5 Quotes That Changed My Life

[mikecarlooch]

4 months ago I had no idea what to do with my life. Who knew that 5 measly quotes could be game-changing so fast?

I'd like to share a couple of my experiences with each of them so that you, the reader, can perceive these quotes that way I did, and hopefully they can change your life as well.

They are all from Naval Ravikant and Paul Graham.

If you don't know what to do with your life, guess. - Paul Graham

I read this quote at a time when.. I was bored.. Had nothing to do.. Didn't know WHAT to do.

But that can't be. There are millions of things to choose from. So you know that there are things TO DO.

I didn't know know where to live, so I chose Boca Raton and moved there.

I didn't know where to find a technical co-founder. So I guessed. I enrolled in 2 programming classes at a college and met my co-founder. We now have a product coded up - something that didn't feel real 2 months ago.

I didn't feel like I had any good skills and didn't know what to do, so I guessed. I became good at writing code in python.

I needed a way to make money while I build my dreams, and didn't know what job to get.. So I moved to Boca Raton and I guessed. I guessed that I'd be good enough at a sales job where i get people to sell their houses to make way more money than a regular job. I now have 4 houses under contract in my first month.

If I had kept being a hard-a$$ and didn't just guess and start, I'd probably be stuck in my new jersey hell hole still.

Learn to sell, learn to build. - Naval Ravikant

I didn't know what to do, so when I read this quote, I just asked myself some questions.

What does building mean in what I'm trying to accomplish in entrepreneurship? It means understanding code to build software and being able to recruit people who know how to do it as well.

Now how do I learn to sell? I knew for a fact it wasn't by reading another sales book, so I guessed. I guessed that getting a sales job and cold calling people was the most brutal and best way to learn how to sell.

Be relentlessly resourceful. - Paul Graham

I started to notice that other people's inputs are helpful and can lead to breakthroughs, but they also keep you stuck in a model of the world that is linear.

I wanted to know how to (maybe unethically) scrape leads from a data software. The first way I was going to do it was too expensive and would've cost thousands of dollars.

Instead of asking "how to get leads" on this forum, I searched around and creatively put together a way to do it for free instead of paying for the leads.

Have faith in yourself to find a solution to your own problems instead of following. Invent, don't follow.

If you can't decide, the answer is no. - Naval Ravikant

I used to be overwhelmed all the time with so many decisions to make.

So I just decided that it's not worth it to say yes until it's a hell yea.

This has simplified my life like nothing else.

If you are faced with two decisions, always choose the one that has more short term pain - Paul Graham

Every time I do this, I notice that the option with short-term pain is always the one with the long-term gain.

If I had not walked up to wiz kids in college who know how to code and instead stayed introverted, I wouldn't have exposed myself to new opportunities.

But I had this mental model in my head, and it has so far ended up being correct every time.

These two guys are gems of knowledge. Hope this helps someone like it helped me.

 

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[Chet Shen]

4 months ago I had no idea what to do with my life. Who knew that 5 measly quotes could be game-changing so fast?

I'd like to share a couple of my experiences with each of them so that you, the reader, can perceive these quotes that way I did, and hopefully they can change your life as well.

They are all from Naval Ravikant and Paul Graham.

If you don't know what to do with your life, guess. - Paul Graham

I read this quote at a time when.. I was bored.. Had nothing to do.. Didn't know WHAT to do.

But that can't be. There are millions of things to choose from. So you know that there are things TO DO.

I didn't know know where to live, so I chose Boca Raton and moved there.

I didn't know where to find a technical co-founder. So I guessed. I enrolled in 2 programming classes at a college and met my co-founder. We now have a product coded up - something that didn't feel real 2 months ago.

I didn't feel like I had any good skills and didn't know what to do, so I guessed. I became good at writing code in python.

I needed a way to make money while I build my dreams, and didn't know what job to get.. So I moved to Boca Raton and I guessed. I guessed that I'd be good enough at a sales job where i get people to sell their houses to make way more money than a regular job. I now have 4 houses under contract in my first month.

If I had kept being a hard-a$$ and didn't just guess and start, I'd probably be stuck in my new jersey hell hole still.

Learn to sell, learn to build. - Naval Ravikant

I didn't know what to do, so when I read this quote, I just asked myself some questions.

