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Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

It’s Sunday evening and I’m two whiskeys deep. A few thoughts and counterintuitive truths:

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

You can read every business and self-help book in the world, but ultimately the only way to learn is by fucking it up. I love reading—I love gathering insights from the greats. But reading and studying is nothing without battle-testing. Don’t fear failure. Fail smart and fast.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Allowing kids to fail is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. I’ll never forget being left out on the mound in those moments when I desperately wanted to be taken out of the game. Learning to fail—and how to grow through it—is one of the most important skills of life.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

If it bothers you to see other people succeed, you’re definitely not gonna make it. Distance yourself from anyone who spends time bringing others down or dismissing their achievements. These people are boat anchors. Celebrate everyone’s wins and you’ll start winning more.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

The Hedonic Treadmill is one of the most devilish forces in our lives. We have a tendency to quickly return to a baseline level of happiness after positive events. No amount of money or fame will make you sustainably happy if you aren’t truly happy. Look inward, not outward.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Life really only changes in 10x increments of wealth, so you should focus your energy 10x opportunities. Your energy is finite—a resource to be allocated strategically. Allocate it towards opportunities and ideas that have the potential to change your life—non-linear outcomes.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Complaining never got anyone anywhere worth going. The world is split between complainers and actors—the former talk while the latter do. Complainers are always on the sidelines. Actors are in the arena. Actors fight—their bias for motion creates real results and change.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Second-order thinkers will always run the world. The world is filled with first-order thinkers—it’s so easy to do. Digging deeper—asking “and then what?”—is more time consuming, and it’ll piss some people off along the way. But second-order thinkers win non-linear rewards.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

The only way you can truly trust someone is if you’ve been together in your darkest hour. Darkest Hour Friends are those special few who are there for you when shit hits the fan—when you’re down and out. Those are the friends you can trust—in good times and bad. Cherish them.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Solitude is a lost art we all need to rediscover. “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” - Blaise Pascal We have more connectedness than ever, but we’re less connected to our surroundings. Practice solitude to reclaim connection.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Fixed hour schedules of are a dying remnant of the Industrial Age. Parkinson's Law says that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. When you establish fixed hours, you find unproductive ways to fill it. We are made to work like lions—sprint, rest, repeat.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Every single person should develop a daily journaling habit. Daily journaling is the most beneficial and therapeutic habit I’ve picked up in the last year. It can be short and unstructured—mine is! It provides a daily outlet that helps with stress & supports personal growth.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

People criticize self-promotion, but if you aren’t willing to promote yourself, why should someone else? It's easy to condemn self-promotion from the top. But when you're starting out, you may be the only one able to promote. If you’ve put in the work, share it with the world!

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Sometimes inaction is the most powerful action. Bias for action is one of the most common traits of highly-successful people. But never confuse movement with action. Action is about progress—a rocking chair moves, but it doesn’t make progress. You don’t have to move to act.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

It’s historically been a VERY bad idea to bet against human ingenuity. Go short innovation at your own peril. If you do it, it better be liquid… As for me, I’m betting on human ingenuity 10 times out of 10.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

You probably aren’t the first person to think of an idea, and that’s totally ok. People incorrectly assume that if you aren’t first, you can’t win. I see so many entrepreneurs quit when they find out there are others doing the same thing. Remember: Facebook came after MySpace.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Most experts use jargon and acronyms to convince you to pay them to do something that you could probably do yourself. Next time you encounter someone talking over your head, ask them to explain it to you like you’re 5. You’ll quickly figure out what game they’re really playing.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

You’ll never know what you’re truly capable of unless you give yourself the headspace to go after it. It’s often very difficult to envision your alternative paths. Sometimes taking the leap gives you that headspace—you might be shocked by what you can accomplish.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

It’s a huge drain on your time to refute nonsense, but it’s so damn important. The BS Asymmetry Principle says the energy required to refute BS is much larger than the energy required to produce it. This is why BS spreads so easily—and also why we need to take time to fight it.

Sahil Bloom

@SahilBloom

Negativity Bias is a powerful force holding people back from sharing their light with the world. I might get 99 positive responses to this thread, but the 1 negative response is all I’ll think about. Negativity sticks. My advice: focus on the base rates and share your light.