#404: David Perell Surrender To Your True Nature

If you have ideas, a story to tell, you have domain expertise, and you share that idea with the world, you unlock levels of magic and serendipity that haven't been possible in the history of humanity.

Spend an hour tonight, and take a series of images that represent the person who you want to be in a few years. Make it the back on your phone. Print it out, and look at it repeatedly, and watch your life change.

Carve the path that only I can carve, be the person that only I can be, do the things that only I can do, and write the essay that only I can write.

Any problem I face has one of three problems: I either need to increase the tempo, raise the standards, or narrow the focus. Every problem.

By fearing God so much, you don't fear a lot of things on Earth. And what I find to be very profound is there's a line that Christians use a lot that 'in weakness, there is strength' ... Now, I totally get it—that by being so weak in the face of God, you're so strong in the face of the Earth.

A massage therapist can touch a certain pressure point on your body; instant release. They don't need to a very hard, you feel it deeply, and it has a long-lasting impact. That's the same thing when you find the thing. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. I love that mantra.

I wrote out a very small list of things that I do and a very large list of things that I don't do, and it's all on a sheet. So, it is almost algorithmic. If I get an invitation, I cross-reference it with the sheet, and the answer is yes or no.

I don't go to conferences unless one of my tightest buddies is running that conference ... I don't go to weddings, unless it's in Austin or it's one of the people that I really care about, in which case I ball out.

I don't do cocktail parties. I don't do group dinners that are more than 6 people. I will skip out on a lot of big group events that would be really exciting that I just no longer do.

The distinctiveness is important, but it has to be paired with quality. And distinction and quality—that's what moves the world; that is the stuff that people look at and they say, my goodness.

What is the thing that is you, and how do you live that every day in a place of action, in a place of motion, being aligned with your core values, working towards your mission, embodying your values, all those sorts of things?

The thing is, you're only focused when you are in pain and tortured by the things that you're not doing.

I feel called at a spiritual and otherworldly level to get people to share ideas online—whether it's podcasting, whether it's writing, whether it's drawing, whether it's photography.

Culture is created in California. The tech is made in the Bay Area, and the culture is made in Los Angeles. And the bay and LA are very ungodly places.

So much of what you say has nothing to do with what you say.

I think that discipline has gone out of favor in society, and I think it's underrated in a lot of ways.

You know who loves matchmaking? Women in happy marriages where the family adores you ... Wives, put them to work for you.

I have a real stamina about myself ... You can't take me down; I'll just show up every day.

I think that despair can be compounded by loneliness. And when you're alone, you get caught in your head.