The reference

All principles

01 Culture is what is rewarded Don't be fooled by posters or PowerPoint presentations. Your company culture isn't a handful of buzzy phrases dreamed up by HR. Culture is what is rewarded and celebrated by…
02 You are what you read A system’s output depends on its input. In computer science, this is the principle of garbage in, garbage out, and it applies to humans too. “You are what you read.”
03 Bring your adversary closer In other words, the further you are from your adversary, the larger the weapon you need to win them over. Nations use bombs, knights used swords, lovers use words and glances.…
04 Avoid zero days at all costs James Clear once called incremental behavior change "the compound interest of self-improvement." Small improvements, applied consistently, add up to tremendous results.
05 Knowledge is not the same as information Information has become a commodity. It’s so abundant the cost of processing it exceeds any reason to try. Everyone you know skims articles, snacks on social media, and jams…
06 Repetition breeds affection Sure, they play that song on the radio because people like it. But people also like it because they play it on the radio. Repetition breeds affection.
07 Own fewer, better things There is a clothing store in Oakland, California whose slogan is unforgettable: "Own fewer, better things."
08 Murder your first born ideas Discard your first ideas when making, problem solving, or decision making. Clichés, tropes, and stereotypes are your brain's first drafts. When ideas come easy it means they’re…
09 All endeavor requires compromise All endeavor requires compromise. That's the pill, here's what's hard to swallow.
10 You need a little friction In undergrad, I came across Immanuel Kant's sole readable line:
11 Pursue the whole body yes When struggling with a decision, act only when you have consensus from your mind, your heart, and your gut. You are seeking a whole body yes.
12 Avoid ten dollar words A ten-dollar word is one that helps the speaker sound smart and makes the listener confused. You'll hear it in business jargon, academic terminology, or loanwords from ancient…
13 The universe is not binary Despite all efforts to divide things in two, the universe is not binary. As concepts, the extremes feel clear: day and night, black and white, good and evil. In reality, each…
14 Your wallet doesn't know the difference Would you drive across town to save $50 on a brand new car valued at $10,000? Probably not. How about the exact same distance to save $50 on groceries valued at $100? Probably.
15 Think plural by default “Should I do this thing—or not?” is a limited perspective.
16 Avoid faster, cheaper, better Faster, cheaper, and "better" are lousy vectors as a business differentiator, or for a marketing offer—or just to be , as a human, in the world.
17 You are enough There is enough. There's enough grass for the picnic, enough sunlight for everybody. Enough time for all of the charades. Enough people, enough friends, enough songs. You're safe.
18 Sip before you swig Whether it's a cup of hot coffee, a new habit, or a life-altering decision, consider the size of your first dose carefully. Sip before you swig.
19 Complication accelerates knowledge loss This principle comes from Jonathan Blow.
20 Make it edible I lived for a short time in a co-op in Berkeley, California where everyone had assigned chores. The first time I was assigned meal duty, I was nervous. I had never cooked for a…
21 Start without slides When making a slide presentation, start with the script, then think visuals. Always start without slides. Here are two reasons why.
22 The problem cannot be Other People To grapple with Big Problems, one must unveil their underlying causes. However, if your scrutiny suggests that the culprit is none other than "Other People," your search isn't…
23 Don't leave out the impossible Many brainstorming sessions loiter at the intersection of feasible and probable. Nothing interesting is happening there.
24 You can't learn to drive in a parked car Every year, millions of unseasoned youths are subjected to the precarious and costly rite-of-passage known as "learning to drive." Children! At the helm of lethal machinery.…
25 Decide how you want to procrastinate Before hitting the trail with a major creative undertaking, consider packing a side project into your saddle. Decide how you want to procrastinate beforehand, and you'll feel…
26 You most definitely have a bias A friend bragged: “I consider myself unbiased.” My retort was spiky: “So you don't take a stand on things or have meaningful opinions?”
27 Forget the thud factor The thud factor is the fantasy of monumental, overnight change. In waking life, growth is incremental, imperceptible, and unpredictable.
28 You can't be good at everything Your favorite novelist probably skipped a few meals and un-skipped a few cigarettes while wrestling her bestseller into submission. That neighbor with the perfect fence and the…
29 Embrace the clunk Technology promised to make things easier. An escalator to erase life's tedious steps and free you from the supposed burden of collaboration; enabling the one to do what used…
30 You always feel better after a bike ride Here's a seven-word miracle cure: "You always feel better after a bike ride."
31 Turn off the firehose The firehose is the endless influx of content selected by algorithms. If you want to maintain control over who you are and what you believe, you must turn off the firehose.
32 You are not your thoughts Most thoughts are uncaused. Thoughts flit into awareness without effort and evaporate just as easily. (“Should I learn to unicycle?”) Others are a reaction to specific stimuli:…
33 Don't get sucked into the vortex Beyond your basic responsibilities, there are probably one hundred-thousand unsolved problems at your place of work. Linger too long around the water cooler, and you might be…
34 Don't research and write at the same time Writing often begins with research: a relaxed period marked by supine stints of reading. Research is generally followed by the misery known as writing: self-flagellation at a desk.
35 Nothing is on fire Some folks describe their day job as "putting out fires." Consider avoiding these people at all costs. They harbor a deeply troubling point of view on the nature of work and it…
36 Your days are numbered Death isn't "coming" for you. It's here. You are dying every day. You may have lived half your life, but you've already died half of it too.
37 All words sow seeds of sway Just as ball has weight and spin, so do words. The point of communication is to influence. All words sow seeds of sway.
38 Make your process recite-able Straight wisdom from Critter's blog. Make your process recite-able by using a handful of simple words.
39 Routine is doing what you want Eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, every single day, that is a routine. End every phone call with "Aye Aye Cap'n", that qualifies too. A routine is doing what you want, as much as…
40 Fix, first, then rename This one goes out to the problem solvers.
41 Do a little bit more than you should A human way of implementing N+1 redundancy.
42 Find a new cliché Like a vending machine sandwich, clichés are convenient when low on time or energy. But while the former threatens only your stomach, indulging in cliché gives the rest of the…
43 Don't ask why Of the five reporter's questions there's one you can leave out. Whether you're doing customer research, interrogating a suspect, or helping a friend through a heartbreak, don't…
44 Tell your friends you love them It's all too simple.
45 The waste is what works Once while teaching at Cornell, physicist Richard Feynman was burned out.
46 Orient toward heartbreak The nightclub of love has three exits. There's Disconnection, the door you choose. There's the Dump, when a bouncer chooses for you. And there's Death, the trap door that…
47 Stack your sentences This is a fascinating writing approach from the great Derek Sivers.
48 Someone has to take notes In every meeting, someone has to take notes. Otherwise, it's just a conversation. Conversations are splendid, but a Meeting is a conversation with a purpose. There are three…
49 Limit your ratio of meta to reality There's reality and there's meta. Reality is visceral, concrete experience. Motion and action. Sensation and meaning. The universe.
50 Don't fake it until you make it "The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I'm having 100% fun."–Kurt Cobain
51 Approach the unsaid corners Over time, every relationship amasses a set of conventions, vocabulary, and straight-up lore. Hotwords that inflame specific nostalgia. Inside jokes. Preposterous slang. This…
52 Darkness is not the same as evil Darkness is the opposite of light, but it is more than an absence. Darkness is a force in our universe. It causes distress and pain. It destroys all, eventually. Even so,…
53 Invite play into your process One day, you may feel the craft you love hardening into drudge. There is only one cure. Invite play into your process.
54 Try to make it fun Someday, you (writer, designer, maker, creator) may find yourself on the business end of the shovel, covered in soot, under the cold umbra of a deadline. In these moments you…
55 Be the one not talking It's energizing to be the one talking. No human is exempt from the need to be heard. But in conversation, holding the conch has a catch: every second you are speaking, you are…
56 Beware the dark side of growth The brighter the light, the more crisp its shadow. There's a dark side to everything, including growth. When you choose to change yourself (or the world) the glow of progress…
57 You can't do everything This isn't a paean to the joy of missing out (JOMO). It's a eulogy. The defiant rebranding of one emotion (FOMO) into its contrary does nothing to quelch the sad truth: You…
58 Read a book more than once When you like a piece of music, you play it on repeat. If you discover a great restaurant, you come back with friends. But folks will read a book once, even one they love, and…
59 There is no such thing as neutral Vanilla isn't “blank,” you get it from the fruit of a tropical orchid. The flesh tone known as “white” is pinky-peachy-orange. Political left and right wing aren't real places,…
60 There is no story without a bad guy This microprinciple is inspired by Miss Eleanor Larsson.
61 Turn complaints into observations Complaints are a simple cocktail: squeeze one observation about reality, add a jigger of resistance, shake with attitude, serve on ice. Fun to sip and serve. Easy to overdo.