What does building mean in what I'm trying to accomplish in entrepreneurship? It means understanding code to build software and being able to recruit people who know how to do it as well.

Now how do I learn to sell? I knew for a fact it wasn't by reading another sales book, so I guessed. I guessed that getting a sales job and cold calling people was the most brutal and best way to learn how to sell.

Be relentlessly resourceful. - Paul Graham

I started to notice that other people's inputs are helpful and can lead to breakthroughs, but they also keep you stuck in a model of the world that is linear.

I wanted to know how to (maybe unethically) scrape leads from a data software. The first way I was going to do it was too expensive and would've cost thousands of dollars.

Instead of asking "how to get leads" on this forum, I searched around and creatively put together a way to do it for free instead of paying for the leads.

Have faith in yourself to find a solution to your own problems instead of following. Invent, don't follow.

If you can't decide, the answer is no. - Naval Ravikant

I used to be overwhelmed all the time with so many decisions to make.

So I just decided that it's not worth it to say yes until it's a hell yea.

This has simplified my life like nothing else.

If you are faced with two decisions, always choose the one that has more short term pain - Paul Graham

Every time I do this, I notice that the option with short-term pain is always the one with the long-term gain.

If I had not walked up to wiz kids in college who know how to code and instead stayed introverted, I wouldn't have exposed myself to new opportunities.

But I had this mental model in my head, and it has so far ended up being correct every time.

These two guys are gems of knowledge. Hope this helps someone like it helped me.

The first quote of "If U don't know what to do with your life, guess" is such a life changing yet simple quote to think about. As we get many options to decide on, we often have "analysis paralysis". It's known when U have too many options to choose, your brain just overthink about the decisions that you're going to make and you're going to measure the pros and cons of them. It doesn't mean that it's bad and negative but it just means that sometimes we overload our brain with information that we just don't make ONE decision at all.

So? What's the solution? GUESS and pick one. Pick one path and go in it. See how it feels. If this path is wrong for you, you'll find the path you have to take from that wrong path. Doing this is going to make you have a lesser decision time and gets you into the real thing faster. Plus what could go wrong? You'll have more experience when you enter the field U want to go in

 

[otis7]

4 months ago I had no idea what to do with my life. Who knew that 5 measly quotes could be game-changing so fast?

I'd like to share a couple of my experiences with each of them so that you, the reader, can perceive these quotes that way I did, and hopefully they can change your life as well.

They are all from Naval Ravikant and Paul Graham.

If you don't know what to do with your life, guess. - Paul Graham

I read this quote at a time when.. I was bored.. Had nothing to do.. Didn't know WHAT to do.

But that can't be. There are millions of things to choose from. So you know that there are things TO DO.

I didn't know know where to live, so I chose Boca Raton and moved there.

I didn't know where to find a technical co-founder. So I guessed. I enrolled in 2 programming classes at a college and met my co-founder. We now have a product coded up - something that didn't feel real 2 months ago.

I didn't feel like I had any good skills and didn't know what to do, so I guessed. I became good at writing code in python.

I needed a way to make money while I build my dreams, and didn't know what job to get.. So I moved to Boca Raton and I guessed. I guessed that I'd be good enough at a sales job where i get people to sell their houses to make way more money than a regular job. I now have 4 houses under contract in my first month.

If I had kept being a hard-a$$ and didn't just guess and start, I'd probably be stuck in my new jersey hell hole still.

Learn to sell, learn to build. - Naval Ravikant

I didn't know what to do, so when I read this quote, I just asked myself some questions.

What does building mean in what I'm trying to accomplish in entrepreneurship? It means understanding code to build software and being able to recruit people who know how to do it as well.

Now how do I learn to sell? I knew for a fact it wasn't by reading another sales book, so I guessed. I guessed that getting a sales job and cold calling people was the most brutal and best way to learn how to sell.

Be relentlessly resourceful. - Paul Graham

I started to notice that other people's inputs are helpful and can lead to breakthroughs, but they also keep you stuck in a model of the world that is linear.

I wanted to know how to (maybe unethically) scrape leads from a data software. The first way I was going to do it was too expensive and would've cost thousands of dollars.

Instead of asking "how to get leads" on this forum, I searched around and creatively put together a way to do it for free instead of paying for the leads.

