71–80 of 567 posts
"Everyone wipes their butt the same way" I couldn't talk properly in certain situations. I was too self-conscious. That meant my communication was poor at workplace. I was too nervous presenting in front of execs and senior leaders. On the other hand, my friend was fluent and smooth. We both had same roles. After another poor presentation, my friend gently told me "Everyone wipes their butt the same way."
Righty tighty, lefty loosey
It had a profound impact on me.
"Everyone wipes their butt the same way" I couldn't talk properly in certain situations. I was too self-conscious. That meant my communication was poor at workplace. I was too nervous presenting in front of execs and senior leaders. On the other hand, my friend was fluent and smooth. We both had same roles. After another poor presentation, my friend gently told me "Everyone wipes their butt the same way."
well, not really true. there are huge cultural differences in personal but hygiene. the end result is more or less the same, the process differs widely.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I've got a few that definitely had an impact on how I act, or perceive a situation. "Why did you do that?" "I don't know" "Then if you don't know why you're doing something, don't do it." I've heard this convo when I was a teenager, and I believe that it nudged me into having a bit more self-reflection and thoughtfulness than I would have otherwise. "When people say something to you, most of the time it means either…
No, it doesn't. Especially if it makes the situation worse.
I've got a few that definitely had an impact on how I act, or perceive a situation. "Why did you do that?" "I don't know" "Then if you don't know why you're doing something, don't do it." I've heard this convo when I was a teenager, and I believe that it nudged me into having a bit more self-reflection and thoughtfulness than I would have otherwise. "When people say something to you, most of the time it means either…
A good way to enter zen due to the Münchhausen trilemma.
There’s a chapter on the mind in the book Discourses and Sayings by Abba Dorotheus. I suppose it can be summarised as “stop lying to yourself”. There’s some subtlety to what this means. For me a big part of that is not living in my imagination. I used to have lots of imaginary conversations with people, predicting what they would say in those situations. This is dangerous since you end up building mental models based…
"Get over yourself."
"Don't choose to make enemies"
My big one for anyone reading is that life can be short and difficult. You must balance enjoying your time now with investing in yourself and your future. I have had several friends who died young without living their lives while they could. All of them would have had a better death if they had swapped some of the self sacrifice required to have material and professional success later in life for some enjoyment earlier on. Remember, what we see of life stories is full of survivor bias - many of the dead will tell you that you need to take a break and see the world while you can.
The value of advice comes from arriving at the right moment to the right person, not some platonic, universal “goodness“. For example, I wanted to drop out of college to work on climate change, and an adult in that community who I respected immensely told me “calm down, it won’t be too late by the time you graduate“. Not too many people needed the advice to worry less about climate change (especially 15 years ago), b…