The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 14 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
The 'Hell Yeah or No' rule doesn't apply when starving for opportunity
“There are other times in your career when really the most strategic thing to do is to say yes to everything because it can be like lottery tickets, you know, like if you got nothing going on and somebody's offering you an infinite amount of lottery tickets for…”
Simple and easy are not the same in software development
“You've now just installed thousands of complex files when yes, it would be a little harder for you to just make your own HTML page from scratch, but notice that by definition, that's simpler. So simple is not always easy.”
Business value is idea quality multiplied by execution quality
“What I wrote is that I think of ideas as a multiplier of execution, right? So let's pretend that we have two columns of numbers here. So an awful idea, let's say that's a negative one, but a weak idea is a one. An okay idea is a 10, and a great idea is a 20, o…”
Have no loyalty to locations, corporations, or past public statements
“Choose opportunity, not loyalty. Have no loyalty to location, corporation, or your past public statements. Be an absolute opportunist, doing whatever's best for the future in the current situation, unbound by the past. Have loyalty for only your most important…”
Delay decisions until the last possible moment to preserve maximum optionality
“For maximum options, don't plan at all. Since you have no idea how the situation or your mood may change in the future, wait until the last possible moment to make each decision.”
Decision-making should optimize for action over mapping objective reality
“Whatever makes you take the necessary actions
Is the perspective that helps you?
I'm never aiming for reality.
I'm trying to make decisions usually based on finding the perspective that helps me take actions.”
Reading and remote conversations teach culture better than physical travel
“Wouldn't I have learned more about Turkey by reading three books about Turkey, maybe watching the top five most popular movies in Turkey, and maybe scheduling phone conversations with 20 people from Turkey? You know, that's the same number of hours invested, b…”
Sivers: Commanding specific actions is the most succinct way to communicate ideas
“Probably the most succinct way to communicate an idea is to focus on the action itself. Like, if you command the action, then the action, like a seed, I think there's like a nature metaphor in here somewhere, that the action has the seed of the idea in it, tha…”
Sivers: The best plan maximizes options to change plans later
“The best plan is the one that lets you change your plans. For example, renting a house is buying the option to move at any time without losing money in a changing market.”
Inventing from first principles beats blindly imitating complex industry standards
“Like people imitate others without questioning it enough, but I don't want to learn their ways. I don't want to be like them. So instead I just ignore it all and ask myself, What's the real point? Meaning, like, what am I really trying to do here? What's the r…”
You only own a business if it grows while you are away
“If you know you're a true business owner, when you could leave your business for a year and come back a year later and find that it's doing better than when you left. That's when you're no longer self-employed. You're a business owner.”
Delegating increases a founder's workload before creating long-term operational leverage
“You have to have the longterm perspective. You have to know that's like, all right, this is going to be harder. Yeah, it's going to be harder at first for the long-term gain, right? Like, if you realize that you're at this breaking point, your time is already …”
The most succinct way to convey an idea is commanding the action
“The most succinct way to communicate an idea is to focus on the action itself. Like, if you command the action, then the action, like a seed, I think there's like a nature metaphor in here somewhere, that the action has the seed of the idea in it, that the act…”