No. 688 – July 5, 2026
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Tiny Thoughts
So much advantage in life comes from being willing to look like an idiot in the short term.
A lot of success in life is just putting yourself in a position for good things to happen.
+ Be reliable
+ Avoid drama
+ Help other people win
+ Take care of your body
+ Take care of your mind
+ Live below your means
+ Treat your job as if it matters
+ Take care of your relationships
Simple but not easy.
When you don’t contribute in the way you wanted, you stop seeing all the ways you did contribute.
You measure what happened against what you imagined would happen. The letdown isn’t really about how much you contributed. It’s about how far reality differed from the version you’d imagined.
The lesson here isn’t to stop wanting to make a bigger contribution, but rather to make an honest account of what you did contribute.
When you feel like your contribution didn’t matter, ask yourself what you’re really measuring against.
Insights
Jim Rohn on remembering the basics:
“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success if the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.”
Writer Leo Rosten on the purpose of life:
“The purpose of life is not to be happy at all. It is to be useful, to be honorable. It is to be compassionate. It is to matter, to have it make some difference that you lived.”
Athlete Eileen Gu on the power of sport:
“As far as trusting yourself… the power of sport is unparalleled because it is evidence over affirmation. You don’t tell yourself, ‘Oh, I can handle the pressure. Oh, I’m so great.’ You do it time and time again.
Sports are really honest because you can’t lie to yourself. You know when you stayed late, and other people weren’t there. You know when you showed up early and other people weren’t there. You know when you gave 100% in training, day in and day out, for months and months.
So it’s not about, you know, at the last second telling myself a chipper little line and calling it a day. It’s the fact that I look back on quite literally years—like, a decade—of hard work, of pouring my heart and soul into this sport.
So, yeah, it’s trusting myself, but it’s building that trust every day. And so that’s a big reason why I encourage more young girls to get into sports, because I think the power it has to build and instill that confidence in people is a really special and unique thing.”
The Knowledge Project
My favorite moments from my conversation with Dr. Giulia Enders on repairing, building, and maintaining your gut health.
One thing I didn’t realize is just how foundational your gut is to everything from your cognitive ability to your sleep.
- 0:48 Most ‘food sensitivity’ is a damaged gut
- 1:54 Your body sends a text every morning
- 3:46 Best foods for gut health
- 10:45 How a kitchen gadget made an entire island gain weight
- 12:25 Nature’s way of reducing cancer risk
- 16:20 Bowel movements
- 26:28 Constipation
- 29:14 Ultraprocessed foods
- 31:07 How long does it take to heal your gut
- 35:36 The #1 hack to use in the grocery store
- 37:10 Bierschiss
- 41:28 Do gut cleanses work?
- 44:59 Walking after eating
+ Listen to the full conversation: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Web/Transcript | X
Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish
P.S. This is wild footage.
P.P.S. An Amazon review of Clear Thinking sums it up nicely.”Great book. Dives deep enough to comprehend the wisdom and habits of clear thinking – not boring. As easy read, and powerful to apply.”