about what you might want to do, and then wake up inspired one day. This is what I see with people who are uninspired—they think they're going to fix that problem by doing a careful search of what might inspire them. Then, once they find it, they'll take lots of action. Nope. That's backwards.


So that's the first thing, I think, about passion—it doesn't come from sitting and thinking about it, it comes from diving in and getting dirty. But what if you have too many interests? Miguel writes, "I have had that problem myself, well, my problem is that I always had too many passions and wanted to do everything which is fun but also dilutes your chances to be very good at something specifically." As I previously noted, do you know what I think the difference is between a generalist and a dabbler? Shipping. Completing and delivering things.


The "how" passions are probably even harder to guess from just reading a book to know that you enjoy it—you do need to jump in, try some stuff, ship some stuff, and see what happens.


More and more, I'm thinking produce and ship stuff. Even tiny tiny things. If you get into a new kind of music, write up your thoughts and first impressions on it—either on a blog, or even just Amazon reviews. The mindset shift from being a consumer to being a producer is huge, even if what you produce doesn't see all that much use at first.

If the man is thinking about the fence, he's not thinking about something else. If the fence was built, he could be proud and celebrate for a moment, but then stop thinking about it, which frees his thought cycles to do other things, or just to relax more.

When you let go of your ego (wants, desires, your self identity, etc.) and accept the situation for what it is, then you're able to take as many chances as you'd like. There is no attachment to any expected outcome, therefore there's no resentment, no frustration. There is only looking forward for the next opportunity!

I didn't fully realize it. Your broker or money manager recommends a purchase to you—look into it, he doesn't care about your money as much as you do. No matter how good he is. No matter how loyal. You care more about your life than he does. When someone recommends a drug or food to you, look into it. No one cares about your life as much as you do. That lesson was precious, taking an elbow uppercut and dinging up a tooth was worth it. And heck, even if it wasn't worth it—the price was already paid. There's usually a lesson to be learned from that sort of experience. You already paid for it. Might as well claim it now, it'll probably be useful later.

If you become really passionate about something, maybe you want to become an expert in the field. In your profession, learning all the details can make for highly polished work. There's plenty of good time for details. But there's one bad time—that's when you're paying attention to details instead of taking the big actions. Don't let research and details get in the way of taking action. Narrow it down to the bare minimum you need to do to get started. Do that. Now you've started. Action. Then details. Remember that. Action first. Then details. Action.

Forcing yourself to write down areas where you're not taking action and want to be lights a fire under your ass.

If you want to get started, I recommend you start small. Your tracking system should serve you, you don't serve it.

"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system."

One thing I've started doing lately is spending a lot more money—keeping myself in the nicest surroundings, taking taxis even short distances, etc. I've been meaning to write about this, but I was hyper-frugal as my dominant strategy for years. I'm getting away from that, because I need to spend more to keep myself going at the rates I'm going.

There's a tradeoff you're going to have to make a lot of the time: simplicity vs. precision. Simplicity often lacks detail and nuance. That's why we build and do more complex things—to get more precise, specific outcomes.


Start small If you decide to make a big change in your life, like starting a daily life tracking routine, your best chance of success is to start with a small change and slowly expand it into something bigger. If you disrupt the status quo too much too quickly, you probably won't stick with it. When you begin, life tracking should barely have an impact on your current routine which means it should take as little time as possible to complete.


When things are great, get as much as you can out of it. This always seems like it'll last forever while it's happening, but it never does. Double down, triple down. If business is ridiculously good lately, pour the time in to max out the current opportunities before they (likely) fade away. Bank cash, etc. The same goes for creativity. When you're having a highly creative day, run it out as much as you can. Resist the temptation to say, "Well, that's enough" and just go chill out or whatever. Max inspired time is rare. Milk that cow when you're max inspired. During bad times, re-double on fundamentals and try to avoid doing anything stupid. Fundamentals keeps you from hitting the vicious downward spiral. Super basic stuff. Decent sleep schedule, eat well, drink enough water, time in nature, time socializing with people you like. If things start getting hairy, really knuckle down on the most very basic stuff. That helps fight off the downward spiral. And then try not to do anything stupid. Don't spend a lot of money or make irreversible decisions if your judgment is faulty. Just keep gearing down on fundamentals.


Okay, this is my new plan. Normal life during normal times. Milk the cow as much as possible when things are unusually great. Fundamentals and trying to avoid being stupid when things are bad.


auctoritas as "more than advice and less than command,

The next level up is thinking strategically. Very few people do this. This is saying, "What am I trying to accomplish?" instead of "What should I do?" Instead of latching on to any particular action, you keep the end goal in mind. This is surprisingly hard to do, and will lead you to a very healthy, happy, wealthy, engaged life if you do it—staying away from frantic tactics and being strategic, I mean.


Whoever is paying you needs to justify it. Make some charts and graphs about how an expensive logo correlates with making a lot of money or high share price. Or something. I don't know. I think this is stupid, but it seems to help with most people so they feel like they're getting something tangible.


I do think artists deserve to be treated better, but that means demanding to be treated better.


The rule—no arguing with peasants. What's a peasant? Or, to be more precise, who is a peasant? A peasant is someone who is: 1.) Ignorant, 2.) Tribal, 3.) Has no power, 4.) has a strong opinion, and 5.) refuses to consider alternative opinions or change their mind.


If you're doing work your boss doesn't understand, how does he know how well you're producing? Answer: He doesn't. Unless you tell him. The person who describes what they're doing and why it matters regularly will seem much, much more productive than the person who doesn't. *Benefits are necessary: It's key to translate the benefit of what you're working on into something your boss/employers value. Every savvy businessperson loves revenues and hates costs. If you're a cost, they want to reduce your work. If you're bringing in revenues, they want to expand your work.

Don't just mention the work by itself. "Did maintenance on a machine." Instead, describe the maintenance, and then add a benefit—"Did XYZ specific maintenance, which should lead to a longer life and higher output from the machine. That should save costs and increase production, as well as keeping operators safe and happy, and making us all look good."


I will take your post one step further. Greatness is not something that you are. Greatness is not something you do. Greatness is something you are doing. Greatness is the state of striving for the most that is possible, because it is the best thing a man can do with his life.

But "great" is not like "smart," a passive ability that lies dormant or can be invoked to accomplish a goal. Rather, "great" is like "honest." A choice, one that seems like a bad idea on the surface, but is in fact one of the highest goods that is.