Success and Optimism

Success is inevitable through earnest effort over time.

Successful people are optimistic, curious about life, and not easily deterred. They build on the ideas of others and help more people do the same. Because they possess these traits, nothing can contain their enthusiasm.

Successful people believe in limitless paths. They never know how far one idea will take them. While some may see impractical exploration, they see never-ending inspiration.

Successful people are optimists living in the future. "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." - Helen Keller. "One must see it, not as it is, but as it will be." -Carl Becker

People should stay positive. "Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure." -Stephen King

The world has never been better.

It's worst time in history to be cynical about the success of others or pessimistic about life.

Success in four steps:

  1. Share ideas in the spirit of helping others
  2. Apply ideas in a continuous cycle of learning
  3. Create things from the things you're consuming
  4. Capture less value than you create

Creativity and Ideas

Creating a steady source of ideas is a personal process and, in essence, a manual one. A creative person is not just a source of good ideas, but also someone who makes and publishes things.

Well-structured ideas are the ultimate proof of work: clarify and order your thoughts; reflect them back to yourself in written form; package and present them with zero cost of replication.

Reading, thinking, and writing are three processes within a larger creative process. Reading is the process of filling yourself with ideas. Thinking is the process of clarifying and ordering ideas. And writing is the process of reflecting ideas back to yourself.

We're born creators. Everyone is creative and everyone has their own form and style of creating. Also a unique set of inputs and experiences and interests in the first place.

The closer we observe the more we learn. The more we learn the more interested we become. The more interested we become the closer we observe, in a virtuous circle.

Don't write about new interests; write about new forms of old interests.