No. 695 – August 23, 2026
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Tiny Thoughts
If you can’t decide between two paths, choose the one that offers no immediate feedback.
We convince ourselves that the future is knowable, yet the pivotal moments of history are surprises no one saw coming.
If you’re going to be wildly successful, you have to be wildly unusual.
Your life won’t resemble the lives of the people around you. You can learn a lot from Outliers, but you can’t copy them.
The style of your success has to fit who you are.
Insights
Jim Rohn with a simple truth:
“Opportunity follows difficulty.”
Divya Venn on the cost of relationships:
“Being annoyed is the price you pay for community. It means having guests when you’d rather be alone. It means letting someone live with you even when they get on your nerves. It means showing up for events that you’d rather not go to. It means turning the other cheek.”
Stanley Kubrick on indirect storytelling:
“If you really want to communicate something, even if it’s just an emotion or an attitude, let alone an idea, the least effective and least enjoyable way is directly. It only goes in about an inch. But if you can get people to the point where they have to think a moment what it is you’re getting at, and then discover it, the thrill of discovery goes right through the heart.”
The Knowledge Project
David Baszucki is the co-founder and CEO of Roblox, a platform built around a simple idea: give people the tools and incentives to create together.
In this short conversation, he shares how a health decision saved his son’s life and how it changed the way he eats; why bureaucracy compounds unless you actively destroy it; how to monitor your mind before making decisions; and why the best products often improve by removing complexity.
+ Listen and Learn on Spotify | YouTube | Apple | Web/Transcript
+ Members get the extended cut and hand-edited transcript
Etcetra
I’m reading Roy Thomson of Fleet Street as part of my research for an upcoming episode of Outliers. Fascinating story, and I can’t wait to share it with you.
Skip the angry email.
An extraordinary response to terrible circumstances.
Doing this for the second time soon. This time in NYC.
My kids have had way too much fun with this.
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next week.
— Shane Parrish
P.S. I love this simple and effective solution.