Smart is like vanilla ice cream. There are thousands of really smart people. I value eccentricity, weirdness, interestingness. Black swans.
—Ben Casnocha
Looking back on experiences, we remember the highest or lowest moment, and how they ended.
—Ben Casnocha
The hardest type of criticism to take is about self-perceived strengths. Yet this is the most important to hear.
—Ben Casnocha
Sometimes we laugh because a joke is funny. Sometimes we laugh to show we’re smart enough to understand the joke in question.
—Ben Casnocha
A litmus test for a good person in your life: can you be your truest and most natural self around him or her?
—Ben Casnocha
Preface an otherwise banal aphorism with “My father once taught me” and it becomes rich with generational credibility.
—Ben Casnocha
Are you more likely to feel regret because of an action you take or because of inaction (something you do *not* do)?
—Ben Casnocha
Ask yourself: “What makes me angry?” It’s uncommon framing but can reveal a lot about one’s values, priorities, passions.
—Ben Casnocha
If you really understand something, you can: 1) explain it using a clear metaphor and 2) explain the strongest counter-argument to the idea.
—Ben Casnocha
Yes, it’s better to suspend judgment rather than embrace error. But agnostic, neutral thinkers have little to say and less to teach.
—Ben Casnocha
Intelligent people have a remarkable ability to rationalize irrational actions, to re-tell history to fit their preferred, comfortable narrative.
—Ben Casnocha
Rule of thumb: Be skeptical of things you learned before you could read. E.g., religion.
—Ben Casnocha
Topics: Rationality
Reading is not just about the content of the text. It’s allocating quiet time / space to think and reflect on the issues raised by the text.
—Ben Casnocha
Appearing unimpressed or uninfluenced by someone who’s more successful is a common way people try to raise their own status.
—Ben Casnocha
Bad salespeople talk your ear off. Good salespeople know to shut up and listen.
—Ben Casnocha
How many billion dollar companies started with the founder saying, “I want to start a billion dollar company.” My opinion: few.
—Ben Casnocha
Easy way to soften a piece of feedback or criticism: turn periods into question marks.
—Ben Casnocha
Why do we often say an essay or person is “smart”? When it/the person makes *us* feel smart. We love feeling like we “got it.”
—Ben Casnocha
When John Doe tries to convince me of something, I first think not about the issue but about J Doe’s biases, baggage, and potential agenda.
—Ben Casnocha
Topics: Stars
I’m amused by self-styled “busy” people. Busyness is as much a matter of identity as it is a reflection of time availability and schedule.
—Ben Casnocha
Self-understanding, like happiness, is never fully achieved. It’s an on-going pursuit and sometimes excessive explicit focus hurts the cause.
—Ben Casnocha
‘”Opposites attract” remains a popular expression, but so wrong. Studies show we prefer people who look like us, think like us, agree with us.
—Ben Casnocha
Lying to yourself about specific actions is easier than re-defining the bounds of your imagined identity… When I see once-ethical men devolve into moral grey, they still identify as upstanding.
—Ben Casnocha
Topics: Rationality
So much of writing is not writing the sentences themselves but organizing the sentences and paragraphs in a way that makes sense.
—Ben Casnocha
If frequency with which you cite an education credential does not decrease over the course of your life, you’re not accomplishing very much.
—Ben Casnocha
Satisfaction with an experience depends significantly on our expectations going into it.
—Ben Casnocha
Topics: Expectation, Satisfaction
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Herb Kelleher American Entrepreneur
- Ted Turner American Businessperson
- Martha Stewart American Businesswoman
- Richard Thalheimer American Entrepreneur
- George Peabody American Financier
- Charles F. Kettering American Inventor
- Sam Walton American Entrepreneur
- Victor Kiam American Entrepreneur
- Rudy Giuliani American Politician
- George H. W. Bush American Head of State
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