No. 657 – November 30, 2025
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Tiny Thoughts
Those who need reasons to feel good never run out of needs.
The people who want to be better welcome honest feedback.
The people who want to stay comfortable fight it.
Let this be a filter.
Mandatory work earns you a living. Voluntary work earns you a future.
The work you do during regular hours earns you a paycheck, but it’s what you do (or don’t do) outside of those hours that earns you opportunity.
I’ve seen many people fight this insight, and almost none of them win.
Insights
Warren Buffett on making mistakes work:
“Wrong decisions are part of life. Being able to make them work anyway is one of the abilities of those who are successful.”
David Foster Wallace on thinking:
“Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.”
Olympic speed skater Clara Hughes, after winning a gold medal:
“In my heart it is clear to me why I go to the line time and again. I can assure you it’s not a medal hanging around my neck I’m after. Medals are things I send to my mom in Winnipeg, which she in turn shares with friends and family. They are not what provide the deep sense of accomplishment, which fills my sense of self, in turn teaching me how to live.”
The Knowledge Project
No. 1 Performance Coach Jim Murphy reveals how to quiet the mind and execute when it matters most.
Jim spent 5 years writing Inner Excellence, the mental toughness manual that shot from obscurity to the #1 New York Times bestseller list overnight when a star was caught reading it on the sidelines of a playoff game last year.
+ Listen to the full episode Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Web/Transcript | X
Tiny Lessons
1. Selflessness is fearless.
2. Presence beats confidence.
3. Your mind quits long before your body.
4. There’s no failure, only feedback.
5. Discomfort is your teacher.
6. Fear is self-centered.
7. Perfectionism limits excellence.
8. Vacation shouldn’t be an escape.
9. Give 100% of what’s available today, not 100% of perfect.
10. Presence keeps you sharp.
Want more?
+ All 24 Tiny Lessons
+ Members have access to my highlights from Jim’s Book in the repository. (Not a member? Join Us.)
Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish