flâneur

Priyanshu Raj

3 followers · 10 following · 899 views

on the atlas — 42

highlights — 76

  • And because they use the latest stuff, they're in a position to discover valuable types of fixable brokenness first.
    Organic Startup Ideas
  • if you want to come up with organic startup ideas, I'd encourage you to focus more on the idea part and less on the startup part. Just fix things that seem broken, regardless of whether it seems like the problem is important enough to build a company on.
    Organic Startup Ideas
  • When Mark spoke at a YC dinner this winter he said he wasn't trying to start a company when he wrote the first version of Facebook. It was just a project. So was the Apple I when Woz first started working on it.
    Organic Startup Ideas
  • There are ideas that obvious lying around now. The reason you're overlooking them is the same reason you'd have overlooked the idea of building Facebook in 2004: organic startup ideas usually don't seem like startup ideas at first.
    Organic Startup Ideas
  • So if you want to start a startup and don't know yet what you're going to do, I'd encourage you to focus initially on organic ideas. What's missing or broken in your daily life? Sometimes if you just ask that question you'll get immediate answers.
    Organic Startup Ideas
  • Apple was the first type. Apple happened because Steve Wozniak wanted a computer. Unlike most people who wanted computers, he could design one, so he did.
    Organic Startup Ideas
  • So if you never subject your ideas to that test, you'll not only never have fully formed ideas, but also never realize it.
    Putting Ideas into Words
  • What I'm saying is that however much you learn from exploring ideas in other ways, you'll still learn new things from writing about them.
    Putting Ideas into Words
  • You just have to make them as good as you can and still satisfy the stranger.
    Putting Ideas into Words
  • Writing about something, even something you know well, usually shows you that you didn't know it as well as you thought. Putting ideas into words is a severe test. The first words you choose are usually wrong; you have to rewrite sentences over and over to get them exactly right. And your ideas won't just be imprecise, but incomplete too. Half the ideas that end up in an essay will be ones you thought of while you were writing it. Indeed, that's why I write them.
    Putting Ideas into Words
  • You’ve probably also had experiences where you were trying to do something and growing increasingly frustrated because it wasn’t working, and then finally, after some time you realize that your solution method can’t possibly work.
    Reality has a surprising amount of detail
  • You can either get creative (there is a way to trace it), or you can bust out your trig book and figure out how to calculate the angle and position of the cuts.
    Reality has a surprising amount of detail
  • Instead, be humble and get curious! Remind yourself that there’s a ton of detail behind whatever you’re hearing, and try to internalize all of it that you can.
    To listen well, get curious
  • When done this way, reflective listening feels validating rather than alienating. It’s a way of demonstrating that I care a lot about what someone has to say.
    To listen well, get curious
  • She hypothesized that I wasn’t giving myself permission to be sad. The “solution” to my problem ended up being to give me a big hug and let me cry on her shoulder for a bit, after which I immediately felt much less stressed.
    To listen well, get curious
  • I summoned up my curiosity and asked lots of questions about her relationship with her parents, her parents’ relationship with each other, each of their relationships with Catholicism, etc.
    To listen well, get curious
  • Making things requires integrity, which is to say commitment to what you are trying to do.
    How to write and what to write about
  • un-sexualized intimacy
    How to write and what to write about
  • Now, I think of it as much more: curiosity is an orientation of the world, not an activity or personality type.
    Unhinged: Curiosity as Ambition — NPC #788
  • This, of course, was a facade of escapism.
    Unhinged: Curiosity as Ambition — NPC #788
  • And it's essential for understanding our feelings of jealousy, envy, competitiveness, and tension with others.
    Choose Your Table Wisely - by Nat Eliason - Infinite Play
  • Either way, that's the kind of table I love looking for. One where you have some chance of winning, but not unless you try your hardest. And one where the stakes and potential winnings are much greater than you could achieve at a smaller, easier table.
    Choose Your Table Wisely - by Nat Eliason - Infinite Play
  • Table selection determines the scope and difficulty of your success.
    Choose Your Table Wisely - by Nat Eliason - Infinite Play
  • I took a year off to work on a startup while still living on campus. I enjoyed all the perks of college: community, parties, all-you-can-eat omelets, but I didn't have to endure the worst part: classes.
    Choose Your Table Wisely - by Nat Eliason - Infinite Play
