Timeless Wisdom, Sam Altman On Success, Languages of Earth, The Abyss, Optimism and More
Knowledge Journey #7
Hi reader,
Last week, my company flew us to Atlanta, Georgia for a sales conference. One night at the hotel bar I ended up talking to an executive. We both had fun stories from Italy and Spain, and it was cool to share them.
The hotel—the Mariott Marquis—is extremely impressive. But it is not beautiful. As the executive observed, the brutalist style is so lifeless—big, blocky and made of concrete. We couldn’t help comparing it to the amazing sights we’d seen, like Vatican City and La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
Unlike the gray and soulless brutalist buildings, we agreed that only people who believe in God could make something so beautiful.
333 Timeless Maxims
I made this e-book awhile back but never released it. It is a collection of the most inspiring and useful maxims I’ve come across so far in my life.
The ideas and sayings are mostly from writers, entrepreneurs, philosophers, athletes, comedians and musicians.
Fearless Spanish Episodes
Julio Froment: A conversation with the man behind the excellent YouTube channel Picking Nuggets. We talk about the wisdom of Naval Ravikant and Nassim Taleb, language learning and travel, the joy of reading and following your curiosity and more.
Language Lessons
How To Be Successful by Sam Altman
This is one of the best blog posts I’ve read. The full article is worth reading, but here are the thirteen bullet points from the piece:
Compound yourself
Have almost too much self-belief
Learn to think independently
Get good at “sales”
Make it easy to take risks
Focus
Work hard
Be bold
Be willful
Be hard to compete with
Build a network
You get rich by owning things
Be internally driven
A Movie Masterpiece
La vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful) is a 1997 Italian film. It won many awards and the star, Roberto Benigni, received an Oscar for Best Actor. Both funny and sad, I feel so much damn love for this movie.
It is definitely worth a watch.
The Big Five Psychology Traits
These fundamental psychological characteristic are useful to know. Here’s how they are described by Annabelle G.Y. Lim writing on Simply Psychology:
Conscientiousness – impulsive, disorganized vs. disciplined, careful
Agreeableness – suspicious, uncooperative vs. trusting, helpful
Neuroticism – calm, confident vs. anxious, pessimistic
Openness to Experience – prefers routine, practical vs. imaginative, spontaneous
Extraversion – reserved, thoughtful vs. sociable, fun-loving
I used to be higher in neuroticism, agreeableness and extraversion. I would say that nowadays I am:
High in conscientiousness
Low in agreeableness
Low in neuroticism
High in openness
Low in extraversion
These traits are worth reflecting on in getting to know yourself better.
Hemingway On Writing
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
How To Avoid Success Learning Spanish
These are few tips and tricks for avoid success in learning Spanish:
Only use Duolingo
Buy into people saying “all you have to do is just go to the country man;” don’t study language structure or read in the language
Don’t listen to podcasts for fifteen to thirty minutes every day, avoid music too
Never physically write in the language
Don’t use it when you can—when you overhear Spanish speakers, freeze, don’t say hello, and tell yourself you’ll do it next time
Never plan on travelling, the key is to not learn about the history and culture of Latin countries
Never practice pronunciation by listening and repeating back the speaking feature on Google Translate
Do not, I repeat do not, practice voice messages with natives online or get a language partner
Think people care about you and how you sound, delude yourself into believing anyone cares about your skill in another language
Let other people who think it is a strange thing to learn another language discourage you from doing so
Give up when you don’t understand something—instead of it being a learning moment, tell yourself it is too complicated and quit
Avoid consistency at all costs—only practice and learn when you feel like it
Stare Into The Abyss With Me :)
I think it is important to study terrible things.