Posts tagged Atlas

Be Lucky - It’s an Easy Skill to Learn

I recently read God’s Debris and just like the intro suggests, I got together with some friends to discuss it over beers after we all finished it.

I won’t get into the entire thought experiment that is the premise for the story, but one of the main takeaways is around the idea of probability. It struck a chord because Joe and I have been talking about this at length lately and it all reminded me of this article in which “luck” is considered a skill.

My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

It’s such a simple analysis, but really poignant. Lucky people are just self-aware optimists. Opportunity is all around us, you just have to know it when you see it… and then act on it!

I remember a quote my coach gave us in college. “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” - Seneca 

The idea is that you practice your shot thousands of times so that when it really counts, when it’s the championship game, and you catch a pass in front of the goal… you can’t miss.

My other favorite quote on this topic is “Life is the interruptions, not the space in between.”  If you put blinders on your whole life, you’ll never see the chance encounters waiting for you.

So do two things. 1. Read God’s Debris. 2. Put on a smile and seek opportunity.  

My Secret

joeyevoli:

If I’ve found one secret to living life, and being happy.  It’s to ask yourself this everyday:  ”How can I be better today, than I was yesterday?” 

After that, just take it one day at a time.  

It’s really that simple.  I only wish I realized it earlier.

One Year

A little over a year ago, I started spending time with a girl I’d met just once while we were in school together at Brown. On a whim, I invited her over for “a dinner party I was planning” and when she accepted, I then had to scramble to actually invite other guests, too!  [Cooking was no problem, though]. ;)

Despite the long roundtrip on the subway for her, I leveraged the big TV in my apartment as a reason for her to come over and watch the Celtics in the playoffs.

Apparently, she liked me. [Update: And still does!)

And I her.

Today, marks one year together and I’m still as excited about us now as I was last May 19. It’s been a really fun year, despite the stress of my rollercoaster life as a startup founder and hers as a student living in NYC.

Some of my favorite moments have been on the beach at home on Cape Cod, running races and doing a triathlon together, cooking in our tiny apartment, teaching Daisy to surf and snowboard for the first time (yes, this was actually fun!), seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs play ‘Maps’ acoustic at Radio City Music Hall… 

…but still, the most vivid moment was a year ago today, sitting on a bench watching the sunset together from the tip of Manhattan.

436. Hold your heroes to a higher standard.

(via rulesformyunbornson)

Don’t Tolerate Incompetence

Yesterday, my friend and biz partner Joe said to me:

“You may be the closest person to [Teddy] Roosevelt I know.  He just didn’t tolerate incompetent people whatsoever.”  

Joe’s reading a book on Teddy right now.  We sort of revere the guy because he was a total badass, and I took Joe’s remark as a compliment.

I think I learned this from my parents.  Entrepreneurs themselves, they’ve worked long and hard to be successful in the restaurant business and they expect the best out of everyone around them - be it employees, partners, vendors, etc.  

A quick example.  One day, twenty-odd years ago my mother had an incident with a Miller beer deliveryman.  He used that one infamous word that is guaranteed to cause a problem (Hint: it starts with a “C”).  

Well since that day, my parents have never sold a single Miller product in our restaurants.  

Extreme?  Yup… and I love it.

I operate similarly.  I have extremely low tolerance for poor writing.  I expect 100% attention in meetings.  I want the best of the best in people and nothing less.

Does this make me a snob?  I don’t think so.  It’s about having high standards and surrounding yourself with people of similar ilk.  

And if you want a laugh, here’s the relevant conversation with Joe…

Me: …and I just don’t f$#%*@g understand this #$*&^@&*  ”wondered if we might organize an intro…” in an email in which he added the dude he wants to intro already.

Joe: You may be the closest person to Roosevelt I know.  He just didn’t tolerate incompetent people whatsoever. 

Me: That is probably the greatest compliment you’ve ever given me 

Joe: Yea, I would love to have someone say that about me.

Me: Well thanks man. I really appreciate it… Even if it means I’m an intolerant asshole.  ;)  

…this jerk even spelled my f$#%*@g name wrong!

“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell

via @AustinBryan

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which “people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of themetacognitive ability to realize it”.^[1] The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than in actuality; by contrast the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to a perverse result where less competent people will rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. “Thus, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.”^[1]

^{…but once the intelligent get confident, it is a powerful mix.}