Chris Lynch.............

 

........is on a rules and habits kick.  Scroll and enjoy.

Ten rules........................

 

.......................for dealing with uncertainty:

9. If all else fails, simplify. Einstein supposedly said the five levels of intelligence are smart, intelligent, brilliant, genius and simple.

As the world gets more complex you have to fight harder to keep things simple.

The solution to complexity is not more complexity. It’s simplicity.

On expectations............

 

The first rule of a happy life is low expectations for things outside your control and high expectations for things within it. If you have high expectations for the world and no expectations for yourself, you’re going to be miserable your whole life.

-Sahil Bloom

Un......No............

Work can be part of your financial independence. Like other aspects of your financial plan, you just need some rules in place to guide your actions so it doesn’t become all-consuming.

Here are some work rules I would institute in this situation:

• The no assholes rule. Only work with people you like and respect.
• The no stress rule. Don’t keep working if it stresses you out all the time. You’re not wealthy if your work causes constant worry and anxiety.
• The no rule. Financial independence should make it easier to say no to invitations, projects, and events you don’t want to do. When you’re younger sometimes you have to suck it up. That shouldn’t be the case when you’re working by choice.
• The no regrets rule. Don’t keep working if it makes you miss out on family stuff. No one ever says I wish I would have worked longer hours on their deathbed.

-Ben Carlson, from here

rules of the game................

 

     Quite a mixed bag, this government business.  The fate of the human condition depends on how ordinary people respond to the rules of the game.  And the rules of the game, in turn, depend largely on how governments respond to ideas circulating in society.  The process of political rules adapting to a changing world—what we call political change—creates new incentives that generate outcomes that we hope will improve the human condition and yet sometimes make it worse.  Yet, for all its importance, political change doesn't easily surmount status quo forces.

-Leighton and Lopez, Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers: The Economic Engine of Political Change

The 95/5 rule................

 

     It was a step in the right direction, if not the perfect solution; I did miss the orderly abundance of a fully replenished case.  But the experience showed me that creativity was going to be the main ingredient in striking a true balance between restaurant-smart and corporate-smart. . . . 

      We threw ourselves into the project.  Jon proved to be an extremely dangerous co-conspirator.  For example, he found a company in Italy making amazing, tiny blue spoons.  How amazing could a plastic spoon possibly be?  You are going to have to trust me on this: they were paddle-shaped, extraordinarily well designed, and completely unique.  They were also preposterously, heartbreakingly expensive.

     But I had to have them; the Sculpture Garden deserved them.  Nothing else would do.

     The first time my boss saw one of those spoons, she narrowed her eyes and asked me what they had cost.  I told her, and her eyes got even narrower: "We'll talk about this later."  But a month later, we sat down to review the first P & L for the cart, and I never heard another word about those spoons.

     I'd managed 95 percent of my budget aggressively, leveraging MoMA's brand to get excelled gelato at a steep discount, and a beautiful cart for free.  I'd earned the right to splurge on those spoons, the one small detail I believed would dramatically transform the experience of getting an ice cream at the cart.

     This is what I would later call the Rule of 95/5.  Manage 95 percent of your business down to the penny; spend the last 5 percent "foolishly."  It sounds irresponsible; in fact, it's anything but.  Because that last 5 percent has an outsized impact on the guest experience, it's some of the smartest money you'll ever spend.

-Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

On the importance of value................

 

If time=money, your earning potential is limited. If value=money, your earning potential is unlimited.

-Nicholas Bate, from Rule 4 of 7 about money

A legal immigrant......................

...........has many questions and a few observations:

 Here’s a common-sense proposition: Since we can’t invite the whole world inside our borders, let’s consider the matter as one of optimal limits. Once the need to restrain immigration is acknowledged, the next step should be to seek consensus on the practicalities—the maximum number the country can absorb each year, the skills we most urgently need to import, and, of course, the most transparent and fair process for those arriving, as I once did, on the shores of this fortunate land.

In other words, our attention must turn fully to legality, not illegality. That should be the content of the politics of immigration: devising rules and procedures for legal entry that are intuitive to Americans as well as to potential migrants. The current system, we should accept, is a soul-devouring labyrinth that deserves to be demolished in its entirety.

-Martin Gurri

standards.........................

