Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results

“What happens in ordinary moments determines your future.”

“Results are a function of position. You don’t need to be smarter than others to outperform them if you can out-position them. Anyone looks like a genius when they’re in a good position, and even the smartest person looks like an idiot when they’re in a bad one.”

“Seneca said, “Happy is he who can improve others not just when he is in their presence, but even when he is in their thoughts!”

“One reason the best in the world make consistently good decisions is they rarely find themselves forced into a decision by circumstances”

“Working with a master firsthand is the best education; it’s the surest way of raising the bar. Their excellence demands your excellence. But most of us aren’t lucky enough to have that opportunity. Still, not all is lost. If you don’t have the chance to work with a master directly, you can still surround yourself with people who have higher standards by reading about them and their work.”

“Most people go through life assuming that we’re right about everything all the time and that people who don’t see things our way are wrong. We mistake how we want the world to be with how it actually is. The subject doesn’t matter: we’re right about politics, other people, our memories; you name it. We mistake what we believe for the true facts.Of course, we can’t be right about everything all the time. Everyone makes mistakes or misremembers some things. But we still want to feel right all the time, and ideally get other people to reinforce that feeling. Hence, we channel inordinate amounts of energy to proving to others—or ourselves—that we’re right. When this happens, we’re less concerned with outcomes and more concerned with protecting our egos.”

“Self-accountability means taking responsibility for your abilities, your inabilities, and your actions.”

“it’s only after we accept reality that we can attempt to change it.”

“There is always something you can do in the moment today to better your position tomorrow. You might not be able to solve the problem, but your next action will make the situation better or worse. There is always an action you can control, however tiny, that helps you achieve progress.”

“In order to get the results we desire, we must do two things. We must first create the space to reason in our thoughts, feelings, and actions; and second, we must deliberately use that space to think clearly. Once you have mastered this skill, you will find you have an unstoppable advantage.”

“Our desire to feel right overpowers our desire to be right.”

“Reacting without reasoning makes every situation worse. Whether big or small, these unforced errors consume significant time and energy just to get you back to where you were before.”

“Choosing the right exemplars helps create a repository of “good behavior.”

“Marshall recognized that the only way to understand a problem and solve it was by going to the source. He constantly either went to the front lines himself or sent people he trusted to find out what was really going on.”

“The ego default: we tend to react to anything that threatens our sense of self-worth or our position in a group hierarchy.”

“if you find yourself exerting energy to fit in with a crowd, if you’re frequently fearful of disappointing other people, if you’re afraid of being an outsider, or if the threat of scorn fills you with dread, then beware! The social default is in charge.”

“The ego default urges us to feel right at the expense of being right.”

“While the rest of us are chasing victory, the best in the world know they must avoid losing before they can win. It turns out this is a surprisingly effective strategy.”

“Doing something different means you might underperform, but it also means you might change the game entirely.”

“Life gets easier when you don’t blame other people and focus on what you can control. —JAMES CLEAR”

“Facing reality demands acknowledging our mistakes and failures, learning from them, and moving forward.”

“If all you see are average people, you will end up with average standards. But average standards aren’t going to get you where you want to go. Standards become habits, and habits become outcomes. Few people realize that exceptional outcomes are almost always achieved by people with higher-than-average standards.”

“Complaining is not a strategy. You have to work with the world as you find it, not as you would have it be. —JEFF BEZOS[1]”

“Time is the friend of someone who is properly positioned and the enemy of someone poorly positioned. When you are well positioned, there are many paths to victory. If you are poorly positioned, there may be only one. You can think of this a bit like playing Tetris. When you play well, you have many options for where to put the next piece. When you play poorly, you need just the right piece.”

“we make repeated choices in life that become habits, those habits determine our paths, and those paths determine our outcomes.”

“You might not have someone in your life who holds you accountable, but that doesn’t matter. You can hold yourself accountable. Others might not expect more from you, but you can expect more from yourself.”

“The emotion default: we tend to respond to feelings rather than reasons and facts.”

“confidence empowers resilience in the aftermath of negative feedback, and adaptability in the face of changing circumstances. You know what your abilities are and how they add value, whether other people appreciate them or not. If you’ve forged a healthy sense of self-confidence, it will see you through whatever emerging challenges and difficulties come your way.”

“If you find yourself expending tremendous energy on how you are seen, if you often feel your pride being wounded, if you find yourself reading an article or two on a subject and thinking you’re an expert, if you always try to prove you’re right and have difficulty admitting mistakes, if you have a hard time saying “I don’t know,” or if you’re frequently envious of others or feel as though you’re never given the recognition you deserve—be on guard! Your ego is in charge.”

“Never forget that your unconscious is smarter than you, faster than you, and more powerful than you. It may even control you. You will never know all of its secrets. —CORDELIA FINE, A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives”