(highlight:: Write only when you feel you HAVE to write, not only when you feel you should write
Summary:
Write a book only when you can't sleep until you get your ideas on paper.
Don't write for the sake of money or obligation, but when the ideas are so compelling that they are spilling out of you. Waiting for the right time to write leads to fresh and impactful ideas, while forcing it leads to subpar results.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I was told many years ago by Jason Zweig, a great friend and mentor of mine from the Wall Street Journal, that you should only write a book if in your brain you have to do it. Not like, oh, I should do it. Or like, oh, that's a lot of money that I could get for doing it. Only doing it if you're like, I can't sleep until I get these ideas on paper. And even in blog form for my entire career, that's always been the case. I'm not a sit down at my desk at 9 o'clock and published by 4 o'clock kind of person. I've always been, I'm just going to toss around a bunch of ideas in my head. And I'm only going to sit down and write when I can't do anything else until I get this done. The idea is so fresh and it's just spilling out of me. And there's been plenty of times when we'll be like grocery shopping with my wife and kids. And I'm basically just like, I need to go sit down at the computer and write this out. And the opposite of that, if I'm like, oh, I should probably write something this week, let's force out the words. It's garbage every single time.)
- Time 0:15:01
- snipddont-post, ideation, inspiration, writing,

(highlight:: Don’t attach your identity to something that’s unsustainable. Optimize for sustainability
Summary:
Avoid attaching your identity to something unsustainable, such as a career, relationship, or investing strategy, as it could lead to devastation when it ends.
Instead, focus on sustainability and longevity in all aspects of life, including friendships, careers, investing, and habits. Prioritize maintaining activities and relationships over short-term gains, aiming to live at 80% potential to avoid burnout and ensure long-term sustainability.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I think it's super dangerous in any life to attach your identity to something that's unsustainable, whether it's being a model or having a certain career, having an investing strategy, If you attach your identity to something that you cannot sustain, when it ends, you're going to be morally crushed. It's just going to destroy you. And this like back to investing, the variable that I want to maximize for is how long can I do this for? It's not, can I earn the highest returns? It's, can I maintain this investing strategy for another 50 years? And I know that I couldn't earn a higher return this year and over the next five years, if I did something different. But I'm way less confident that I could keep it going and sustain it. And I think it's the same for relationships. Like you might be able to find a more attractive or a wealthier spouse or partner. But can you keep that going? Is it something you can maintain? I'm not interested in anything that's not sustainable. Friendships, investing, careers, podcasts, reading habits, exercise habits, if I can't keep it going, I'm not interested in it. And I think the only way to really do that is if you are going out of your way to live life at like 80 to 90% potential, if you're always trying to squeeze out 100% percent potential for something, Almost certainly it's going to lead to burnout, whether it's a friendship or a relationship or an investing strategy. So I think it's not easy thing to do. And if you're a type A person, it's almost impossible to do. But going out of your way to live life at 80% has always been a strategy that I want to do just because I want to keep it going for a long time.)
- Time 1:27:36
- snipdpost-queue, identity, sustainable_motivation,