No. 670 – March 1, 2026
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Tiny Thoughts
Arguing with a fool doesn’t change them; it changes you.
Talent and potential mean nothing if you can’t consistently do the boring things when you don’t feel like doing them.
Simple and shallow sound the same until you ask the second question. The person who earned their simplicity can go ten levels deep when challenged. The person who skipped the work falls apart at level two.
Insights
Singer Kurt Cobain on being weird:
“They laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at them because they’re all the same”
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld on seeing the best:
“Every artist is only showing you his best. When you watch a movie, every scene—they only show you the one take that worked. Seventeen times, they missed it. You’re only seeing the peak of it.”
Freestyle skier and physicist Eileen Gu on the mindset that wins medals:
“I’m a very introspective. I spend a lot of time in my head, and it’s not a bad place to be. I journal a lot. I break down all of my thought processes. I think I apply a very analytical lens to my own thinking, and I kind of modify it because it’s so interesting. You can control what you think. You can control how you think, and therefore, you can control who you are.”
The Knowledge Project
Phil Knight is the founder of Nike, the brand that reshaped sports and became one of the most powerful companies in the world.
Before reading Shoe Dog, I had no idea that Nike teetered on the verge of bankruptcy for over a decade. Phil Knight’s bank cut him off, his supplier turned against him, and the government came after him—all at the same time. What surprised me most was that Knight was a misfit.
A few of the Tiny Lessons I took away:
- “Belief is irresistible.”
- “My life was outta balance, sure, but I didn’t care.”
- When you see only problems, you’re not seeing clearly.
- Let people surprise you. Tell people what to do, not how. When you tell them how, you cap the upside at your own imagination.
- If you bet on people the world has overlooked, they’ll spend their lives proving you right.
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Want more?
+ All 26 Tiny Lessons from this episode
+ Members have access to the highlights and notes I made reading Shoe Dog.
Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish