Machine Mode is a set period of time in which you work like a machine to have the most optimal output. This is inspired by Illimitable Man's Monk Mode, which is a period in which one focuses on self-improvement in isolation. Where Monk Mode is focused on optimising your inputs, Machine Mode is mainly about the output. Its focus isn't on improving yourself, but on reaching your goals in a shorter time frame through efficient and effective work. But there is some overlap in the habits you might adopt to do either.

Something similar to Machine Mode can be found in MMA or other martial arts competitions, when fighters will go through a fight camp to prepare for a fight. They'll often go to a different location than where they live, and for a couple of weeks all they'll do is eat, sleep and train. But in the end it's all about the training - the output in the gym. The purpose of everything else is to support the output. This same concept can be applied to other fields like business and creative work.

1. Prioritise output

Machine Mode is about building a routine that allows you to prioritise output. Output in this context means building things in the most general sense. This could be a product, your physique or creating content. Some examples are:

• writing a book,

• creating artwork,

• programming an app,

• training for a competition, or

• working out to achieve a physical goal.

Determine for yourself what you want to be doing in this time frame, so you can build the optimal routine around it. First look at the goal you want to achieve, and ideally this will be only one goal. That goal should be as specific as possible. How long Machine Mode will last depends entirely on your goal. Your routine will then get you closer to your goal. Create a routine that allows you to focus on your work uninterruptedly for multiple hours. All minor tasks you need to take care of should be batched and handled in a designated time period.

One way to think about goal setting is that you have a long-term goal, which is divided into milestones, or short-term goals, which are divided into daily tasks, which are enforced through a routine.

One routine that has worked for me personally is TRAIN - BUILD - LEARN (or TBL for short). Every day, you'll have these three blocks in either the T-B-L order, or another order if that works better for you. You'll designate a specific time for each block, and specific tasks to do within those blocks. And then you repeat that every day. So in the TRAIN block you might go to the gym or go for a run. In the BUILD block you could work on content or on products. In the LEARN block you'll dedicate time to learn or improve a skill. You create a routine out of the highest ROI tasks and quantify them so that every day you'll know exactly what to do and how much of it to do. The tasks you choose to do repeatedly are in line with your goals.

If for example you're writing a book, a quantifiable goal could be: to write x amount of words every day, and read x amount of pages every day. Setting time-based goals doesn't work for all tasks. If your goal is to write for one hour a day, you might be getting distracted throughout that hour and it still would count. But if the goal is to write a specific amount of words that day, it's much harder to cheat. So set daily goals for your routine that will make sure you'll get results. And you want to set these goals beforehand. Each morning, have a clear standard for what would make the day a successful one. The easiest way is to do the same amount every day. That way you can choose what's optimal, and not think about it anymore. It's about consistency after all.

If you have multiple roles, and want to dedicate an entire day to the role you're in at the time, you could consider Paul Graham's Maker/Manager schedule. You could also create variations of this like a Student/Entrepreneur schedule, or a Programmer/Marketer schedule et cetera.

In the end it's all about creating a good routine that works for your circumstances and preferences. You don't have to use someone else's routine just because it works for them. Experiment and find what works for you. And it doesn't have to be perfect. Try what makes sense to you, get feedback from reality, and keep improving it.

2. Optimise inputs

The reason why Machine Mode is temporary, is because you're pushing yourself in a way that isn't sustainable for a long time. With every day you push yourself, you might be one step closer to the edge, and you might be about to break. But if you don't push yourself, you might fail at achieving your goals and be devastated anyway. So in the end, it doesn't even matter.

Because the main part of your day is the time when you're working, all your other habits should be built around this time. However, this doesn't mean that you should neglect habits like training just so you can work all day. Training isn't spending energy; it's investing energy. The same goes for other good habits like optimising your nutrition and meditating. These habits are crucial in order for you to perform optimally. So also think about your inputs systematically and optimise all of your supporting habits so that you don't run out of energy.

Prioritising output doesn't mean that you shouldn't continue learning. However, when you're in Machine Mode you want to also optimise your learning so that it supports your work. So all learning is basically a form of research to add fuel to your fire. If you're writing a book, read books about the topic or books and articles that teach you to write better. If you're trying to gain muscle, learn about nutrition, biology and training techniques. If you're building an app, improve your coding skills and listen to other programmers talk about their process. If you're creating artwork, research other artists and their works, or get inspired by nature. These are just some simplified examples, but you get the idea.

