Tags: musings

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1. Admitting your own ignorance is a sign of strength. Do it more often.
2. Do not be afraid of rejection, in any area of life. If you do not ask, you will not receive. However, learn to always take rejection well.
3. Everyone in academia is smart. Strive to be known for your intellect and integrity.
4. Being kind is not the same as being nice.
5. The journey is often much more important than the destination because it changes you. (But: The toughest climbs lead to the best views.)
6. You get to define what success means for you.
7. You can always quit. Knowing when is a superpower, but you can learn to develop it.
8. Even if you only practice a little bit every day, the effects typically compound. Do not underestimate what you can achieve if you stick with it.
9. It is good to look back every once in a while, but reserve any “What if?” questions rather for the future than the past.
10. In many areas of life, it is surprisingly easy to become excellent. This is because many people are not actively trying to improve some skills, unfortunately.¹
11. If you want to become good at something, you have to care about it.
12. Not everything you do has to be quantified.
13. Not everything you do has to be immediately useful. You are allowed to enjoy things.
14. The best way to have great ideas is to have lots of bad ones.
15. Read broadly, especially when you are a “knowledge worker.”
16. If you are always too important for the little tasks, you do not deserve to handle the big ones.
17. You first draft or version of everything is going to be bad, but it is infinitely better than having nothing at all. You can always iterate and improve.
18. Every talk is a job talk.
19. Showing up is half the battle.
20. If you do not feel your own ignorance every once in a while, consider tackling harder tasks.
21. Random acts of kindness are severely underrated. If you like something, write a brief note to the person who created it, for instance. In many areas of life, people only speak up when something is going wrong, meaning that the person(s) in charge only ever get negative feedback. You can counter that trend!
22. You have more agency than you think.
23. Many things that seem like a “big deal” will, in fact, not be a big deal after some time has passed.