#777: Derek Sivers, Philosopher-Entrepreneur The Greatest Year of His Life

When I'm around people that I know agree with me, my inherent curiosity level drops a bit. And when I'm around people that I know don't think like me, my curiosity peaks.

So often the difference between success and failure is the mindset that leads you to take different actions.

If you feel completely averse to something, get to know it better ... Whatever you feel yourself leaning away from, try leaning into.

I think our first thought is an obstacle, and we have to get past it to realize there are other ways to look at the situation. Once you realize that you can get past your first way of looking at something, then... you can go, oh right. Okay, hold on. That was my first reaction. What are some other ways I could look at this?

I'm willing to mess up happily because I will know that, then, I found out, in fact, that that doesn't work for me.

I read a book called 'City of Gold,' which was about the founding of Dubai and the creation of Dubai. And dude, it was so good. It is such a great book. Anybody listening to this, if you want a great read, read the book, 'City of Gold.'

Learning about something gives you an appreciation for this thing that you used to just dismiss.

Ask yourself, would I still do this if nobody knew?

I finally looked at the Python programming language, and I went, oh my God, it's beautiful, it's great. Oh my God, it's wonderful.

Rats are really sweet, and they're really wonderful. They're smart, they're trainable. You can train them to do little tricks and pick things up—go to a wallet, and open it up, and take money, and bring it to you.

It can be very easy to make something very complex.