 A superior man in dealing with the world is not for anything or against anything. He follows righteousness as the standard.

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

Here are four of the characteristics of a superior man:— in his conduct of himself, he is humble; in serving his superiors, he is respectful; in nourishing the people, he is kind; in ordering the people, he is just.

The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.

What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.

-Confucius

And 13 more.........................

 

3, Chase Challenge, Not Comfort.

Reprinted............................

 

.......................................by popular demand.

the rules............................

 

I'm not saying if you just visualize what you want, then it will come true.  Hell no.  You have to plan and work and learn and fail and then learn and work and fail some more.  That's just life.  Those are the rules.

-Arnold Schwarzenegger, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Live

Granny's Rule.......................

 Granny’s Rule, to be specific, is the requirement that children eat their carrots before they get dessert. And the business version requires that executives force themselves daily to first do their unpleasant and necessary tasks before rewarding themselves by proceeding to their pleasant tasks. 

-Charlie Munger

ground rules.................

 Here's a rule of life: you have to be there. You have to listen and laugh and argue and comfort the people around you in a multitude of exchanges where life's mystery means you may not know just which exchange was the most important.

-Michael Wade

On the virtue of being boring................

 We are a nation of rules and the rules are boring. Embrace that. In times of difficulty, go with the boring option. When faced with a frightening crisis, tamp it down with ultra-boring moves. No matter what, stick with the rules.

I can’t avoid talking about Donald Trump but I’m going to make it brief. I know you don’t like him; neither do I. But let’s assume he’s only a politician. He’s not Hitler, Godzilla or the Beast of the Apocalypse—just a guy with a loud mouth and a desperate need for attention. Most Americans think of him that way.

This is not about him. It’s about you.

When you demonize those who disagree with you, you invite treatment in kind. When you refuse to engage in political argument and resort to performative moralizing, you make it clear to any neutral observer that for you there’s only one side, one opinion, one conformist crowd that can ever govern legitimately. The rest are disgusting subhumans who should never be tolerated near the levers of power. When you trample on the rules that say “all are created equal” like that, you are destroying the fabric that holds the country together. And believe me when I say this: You will reap the whirlwind.

-Martin Gurri, from this essay

As rules go...................

.................this is a mighty fine list;

10. Thou shalt be thankful. You're above ground and functioning in an extraordinary place at an extraordinary time. Many people paid a very heavy price (and I'm not talking about groceries) to give you this day. Take some time to think of them and to express gratitude to your friends and relatives. Above all, give special thanks to the divine power who blesses you in innumerable ways.

order................................

 But the social order is a sacred right which is the basis of all other rights.  Nevertheless, this right does not come from nature, and must therefore be founded on conventions.

-Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract

Union............................

 "Compassion arises when the jewel of the mind rests in the lotus of the heart."*

     In the West, we tend to separate the mind and the heart.  The mind thinks rationally.  It knows hard and objective truths.  It judges good from bad, right from wrong.  The heart is emotional and soft.  If we pay too close attention to it, it will make us weak and or lead us astray.  But the truth lies outside of this dichotomy altogether.  The mind is powerful when it is situated in the heart, when striving and trying to get something right is held with love and compassion. 

-Brad Stulberg, The Practice of Groundedness

*quote attributed to Jack Kornfield

On comparing....................

 Contrary to the cultural norms of heroic individualism, do not compare yourself to others.  Compare yourself to prior versions of yourself and judge yourself based on the effort you are exerting in the present moment.

-Brad Stulberg,  The Practice of Groundedness

hard lessons...............................

 More than any of the other early presidents, George Washington learned in early life the pain of loss, humiliation, and hardship.  It is axiomatic among military historians that commanders learn more from defeat than from victory, but this is especially true of Washington.  He had been taught many hard lessons and would have two decades in which to mull them over before he fought again. Reviewing is experiences, he could have distilled them into some general maxims along these lines:

      -Know yourself, and know those who you are fighting.  This is a more complex proposition than it may seem, as it requires introspection, strategic thinking, and reliable intelligence.

     -Study terrain, and make it your friend.

     -As circumstances change, be ready to change views and abandon assumptions.  Listen to dissenters and know how to weigh alternatives.

-Thomas E. Ricks:  First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country