3. Plan everything beforehand

Working like a machine requires you to be completely focused on the task at hand. Machines don't have emotions, so once you enter Machine Mode you don't have room for fear, uncertainty or doubt. Schedule every single minute of your day and have a daily routine which pushes you to be at your best every day. Set a goal that's realistic enough to be attainable, but challenging enough to push you towards optimal performance.

The duration of Machine Mode depends on your goal. But it might require some experimentation to find where your physical and mental limitations are. You could, for example, start with one or two weeks as an experiment to figure out the right routine. If that goes well you could increase the next period to one month.

When you've found the right routine, and it's pushing you to perform at your best, you'll have no other choice but to ignore all distractions. The main reason to plan everything up front is that it allows you to be the machine you need to be without needing to constantly reflect on your day. This is why it's also crucial to think about your schedule in great detail before you enter Machine Mode. Make sure you have a solid plan, and that your routine is gradually getting you closer to your goals. When you get out of Machine Mode, and you've executed it successfully, you might realise that all this potential energy and focus has already been inside you all along, and that you can tap into it whenever you need it to make giant leaps.

Q&A

• "Is this the same thing as Cal Newport's Deep Work?"

Answer: No, Deep Work is about optimising your focus in your working time. Machine Mode is the entire period (of days or weeks) in which you work towards your goals and the mindset that comes with it. But you should definitely apply Deep Work when you're working.

• "Is this the same thing as being in Flow State?"

Answer: No, but like Deep Work you should definitely apply it when you're working.

• "When should I get into Machine Mode?"

Answer: This depends on your goals and how you're progressing towards them. If you naturally have no problem working consistently and you're making steady progress towards your goals, you might not need it. But if you find yourself struggling to stay focused on your goals and you get distracted a lot, Machine Mode might help optimise your routine. However, if you're focusing on the wrong goals, it doesn't matter anyway. One good reason to get into Machine Mode is if you've been slacking and you need to make a strong comeback.

• "For how long should I be in Machine Mode?"

Answer: for as long as it takes to achieve the goal you've set for yourself. But make sure this is a relatively short-term goal, so that you don't get rekt in the process. So maybe one month, when at the first of the month you go into Machine Mode and try to achieve your goal by the end of the month. It might be wise to start with a shorter session to learn from first.

• "What if I fail to do my tasks?"

Answer: It's quite normal to run into some problems. Maybe you'll be really motivated the first couple of days, but after that you get bored and want to go back to your bad habits. You need to analyse your habits and recognise what went wrong. It's difficult to break a pattern in your behaviour, especially if you've been living unproductively for a long time. Look at how excited you really are about your goals. If you're not that excited, think about if it's really worth it. If it's really important to you, reframe it to yourself as beneficial by looking at all the intrinsic reasons to succeed. Also think about what your life would look like if you failed. If this image scares you enough, that might be another big motivator. And additionally, learn about habits and dopamine, so you'll be able to look at it from a more scientific point of view.

• "What about family and friends?"

**Answer: **your social life might suffer from this, but that's just a necessary side-effect of being ambitious. Listen to some speeches by Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan and you'll understand. Later, when you are where you need to be, you'll have more freedom of time and resources to help your family and friends, and that might be worth some sacrifice.

Status is everywhere around us in society. Status can be gained both by individuals and by businesses. When an individual gains status, we call this fame. When a business gains status we call this brand. Status is the metric with which we determine the rankings on the leaderboard of a culture, and every culture has its own leaderboard.

The word leaderboard implies that everyone holds a specific position, and some are higher than others. This is true, and it's also the reason why status is a zero-sum game: only one person can be the number one, and everyone else is ranked according to their position on the leaderboard.

If you wish to climb higher on a leaderboard, you have to overtake others. Some do this respectfully, others attack the people above them. These competitions are called status games, and they're everywhere around us. Humans desire culture. Culture requires status. Status implies competition.

Many of the things we do are connected to our desire to gain status within our culture. Think about this whenever you want to buy something you don't really need: are you buying it for yourself, or to signal something to the people from your culture?

"Status is our position in the hierarchy. It’s also our perception of that position.Status protects us.Status helps us get what we want.Status gives us the leverage to make change happen.Status is a place to hide.Status can be a gift or a burden.Status creates a narrative that changes our perceived options, alters our choices, and undermines (or supports) our future.And the desire to change our status, or to protect it, drives almost everything we do."

- Seth Godin, This Is Marketing

You can of course reject status games in their entirety, and accept that you don't need to climb higher on the leaderboard of your culture. This is difficult to do, because it's human nature to find connection with others. The only realistic solution is to reject most cultures, and to only stick to a select few that are important to you.

The pseudonymous economy has changed the way we interact with others. It's now possible to join a digital culture without revealing your true identity. This is a way for people to connect with others based on specific interests like technology or memes. The pseudonymous economy is a way in which people can be part of a culture, and gain status under a pseudonym, without needing to convert their online status to offline status.

The internet has made it possible for humans to connect with other humans from all around the world. This has resulted in a blend of many existing cultures, and also the creation of many new cultures. The internet therefore has created more competition. The internet is the ultimate battleground for status games.

If a mob can gather enough people who are angry with you, you can get taken down from the leaderboard - or canceled as they call it. This often has nothing to do with morality, but it's simply a desperate way for them to gain status by condemning you. If you don't believe me, just pay attention to whenever there's a new trend of people condemning something, and how fast they move on to something else when the trend starts to fade. If you only care when it trends, you don't care enough.

Playing status games means being in competition with everyone else who is playing the same status game. This means that you can be high on one leaderboard, but lower on another one. It depends on the cultures you're a part of.

An example: a famous entrepreneur has a high status on their own leaderboard (business people), and a famous singer has a high status on another leaderboard (musicians). Are they in competition? This depends on the context. Within their own fields of work, they don't compete with each other. They are the people most admired in their culture. But if you look at a broader leaderboard, like celebrities, they might be in competition with each other. A simple example of this could be a list of the wealthiest celebrities.

The question is whether status games are worth playing. Most of them aren't. Many status games are just purely based on vanity. They have no substance and are purely kept intact by famous people who are famous for no particular reason, and their followers who admire them because they have no other sense of purpose in life.

However, status drives culture, and is deeply connected to it. The hierarchy of status gives people direction. If you want to know who holds the highest status in your culture, think about whose attention you desire most. So even though status games are zero-sum, finding a culture worth competing in, for the right reasons, whilst helping the people in that culture, might we worth it. You could view status games as a necessary evil to reach others.

Status is a form of leverage - though a fragile one. If you can use it for a good cause as long as it lasts, you might find that status games aren't necessarily zero-sum after all. If we could create a culture out of that, it would definitely be worth joining.

There seems to be an idea in society that being judgmental is a bad thing. People will often say: "don't be so judgmental". This mind virus has grown to the extent that a lot of people now think that judgment in its entirety is bad. What they actually should say is: "don't be rude to people". Because human beings can't help being judgmental; it's quite necessary for survival and many other aspects of life. But it's not always necessary to make all of your thoughts public. You can leave that decision to your own judgment.

Internal judgment is something you should protect, because without it you stop being an individual. When you give up your judgment, you just get dragged along by society's whim. You can't completely get rid of judgment, but it is possible to suppress it. And when you suppress your judgment someone else will do the thinking for you instead.

Without judgment, morality vanishes: you can't distinguish between good and bad. Without judgment, logic vanishes: you can't distinguish between true and false. Without judgment, perspective vanishes: you can't agree or disagree.

The suppression of judgment is an important trait of groupthink. They don't want you to be judgmental, because they don't want you to think for yourself. When you think for yourself there's a possibility of you coming to a dissenting conclusion. Your individualism is a threat to them. But it's better to be critically neutral than fanatically biased.

When it comes to moral judgment, groupthinkers often have double standards. They don't want you to be judgmental but they will judge you whenever it suits them. "You shouldn't be judgmental" is a self-contradicting statement. Beware of the hypocrites. They'll claim there's no such thing as right or wrong - until they are wronged.

Politicians often ask you to trust them to do the right thing, but it requires individual judgment for people to give the right person their vote. When it's all a status game and there is no room for substantial questioning and being critical, it just becomes a popularity contest. Not much has changed throughout history in that regard.

