No. 623 – April 6, 2025
Welcome to Brain Food, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights you can use in life and work. (Read the archives). Not subscribed? Learn more and sign up.
Tiny Thoughts
Discipline is cheaper than regret.
The loudest signals come from the emptiest sources. Those who truly possess something rarely need to announce it.
Those who fear appearing foolish rarely discover anything new. The genius of tomorrow often looks like an idiot today.
Insights
Strauss Zelnick on real intelligence:
“If you’re busy showing off your brains, you’re probably not listening closely enough, thinking hard enough or reaching the smartest conclusions.”
Alexi Pappas on the truth about time:
“’I don’t have enough time’ is not a useful phrase when it comes to anything related to your dream. It’s okay to actively choose to do something or not, but don’t blame time.”
Johan Cruyff on the limits of logic:
“What I know for certain is that the conclusions I would draw from experience are different from the ones based only on figures. Because if Lionel Messi scores three times out of every ten attempts, he might be criticized by someone who sees only the statistics for being just 30 per cent effective. I’d say: just copy him and see if you can get up to that level. It’s practically impossible.”
The Knowledge Project
The CEO of Brookfield says the best way to win in AI, energy, and infrastructure is to ignore the noise and focus on what always works. In only his second podcast ever, Bruce Flatt explains how discipline—not disruption—wins trillion-dollar markets. Because when everything changes, the real edge is knowing what doesn’t.
“Success in investing isn’t about making a lot of money in a short period of time. It’s about earning reasonable returns over very long periods.”
+ Listen and Learn on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Transcript
Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish
P
P.S. Mother Nature is the best artist.