No. 700 – September 27, 2026
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Tiny Thoughts
You don’t need more time, you need more focus.
Success tends to move away from those who try to capture it and toward those who try to help others achieve it.
People can’t see every choice you make, so they use the details they can see to infer the quality they cannot see.
You can see it in the clean joints, the clear sentences, and the product’s simplicity.
If the work you can see is visibly sloppy, the work you can’t see is likely to be the same (or worse).
Insights
A Mongolian proverb:
“A Tiger wearing a bell will starve.”
Glennon Doyle on disappointing yourself:
“Your job, throughout your entire life, is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself.”
Writer and poet Kahlil Gibran on commitment:
“Do not love half lovers. Do not entertain half friends. Do not live a half life…and do not die a half death.”
The Knowledge Project
Some things you might have missed
- This episode with Tobi is getting a lot of attention for his thoughts on decision-making, beauty, the future of the operating system, and, of course, AI slop, and he weighs in on the who is responsible argument.
- I finally put together a list of Outliers episodes (more coming soon, I promise).
- Even I’m a little surprised this episode has gotten 1.3 million views on YouTube! People are starting to discover I did a similar episode a few months ago on The Psychology of Mental Toughness.
- Warren Buffett stepped down as Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and it reminded me to re-listen to this detailed episode (the only public one I know of) with his long-time analyst.
- If you like the pod and want to support our work, become a supporting member. You get extended cuts, transcripts, no ads, and you get the episode before everyone else. Members already have access to the next episode with Bill Ackman (which comes out publicly on Tuesday).
- You can follow the podcast on YouTube | Spotify | Apple | or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next week.
— Shane Parrish
P.S. I’m a sucker for this stuff. Also, how well is that designed?
P.P.S. If you’re interested in sponsoring the newsletter or pod in 2027, now is the time to reach out. If you think your company should, forward this to the right person!
* This wasn’t sponsored. I just love what the Neko team is doing.