"As the people had very little opportunity to become acquainted with the real merits of the case in respect to questions of government, they gave their votes very much according to the personal popularity of the candidate. Public men had very little moral principle in those days, and they would accordingly resort to any means whatever to procure this personal popularity."

- Jacob Abbott, History of Julius Caesar.

If you want to be right, you have to be willing to change your mind at any time. By being judgmental, you not only see the merits of other people's ideas, but also your own. It requires judgment to come to the right conclusions. Finding truth requires you to question yourself - your every thought and subsequent action. And you need to adapt whenever your sound judgment requires you to.

Truth is the ultimate source, and every other source is an interpretation of it. Your sources shape your thoughts. Your thoughts shape your actions. Your actions shape your legacy.

The first source you're exposed to becomes your reference point for all future sources. When you read something you know nothing about, you assume it's true. The first source then becomes your working hypothesis. How do you increase the chance that you're exposed to the right source? Begin with the classics: the books that have stood the test of time, and study them broadly before you go deep into a school of thought. Choosing sources is like choosing investments: narrow down to the extent that you trust your judgment. Otherwise, diversify.

Most modern philosophy is recycled ancient philosophy. Timeless ideas will keep circulating infinitely. A big difference between then and now is that people take an old idea and turn it into a monetisable concept that they claim to have invented. Whereas ancient sources tend to be more value-dense, and have more depth. Most non-fiction books these days should've been essays.

Open or hidden, everyone has an agenda. Choose your propaganda or be propagandised. Curate your sources or submit to the algorithm. Everyone lives in an echo chamber of sorts. Better make it a good one. When people get stuck in the wrong echo chamber, their mind gets infected by the wrong ideas. And it's difficult to snap out of it. Once they're indoctrinated they tend to disregard anything that contradicts their ideology. The more they trust the source, the less they care about the argument.

You can learn something from everyone, but don't expect the same ROI. If it doesn't surprise you, read something else. Life is too short to expose yourself to low-quality content. Even if you don't see harm in it, it will program you nonetheless. You become what you repeatedly consume.

Before you consider someone's argument, think of what incentives drive them. With the growth of the internet, information has become abundant. Be highly selective of your sources and look at people's motives. What are they trying to sell you? There's nothing wrong with people monetising their content, but beware of people trying to trick you into purchasing access to low-value information. Make sure the source can be trusted.

The internet is like a free library of knowledge, if used right. Not having had formal education is a bad excuse to not be educated. If you have access to the internet, you have access to free education. Not everyone can learn from the same sources in the same time period. The level of understanding makes a big difference. People consume at their own level: what you call trash, others would call genius. The time is also important: books hit differently when you read them in the right phase of your life. Sometimes you need to revisit a source later on in life to fully get it.

When you become a category of your own, no one can compare to you. You become a category of your own by creating a new category and positioning yourself into it before anyone catches up.

You create a new category

• a. at the intersection of multiple categories,

• b. by creating a subcategory of another category, or

• c. by inventing a new category (the most difficult one).

Business brands

The Law of the Category:

"If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in."

- Al Ries and Jack Trout, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

In business brands, The Law of the Category is very evident. If you think about a certain category, say "messaging platforms", there's probably a company that comes to mind. And when you think of "music streaming", another brand pops up in your mind. This is what positioning is about. People perceive a certain company as the leader, because that's the one they think about first.

When you create a new category, it has to be distinctive enough to allow minimal overlap with other categories that are already dominated. Otherwise, you're in competition with them.

When you differentiate enough, you'll attract a different audience. This way you can become dominant in your own category, without competitors.

Personal brands

For personal brands, The Law of the Category seems a lot more intuitive. You don't need to boil everything down to a single product, but you can be your dynamic self by following your passions.

Strong personal brands tend to thrive at the intersection between multiple categories. You can only be known for a main category if you are the best at that particular thing. Everyone else has to differentiate to stand out.

If you want to be known as "the tech person", you have to either establish yourself (a) before anyone else in the tech world, or, perhaps more importantly, (b) you have to be perceived to be the expert on tech. I say "perceived", because marketing is a game of perception.