  • Flow is the state you're in when you are fully engaged in a task that is interesting, challenging, and intrinsically rewarding to you.
    How to Be Happy - LessWrong
  • We overestimate the misery we will experience after a romantic breakup, failure to get a promotion, or even contracting an illness.
    How to Be Happy - LessWrong
  • Extroversion is among the best predictors of happiness,22 as are conscientiousness, agreeableness, self-esteem, and optimism.23
    How to Be Happy - LessWrong
  • Factors that correlate moderately with happiness include: health,13 social activity,14 and religiosity.15 Factors that correlate strongly with happiness include: genetics,16 love and relationship satisfaction,17 and work satisfaction.18
    How to Be Happy - LessWrong
  • Why? Because we often live for others, without even realizing it. We are trying to impress an invisible crowd. We like the social reward of saying, “We’re travelling the world!” We imagine how friends and strangers would react to this big news.
    Travel without social praise | Derek Sivers
  • I think it’s been the single most important thing to my intellectual and emotional development.
    Benefits of a daily diary and topic journals | Derek Sivers
  • I’ve considered making one for every musician, album, book, or film that’s had an impact on me, that I’d like to think more about.
    Benefits of a daily diary and topic journals | Derek Sivers
  • I’ve considered making one for every musician, album, book, or film that’s had an impact on me, that I’d like to think more about.
    Benefits of a daily diary and topic journals | Derek Sivers
  • Whenever you have some thoughts on this subject, open up that file, write today’s date, then start writing.
    Benefits of a daily diary and topic journals | Derek Sivers
  • Whenever you have some thoughts on this subject, open up that file, write today’s date, then start writing.
    Benefits of a daily diary and topic journals | Derek Sivers
  • It starts by asking yourself where you’d like to have achieved in the future, at least 5 years for life decisions, and then reverse engineering the path to get there.
    On “What Should I Do?” — Neal Khosla
  • You own your time, actions, and decisions, and you’re accountable to nobody but yourself. So what should you do?
    On “What Should I Do?” — Neal Khosla
  • Well, yeah. We're all too busy to do things we don't want to do
    steve yegge - you-should-write-blogs
  • It's become pretty clear to me that blogging is a source of both innovation and clarity.
    steve yegge - you-should-write-blogs
  • I wouldn’t hesitate to help a friend, yet it feels embarrassing to ask for help from a stranger. While I didn’t need to ask to borrow his Wi-Fi, I did so anyway because I wanted an excuse
    Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities | Bill Mei
  • One way to create a shared context is through shared struggle.
    Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities | Bill Mei
  • That’s why friendships formed via shared interests often feel shallow. It’s because a real friend is someone who has things that can’t be listed on a résumé: trust, loyalty, love, belonging, safety, and a sense that they’ll back you up when the times get tough.
    Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities | Bill Mei
  • Labels come with baggage, implications, and weight that are easier to avoid than they are to unpack. Even the word “dating” is one that makes a lot of people shudder. What does it mean? It sounds scary, too “committal” for most.
    why is modern dating so hard? - by Isabel - Mind Mine
  • . But you can also, occasionally or frequently, create social events that spark new friendships and possibilities.
    A Brief Practical Guide to Being an Infinite Player
  • I assured her that it wasn’t embarrassing. This didn’t require much work, just a little bit of intentional conversation.
    A Brief Practical Guide to Being an Infinite Player
  • He told me that Twitter was the best way to acquire readers. I also learned that many of the most engaging tweets follow a similar formula. They often start with a hook – something that grabs the reader’s attention like:
    To Tweet Or Not To Tweet? | #151
  • But you know the ideas are out there. This is not one of those problems where there might not be an answer. It's impossibly unlikely that this is the exact moment when technological progress stops.
    How to Get Startup Ideas
  • So if you want to find startup ideas, don't merely turn on the filter "What's missing?" Also turn off every other filter, particularly "Could this be a big company?"
    How to Get Startup Ideas
  • Once you're living in the future in some respect, the way to notice startup ideas is to look for things that seem to be missing.
    How to Get Startup Ideas
  • But while learning to hack is not necessary, it is for the forseeable future sufficient. As Marc Andreessen put it, software is eating the world, and this trend has decades left to run.
    How to Get Startup Ideas
  • Since a successful startup will consume at least 3-5 years of your life, a year's preparation would be a reasonable investment. Especially if you're also looking for a cofounder. [4]
    How to Get Startup Ideas