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The Spectrum of Independence

No. 665 – January 25, 2026

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

What looks like success is often just patience.


Mastery is the revenge of the patient on the privileged.


Most people self-sabotage with self-defeating attitudes and behaviors long before anyone stops them.

Insights

The Dalai Lama on being honest:

“If you are honest, truthful, and transparent, people trust you. If people trust you, you have no grounds for fear, suspicion, or jealousy.”


Steve Jobs on living:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life… have the courage to follow your heart and intuition… Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”


Michelle McMahon on standing up for yourself:

“If you’re in a situation of conflict … you can’t hold yourself responsible for their feelings. Regardless of how they handle the situation, you need to speak your truth. You need to do it in a respectful way, and then walk away knowing that you stood up for yourself.”

The Knowledge Project

Morgan Housel breaks down the exact framework he uses to build wealth, minimize financial stress, and buy freedom.

Learn why “boring” investing beats complex strategies, how to avoid the social traps that destroy wealth, and the specific equation for finding contentment.

Some Tiny Lessons from this episode:

  1. “Wealth is what you have minus what you want.”
  2. Luxury quickly becomes a necessity.
  3. Nobody is paying attention to you. Stop trying to impress strangers.
  4. “If I can be average for 50 years, I’ll end up in the top 3% of investors.”
  5. “Independence is a spectrum. Even $100 in the bank beats zero.”

+ Listen on ​Apple​ | ​Spotify​ | ​YouTube​ | ​X​ | ​Web/Transcript ​

Still curious?

+ All 26 ​Tiny Lessons from this episode​

+ ​Members​ have access to my personal highlights from this conversation and The Art of Spending in the repository

Thanks for reading,

— Shane Parrish

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