Being first and being the best are both difficult to do. So how do people still become known in the tech world? By adding something of their own to it. Instead of being "the tech person", you can much more easily become "the funny tech person" or "the tech philosopher". These are more specific, and thereby have less competition.

Personality brands

Another way of differentiating is by combining a category with your personality. However, this only works if you have an interesting personality. Many think they have an interesting personality. Only few really do.

A personality-based brand is well-positioned, because there's only one such person. The market of you has no competitors.

Combining multiple categories

The way to establish yourself at the intersection of multiple categories is by looking at the things you're interested in, and by finding a way of combining them in an authentic way.

It's difficult for personal brands to establish themselves in too many categories at once. The combination has to make sense. Once you've established yourself in one or two categories, you can slowly add another category to it.

Remember that it always takes time to be taken seriously in a new category. This is a common thing that celebrities do: they establish themselves in one or two things, and immediately start giving advice on wide-ranging topics, because they have built trust with their audiences. This doesn't mean however that their advice is any good. Like I said before: marketing is a game of perception.

There are many tools that people are stuck using, even though there are better alternatives out there.

And yet, these better alternatives remain the no. 2s or no. 3s in their category. Maybe lower. There are multiple reasons for people's hesitancy to migrate. Four of them are:

1. Network effects

2. The hassle of migration

3. Ignorance

4. Having to admit they made the wrong decision

The network effect pulls people back into social and messaging platforms. This of course is nothing new, but think about it this way: if you were to create an alternative social platform with more regard to privacy and ethics, how could you possibly break the strong network effect of an existing company? To understand this, you have to understand how people adopt new tools: people want what's new, not what's better.

Certainly the better tools will attract certain kinds of people. But these are the people who were already convinced they needed something different, and were probably looking for it. How do you reach the rest of them? By creating something new. Something they haven't seen before.

Now, it's very much possible that the no. 2s and no. 3s are comfortable being where they are. Maybe they don't want to convince most people who use their competitor's tool. And maybe they just want to stay focused on serving a specific kind of people. That's completely fine (and quite necessary at first).

However, many companies that are set to bring change to the world, do the same thing over and over: they try to become like their competitor. Instead of innovating, they are copying. This way they'll always be one step behind the competitor. They even position themselves as "just like the competitor, but better at certain aspects". They don't say this explicitly, but it's implied in how they position themselves.

What "better" companies should do instead is to create their own path. To cause disruption through originality. The dominating companies have already made a name for themselves in their category, and people don't like to admit that their original decision was wrong. By telling them that they should migrate, you're asking them to admit this. But if you create something different, something in its own category, your solution is just a new kind of product they're trying out. It's an experiment, not a leap into disloyalty.

Don't be the alternative. Change the game.

There are certain habits you can adopt to be consistently focused and clear-minded during your productive hours. I've made a list of the most essential ones that work for me. Some of these are very obvious, but are nevertheless crucial, and others might be easily overlooked, but will have a big ROI when implemented.

In this list I give a very brief and to-the-point overview of each of these habits. The list consists of universal habits that can have a big impact on any person. However, for some of them the implementation might be subjective.

Sleep schedule

A productive day starts the night before. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. After a week you will start to get used to it. When building this habit, make up for any lost sleep by going to bed earlier the next day. No screens 1 hour before bed.

Biological clock

Get sun exposure as soon as possible upon waking. Even if the sun isn't out, go outside for a couple of minutes. Your body will know it's morning, and this will make you sleep better at night. Sitting next to a window doesn't help. Go outside.

Meditation

Meditation is like a reset button for your brain. Sit comfortably, breathe in and out deeply. Focus only on your breath. If distracted, go back to your breath. Try different forms of meditation. There's no right way to do it, but there are wrong ways to do it.

Exercise

Do some form of exercise every day. Especially on days you don't feel like it. It will boost your mood, make you more focused, and will do wonders for your health. Push your limits a bit further every day. Always learn proper technique first. Measure progress.

Diet

This is a big topic, but I'll keep it simple. Every body is different. Find a diet that works for you. Cut out processed foods as much as possible. Cut out sugars. Only drink water. Eat lots of proteins. Carbs and salt are best before workouts. Listen to your body.

Reward system

Make sure you reward yourself only after doing your work. Earn your reward. Otherwise your motivation will drop significantly. Delay all gratification to stay focused during the day.