62 A cry for help can look like anything There's this story about an old man, Joseph, who is experiencing dizzy spells, but none of his anti-nausea medications are doing a thing. Eventually, a new doctor asks Joseph…
63 Someone must decide We have an epithet ("bossy") for those who assume control without embarrassment, but without these people, society would face certain doom. It only takes one group dinner to…
64 Sometimes you need a break From all appearances, nothing's changed. Your routine, your hot mug, the satisfying clacks of your keyboard. Then you look closer: the story you're writing doesn't make sense.…
65 You do, in fact, have to know what you want A fork in the road is a seemingly simple question: "What do you want?" This is the paradox. You must choose, with confidence, between options you know nothing about. You've…
66 Certainty is a feeling, not a fact How certain are you that the Earth revolves around the sun?
67 Perfectionism isn't cute "What's your greatest weakness?" is an insipid question. "I'm a perfectionist" is an egregious answer. The occasional pang of perfectionism is OK; it's unforgivable to choose…
68 Do the math and you can do anything In the age of clipper ships and bodices and Jules Verne, stepping on the moon was pure fantasy. A century later, it was in the newspapers. How does the transition from magic to…
69 It gets worse before it gets better If things feel hard, here's something to ponder: it gets worse before it gets better. This is neither good news nor bad news. It's the truth, and you deserve to know.
70 Vibes beget vibes Ever hear someone shout at another person in public? It changes the temperature of a space, infecting others with fear and wariness. Public kindness has even more power.…
71 Not every squeak merits grease Part of any creative process is sharing work and getting feedback. This nerve-wracking experience is intensified by the prospect of a sharp shard of critique from a peer, the…
72 Comfort is a curse There are enough modern Stoics to remind you that "the obstacle is the way." This isn't a cold plunge sales pitch, it's a dose of Scared Straight. Comfort is a curse and it…
73 A mind is a private tornado Should you find a window into the mental states of other people, consider that you barely have access to your own. Everyone must all plod through denial, self-talk, projection,…
74 Move as slow as possible When you slow down, so does time—because you notice more of it. When you don’t know what to do, move as slow as possible. You will learn much.
75 Repair before you replace After futzing with a suboptimal situation (a job, relationship, a broken kettle), you may want to chuck the whole thing out. Start anew. Here's another path. Instead of reject…
76 Don't be so hard on the past People keep telling me that a work of art "didn't age well." This seems to mean that the work endorses (or contains) ideas that are considered passé. Fine, but I find this form…
77 It's probably not about you You're never the main character in other people's stories.
78 We are family Every single person you know is family.
79 You are not meant to suffer alone Recall a moment when you felt hopeless or confused.
80 You must find your people People are the most potent drug there is. People are how you exist in the mind of others and how the concept of "you" exists in your own.
81 Consider how you might change You exist in contradiction.
82 Art is the canvas and the frame Your man Tolstoy devoted twenty chapters to the question, What is Art? My glib response to Lev is "Art is craft on presentation." A cloud in the shape of a turtle isn't art,…
83 Boredom is the amuse bouche You are on the hunt for boredom. Yes, boredom. Every maker should crave boredom, yet you run from it. Boredom is the amuse bouche before inspiration.
84 Know your eternal questions After a dinner party: one friend dissects the power dynamics, another maps the flow of ideas, a third can't forget the menu.
85 Misalignment will kill you "The most common form of despair is not being who you are."
86 Sometimes the answer is water When little makes sense, and the world feels hard, and you have a mild headache too, you must return to your essence. Sometimes the answer is water.
87 Symmetry is a myth There are no straight lines in the universe.
88 You must learn to discern Wisdom isn't a collection, it's a chemical reaction. It's not adding books to a shelf; it's adding ingredients to a soup that's been simmering your whole life. But you most…
89 Make a mess, keep it tidy Microprinciples are potentially annoying to those seeking the capital-T Truth about making. Sometimes they Dad you headlong into a direction. Sometimes they are your Mom…
90 Mistakes are more than acceptable A higher-up confidently declared in a team meeting that "mistakes are unacceptable." Poppycock. Mistakes are more than acceptable.
91 No growth without demolition You think of learning as accumulation, but that's only half the story. Learning also requires unlearning. Ideas you once nurtured must be uprooted and discarded. There is no…
92 Integration requires less The math of meaning is surprisingly simple: The more you accumulate, the harder it becomes to tell a cohesive story. (Because Complication accelerates knowledge loss.) So tell…
93 Give your reader a face Write to a specific person. Imagine their eyes, nose, ears, and all the rest as you write. Give your reader a face.
94 Let fear ride shotgun They tell you to be fearless. It's bad advice.
95 It probably won't kill you A therapist once reassured me with this declaration: "It won't kill you." I offered a pedantic correction: "It probably won't kill me."
96 Want what sets you free There is what's good for you, and there is what you want.
97 A handle is just a handle What's the perfect name for your brand, business, or book? There isn't one. Pick something and start creating. Your handle doesn't matter.
98 Keep your identity fluid You chisel some words into stone for safety. I'll be your server, I am your father, I work in marketing. You fashion a handle for others, while you grapple for balance within.…