Have faith in yourself to find a solution to your own problems instead of following. Invent, don't follow.

If you can't decide, the answer is no. - Naval Ravikant

I used to be overwhelmed all the time with so many decisions to make.

So I just decided that it's not worth it to say yes until it's a hell yea.

This has simplified my life like nothing else.

If you are faced with two decisions, always choose the one that has more short term pain - Paul Graham

Every time I do this, I notice that the option with short-term pain is always the one with the long-term gain.

If I had not walked up to wiz kids in college who know how to code and instead stayed introverted, I wouldn't have exposed myself to new opportunities.

But I had this mental model in my head, and it has so far ended up being correct every time.

These two guys are gems of knowledge. Hope this helps someone like it helped me.

Some great insights here, Thanks for sharing!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

If you can't decide, the answer is no. - Naval Ravikant

If you are faced with two decisions, always choose the one that has more short term pain - Paul Graham

There are adversarial and need more clarification, otherwise they are marginalized to just soundbites.

I think the latter quote is more apt to personal growth.

Example...

I hate interviewing for podcasts. In other words, they cause short-term pain.

When I'm asked to interview, I waffle between DOING THEM (YES) and rejecting (NO). It always puts me in decision-mode.

The first quote says I should say "NO" all the time.
The second quote says I should say "YES"

Recently I was asked for an interview for a big newspaper in S. Korea (think Wall Street Journal for Korea) where TMF is far more popular there than here in the states, and I originally defaulted to a NO.

But then I thought, I need to embrace the pain, the pain of prep, getting interviewed late at night, and adopted the 2nd quote and said YES.

So, say NO when the return is marginal.
Say YES when the pain has a compounding benefit.

 

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[MakeItHappen]

There are adversarial and need more clarification, otherwise they are marginalized to just soundbites.

I think the latter quote is more apt to personal growth.

Yes, I agree. Context is important here. The second quote resonated with me automatically.

If you can't decide, the answer is no.

This reminds me of the concept of Essentialism, which states that if you have to make a decision and the answer isn't a resounding 'HELL YES' by default, it should be a 'no.' The reasoning behind this concept is to simplify your life. Typically, you achieve the most significant results from only a few things (the Pareto Principle), while most other things merely consume your time, energy, and attention.

Take, for example, being interviewed. You might receive 100 interview requests, but perhaps only 5 of them are a 'HELL YES' because they have a massive reach, whereas the other 95 requests wouldn't significantly impact your bottom line.

 

[RightyTighty]

My favorite business quotes, from various associates through the years:

Problems that can be solved by writing a check are not problems, they are expenses. (Don’t waste emotional energy where it’s not warranted - take the hit and move on.)

When is the right time to fire an employee? The first time you give it serious consideration. (Most of us delay the inevitable way too long.)

Before you hit “send” on a contentious email, close your office door and read it aloud and think how it would sound if read to a jury. (Being business-like and professional is always in your best interest; you never know where the conversation will end up.)

 

[mikecarlooch]

There are adversarial and need more clarification, otherwise they are marginalized to just soundbites.

I think the latter quote is more apt to personal growth.

Example...

I hate interviewing for podcasts. In other words, they cause short-term pain.

When I'm asked to interview, I waffle between DOING THEM (YES) and rejecting (NO). It always puts me in decision-mode.

The first quote says I should say "NO" all the time.
The second quote says I should say "YES"

Recently I was asked for an interview for a big newspaper in S. Korea (think Wall Street Journal for Korea) where TMF is far more popular there than here in the states, and I originally defaulted to a NO.

But then I thought, I need to embrace the pain, the pain of prep, getting interviewed late at night, and adopted the 2nd quote and said YES.

So, say NO when the return is marginal.
Say YES when the pain has a compounding benefit.

Makes a lot of sense!

 

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[mikecarlooch]

L

My favorite business quotes, from various associates through the years:

Problems that can be solved by writing a check are not problems, they are expenses. (Don’t waste emotional energy where it’s not warranted - take the hit and move on.)

When is the right time to fire an employee? The first time you give it serious consideration. (Most of us delay the inevitable way too long.)

Before you hit “send” on a contentious email, close your office door and read it aloud and think how it would sound if read to a jury. (Being business-like and professional is always in your best interest; you never know where the conversation will end up.)

Love these.. thanks