Information input

We are constantly being bombarded with information. Be selective in where you focus your attention. Any headspace you use for non-essential information, will not be available for more important things. Save your mental energy for what matters.

Phone

The biggest productivity hack these days is to make your phone as boring as possible. Get rid of all non-essential apps. Turn off notifications. Track your screen time and set a realistic daily limit for yourself. Have scheduled times during the day to check your phone.

Work sprints

When working, stay focused on one single task at a time. Go deep on that one task until it's finished, and then move on to the next task. Batch smaller tasks. Do not switch context mid-work: so no checking emails or going on your phone in-between.

Active rest

This one is a big challenge, because we're so used to staying busy all the time. When resting, make sure you're not passively consuming information. Listening to podcasts, watching videos, or scrolling on social media is not resting.

Most worthwhile things are difficult.

Many consider this a valid reason not to try. Most people want easy. They want it now, not later.

The higher the difficulty of the objective, the fewer people will make it to the end. This is your chance: all you have to do is outlast them.

"But that's difficult." Yes. But if you care enough, you'll find a way.

Marriage is difficult. Raising kids is difficult. Learning new skills is difficult. But we still do these things because the end-goal is more important to us than its difficulty.

We grow through struggle. Without the difficulty of the challenges we face we'd be weak, lazy and insecure. Unlock your growth potential; challenge yourself.

Doing difficult things prepares you for difficult times. Now you know your capabilities and limits. You've seen this before.

Difficulty is guaranteed. Your success depends on you. Every obstacle on the way to your goal is merely a necessary checkpoint you pass through, in order to measure your progress.

Difficult? That's irrelevant.

Distribution is an important form of leverage. When you have distribution, you own a channel to get any product or service you offer directly to your followers. Distribution channels can have different forms - this depends on what you're good at and on the type of brand you have.

If you want to create a distribution channel, it's important to get good at one (or more) of these:

• Writing

• Speaking

• Graphical design

• Photography

• Filming/editing

• Animation

An important factor to take into account is to have a decentralised platform to publish your content. You don't want to depend entirely on social media or other centralised media. They can change their algorithms, which will make you less visible. Or they can become irrelevant, and you'll need to move somewhere else. Or they can ban you.

Social media can be a powerful tool if you use it as an additional distribution channel to attract people to your own platform. This allows you to go direct.

A great benefit of social media is that you can connect with a global community of like-minded people. Use that to your advantage.

A great downside of social media is that it can be taken away from you at any moment. Prepare for this.

You don't know what the algorithms are going to do in the future.

You don't know if the platform will survive.

You don't know when you can get blocked out of your account.

When you own your distribution, you can be truly independent as a creator.

It's become relatively simple for brands to reach audiences, by way of the internet. All you need is your own distribution channel with a dedicated following. Easier said than done of course.

Brands don't require the press anymore to get the word to spread. If you own the distribution yourself, you can leverage that without relying on someone else's audience.

Control the narrative

Corporate media and tech companies have fallen out, and the smartest entrepreneurs have decided to go direct. This means that they use their own distribution channels to reach audiences.

Some companies even do their own fact checks, to counter misreporting by corporate media. Using distribution to counter misreporting, or any kind of negative attention directed towards you, can be a good defence against cancel culture. You can use it to set the record straight. Otherwise the narrative is controlled by others.

Distribute value

When you have your own platform, you can promote new products much more easily. Because you have the attention of your audience, and they're interested in what you have to say, you've already established trust with them. Whenever you launch something new, they might want to give it a try - if it's of value to them.

There will also be a more dedicated subgroup of you audience: superfans. These are the people who will want to support you no matter what you're venturing into. Having superfans is the ultimate goal. But to get there, you'll need to provide unique value consistently. And it will take some time.

Media = power

A good distribution channel can be leveraged in many ways. You can, for example

• ask for feedback directly,

• promote new products or services, and

• publish counter misreporting.

If media is power, then by creating your own media channel you wield some of that power. If your distribution solely relies on third-party channels, that power can be taken away from you. So it's essential that you own your distribution by decentralising.

When building, it's tempting to perfect every single detail of the first version.

The first version isn't the final version, so there's nothing yet to perfect. You first need to find out whether it's worth continuing with the project or not.

