One Quote:

“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.” — Cicero

Regret is more painful than failure. Action is always the way.

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One Framework:

The Paradox of Speed

I recently wrote a thread on the most powerful paradoxes of life.

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One of my favorites from this list is the Paradox of Speed. There are two related ways to look at this one:

1. Strong, reliable brakes are what allow you to go fast.
2. Sometimes you have to slow down in order to speed up.

Ask someone what allows a Formula 1 driver to fly around the track at insane speeds. You'll probably get a common set of answers—the engine, the tires, the car design, or the suspension.

I would argue it's none of these. It's the brakes.

Having a strong set of brakes allows the driver to hit the turns at high speeds and accelerate through tight windows with confidence, knowing that they have something reliable to fall back on if needed.

This is a metaphor for life: You need to build brakes that allow you to accelerate and hit turns without fear.

In this context, your brakes might be:

• The financial safety net—one that will allow you to take on the high risk, high reward opportunities that come your way with confidence that you are protected.
• The side income streams you build that de-risk the potential to lose your full-time job or give you the confidence to go all-in on your side hustle.
• The exercise and nutritional baselines you always hit that give you the confidence to know that a few big nights out for a wedding weekend won't break you.

You need these kinds of brakes in your life.

Taking it one step further, sometimes you need to slow down in order to speed up—your brakes are what make this possible.

In this context, your brakes might be:

• The daily mindfulness practice that slows you down and improves your stress response. It trains you to slow down and regenerate so you can hit max speed without burning out.
• The daily tech-free walk that teaches you that not everything in life needs a purpose or goal. It trains you to let ideas slowly mingle in the mind.
• The daily gratitude practice—writing in a journal or saying it aloud with a partner or friend. It trains you to pause and recognize tiny daily beauties that would otherwise pass by unnoticed.

You need these kinda of brakes in your life.

So as you pursue your life's adventure and set out at breakneck speed, never forget the Paradox of Speed. Never forget to build and appreciate the brakes in your life.

I'd love to hear from you:

• Where have you observed the Paradox of Speed in action?
• What are the brakes you're building into your life?

Tweet at me @SahilBloom and I'll do my best to get back to everyone!

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One Tweet:

I love nature. I love time-lapse videos. This tweet was the perfect combination of the two.

Finds shelter, makes it a home, has some babies, raises babies, babies outgrow the home and fly off on their own.

Eurasian Blue Tits, they're just like us!

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One Article:

​52 Things I Learned in 2022​

Great blog post of 52 interesting learnings in 2022 (part of a series that the author does annually).

Some personal favorites, including my reactions (in italics):

• Wasps are hand-reared by villagers in Kushihara, Japan, where wasp tempura and (delicious looking) grilled sticky rice coated in a sauce made of miso, peanuts and wasp larvae are local specialities. I'm a HARD PASS on wasp tempura, but grilled sticky rice sounds pretty amazing. My tiny way at getting revenge on the wasps for all the pain they caused me via stings over the years.
• In 1739, there were three times more coffee shops per person in London than there are today. Coffee shop culture was a huge part of the 18th century. It's interesting to think about where those conversations take place today (group chats, email) and what is lost by moving away from this in person interaction.
• YouTuber Mr Beast employs a team of six people to make thumbnails for his videos. Thumbnails are planned before the video is shot. It sounds crazy, but thumbnail quality is predictive of video performance. This is just a master perfecting his craft. No different from Lebron James spending millions each year on taking care of his body.
• 37 per cent of the world’s population, 2.9 billion people, have never used the Internet. This was almost hard to believe. Utterly remarkable to think about what playing fields can be leveled and what humanity can accomplish as we take this number to zero.
• A Chinese woman created over 200 fictional articles about Russian history on Chinese Wikipedia, writing millions of words of completely imagined history. It took ten years for anyone to notice. What a way to spend 10 years of your life! This has to be one of the most hilarious troll jobs in history.

This blog inspired me to start a similar tradition in 2023. I'm going to log interesting things I learn throughout the year. Will perhaps share a live link where people can learn alongside me. If you're interested, let me know!

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One Podcast:

Seth Godin on The Game of Life, The Value of Hacks, and Overcoming Anxiety

Wonderful discussion between Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin. I love surfacing these older podcast episodes that are just filled with evergreen goodness.

Two particular insights that stuck (with my reactions in italics):

• Actions determine feelings more than feelings determine actions. I'm a big believer that identity follows actions. If you wait to start something until you are able to make it a part of your identity, you may never get there. Actions can build identity. Start moving—you’ll notice that your identity will begin to align with the actions you’re taking.
• Writer’s block is actually just a fear of bad writing. This holds true for many "blocks" in life. It's not an actual block, but rather a fear of producing something that will be laughed at. When you allow yourself the freedom to produce something crappy, you start blasting through these blocks. As a theme for this entire piece, action is the way.

Listen to it here.

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