Lessons From 2023

Success Doesn't Buy Happiness

Success is a strange thing, and the reason is presumably we want success because we think that a more successful life is going to bring us more happiness, more meaning, and more fulfillment. But the problem is we sacrifice the thing that we want, which is happiness, to the thing which is supposed to get it, which is success. Failure can make you measurable, but Chris is not sure success would make you happy. On average, high achievers are more miserable than the normal person, based on lots of big coach experience.

Limits Are Rarely the Real Constraint

James Clear: people get so caught up in the fact that they have limits that they rarely exert the effort required to get close to them.

Letting Go of What Worked Before

You can struggle to let go of a strategy that gave you success in the past. You can't do that for everything for the rest of the time — if you do that, it would restrict how far you can get.

Envy, Not Greed, Drives the World

Charlie Munger: what drives the world isn't greed, it's envy. Our lives are objectively the best humanity has ever had, yet complaining and dissatisfaction are as high as ever. Humans don't want their lives to just be better, they want their lives to be better than anyone else's — like people on social media. A highly connected life influences your expectations and envy through comparison.

Don't Stake Your Reputation on Controversy

Don't over-engage in any controversy, unless you're willing to stake your entire reputation on it. Rather, keep discovering new things and creating, or else you will become known for the controversy and nothing else — there is no going back.

The Happiness-For-Success Trade

We trade the thing that we want, which is time, for the thing that is supposed to get it, which is money. We give up time to make money so that we can finally have more time when we have enough money. We give up happiness to achieve success so that we can have more happiness when we reach enough success. Time is the thing we want, money is the thing that's supposed to get it — by finally giving us enough money to have time — and we sacrifice that time to achieve it.

Presence Over Peak Experience

We manage to never really connect with the present moment and find fulfillment there, because we are continually hoping to become happy in the future, and the future is never reached — it is always now. You're not going to live a peak experience every day. If you can't be happy with a coffee, you won't be present with a yacht.