Perfectionism is procrastination. It's just a way to feel productive whilst not focusing on your priority. You get a sense of control as you touch up on minuscule issues that aren't that important - yet.

You don't know whether you need to pivot or not before you've actually made the first iteration. You only have your prediction. The iteration reveals whether your prediction was right or not.

It's pointless to optimise if you don't know what you're optimising for. You have no metrics, no feedback, no experience, and no product 1.0.

The first draft of a book is not the final book.

The first version of a software is not the final software.

The unedited version of a movie is not the final movie.

It's by iterating that we find out what optimisations are required. Having an outline is useful - in some cases even required. But the outline is nothing but a prediction.

In architecture there's a concept called "form follows function". It's not the other way around. At the core of it, we want things to function right. The form is based on whatever that function is.

You only know whether something functions right if you have actually tried it out. If you've iterated.

Let the function take the lead. The form will follow.

Write that scene, compose that song, build that app. You won't know until you've tried.

Having a priority means putting it above everything else. And you can only have one top priority. Everything else is ranked according to how important it is to you.

It's the order of priorities that sets world-class performers apart from the rest.

World-class performers are prepared to make sacrifices that others aren't prepared to make. They dedicate themselves fully to their craft, and let nothing get in the way of it. Everything else is structured around it.

If you really want to achieve something specific, say building your business, becoming a high-level athlete, becoming a famous artist, this should be your top priority. And having a top priority requires you to make sacrifices - constantly.

The sacrifices you make are often the small things: limiting social gatherings, less "doing coffee", watching fewer series and movies, spending less time consuming content, limiting junk food, cutting ties with toxic people, just to name a few.

Why make these sacrifices? Because they stand in the way of your priority. They take up things like time, mental space, and health. All things you need in order to achieve your goal. The things you sacrifice make space for you to focus on your craft, and the habits that reinforce it, like sleep, eating healthy, exercise, reading, meditation, and maybe prayer.

Your actions are a manifestation of what you find most important. If you cannot make sacrifices for it, it's probably not your priority.

What's your top priority, and what are you willing to sacrifice for it?

Schools have prescribed literature.

Book stores have best-seller sections.

Social media have engagement-focused algorithms.

What they all have in common is that they curate what you get exposed to. Curation makes you see one side of the story.

When you have the full context, you can decide for yourself. You can use your own judgment, rather than go with the one-sided information you have been provided. For this you also need the other side of the story.

Why did they pick this particular source of information? How are they being incentivised to do so? Keep these questions in mind whenever you are recommended anything.

They want you to agree with their view? That's fine. But delay that decision until you see the full picture.

Curation is propaganda.

You can fool yourself when thinking, but not when writing.

When writing, you are forced to form complete sentences. When writing down an idea, the idea has to make sense. If it doesn't, it will be noticeable immediately.

When learning, try to write down the lesson as simply as possible, and you will have confirmed whether you've understood it or not.

Writing and thinking are closely connected to each other. Each improves the other.

You become a better thinker by writing, and you become a better writer by thinking.

Thinking is writing.

Writing is thinking.

The quality of the information you consume defines the perimeter of your thoughts.

The internet provides us easy access to a vast collection of information. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. It all depends on where you focus your attention.

We generate good ideas by being exposed to people with good ideas.

We generate bad ideas by being exposed to people with bad ideas.

You read or hear someone else's idea, you process it, add to it, subtract from it, rephrase it, reshape it, then internalise it. Now, it's become a part of your identity.

Whose ideas you choose to read or hear defines the quality of your own ideas. Choose wisely.

Choosing the right source is especially important when starting with a blank slate. When you're learning something new, you don't have a reference point to compare the information to. The first information you are exposed to becomes your reference point.

We overestimate most of our influencers, and underestimate how much we are influenced by them. And we all have influencers, whether we admit this or not.

This doesn't just apply to people, but also to the tools you use. Many of them are designed to make you as ineffective as possible. There are many traps disguised as tools. It's up to you how you use them.

Maintaining a clear mind becomes increasingly more difficult. This ultimately depends on the decisions you make each day. And everyone has these same decisions to make. Those who make the right decisions, come out on top. The rest will be consumed by an abundance of noise.

Clear thinking is an unfair advantage.