No. 624 – April 13, 2025
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Tiny Thoughts
Rejection isn’t a verdict; it’s data. Use it.
Everyone dreams big until they see the price tag.
A Taste for Saltwater
Most people mistake discomfort as a signal to stop; the great ones see it as evidence they’re on the right track. Excellence is just pain tolerance disguised as genius. The real advantage isn’t talent but cultivating a perverse appreciation for the discomfort others instinctively avoid.
Insights
Philosopher George Santayana on why we follow the crowd:
“A man is a gregarious animal, and much more so in his mind than in his body. He may like to go alone for a walk, but he hates to stand alone in his opinions.”
Most people waste their energy on decisions that barely matter. Businessman Larry Tisch points out what moves the needle:
“The most important thing is to stay focused on what matters. Most little things ultimately have no effect on an enterprise. It’s the big deals – and the big decisions that do. Don’t spend too much time on little things. The important choices and opportunities are the ones that move the dial.”
Doris Lessing on how to ruin reading (and how to save it):
“There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag – and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vise versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.”
The Knowledge Project [outliers]
Cornelius Vanderbilt didn’t build companies. He dismantled competitors.
In this episode, you’ll see how a teenage ferry captain became the richest man in America by outworking, outsmarting, and outlasting everyone. It’s not just a story about capitalism—it’s a study in raw power.
His ethos, in one quote:
“Gentlemen: You have undertaken to cheat me. I won’t sue, for the law is too slow. I’ll ruin you.”
▶️ Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Web
📘 Read: 9 Expanded lessons from Vanderbilt
The Repository
John Mackey on ambition and long-term thinking:
“Whole Foods emerged… not always because we had the best stores; it was because we were more ambitious and thought strategically about the long term. We weren’t ambivalent about either money or growth. And yet we retained our high standards and ideals.”
💡 From The Whole Story. Hear the full conversation.
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Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish
P.S. This is how my kids want their potatoes now. Sigh.