Thread by @Tim_Denning

I’ve spent over 120 hours studying one of the most controversial authors.

Nassim Taleb.

Here are 11 of his best lessons ↓

Nassim started life as a Wall Street derivatives trader.

He eventually quit & became a hedge fund manager while writing these best-selling books:

• Antifragile
• The Black Swan
• Fooled by Randomness

Now he's also a university professor.

To live a good life you must understand:

• Money
• Probability
• Randomness
• Dealing with uncertainty

These are what Nassim writes about.

Here are his best lessons.

1. “Difficulty is what wakes up the genius.”

• The average person wants their goals to be easy.

• They want the dopamine hit of feeling progress when they haven’t earned it

• An easy life is boring AF

Do hard things and feel a feeling so many people have become numb to.

2. “If you're busy at work odds are you will eventually be replaced by a robot.”

- Busy is an excuse

- We’re living through a Productivity Renaissance fuelled by AI.

If you can’t stop being busy, AI will be productive for you – & your income will be ruined for your stupidity

3. “Sophisticated minds adopt simplified lifestyles

Simplistic minds are drawn to overly sophisticated lifestyles”

• Don’t f*ck it up making it complicated

• Complexity = distraction + procrastination

Best lifestyle: one you don’t need to escape from with holidays/weekends

4. “I still don't know what leads to ‘success’. But I know what leads to insuccess:

- A temperament of complaint
- Permanent victimhood
- Collective & individual propensity for lamentation”

We can be victims.

Or we can rise up & realize we’ve all faced adversities

5. True Wealth (Nassim)

• Worriless sleeping
• Clear conscience
• Reciprocal gratitude
• Foamy coffee
• Frequent laughs
• No meals alone
• No Zoom
• Periodic surprises
• Nothing to hide: financial & fiscal tranquility
• Muscular strength
• Ability to nap
• Hammock

6. “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates & a monthly salary.”

- Salary = Comfort Money

- Dare you to live 6 months with no salary. Or quit your job.

Realization:

If you leave a job & sit on the sidelines, you’ll realize you can always get another job

7. “Love without sacrifice is like theft.”

• Life without sacrifice is a joke

• What are you willing to give up? Beyond that question is a life full of abundance.

If you’re not willing to give anything up, you have a lot to lose in life.

8. “You are rich if and only if money you refuse tastes better than money you accept.”

True wealth is optionality.

9. “Avoid losers.

If you hear someone use the words:

- impossible
- never
- too difficult

... too often, drop him/her from your social network.”

This is one time in life you can ghost people

• Don’t explain yourself.
• Don’t give them more chances.
• Just runaway

10. “Failure-resistant is achievable. Failure-free is not”

- Too many people are afraid to act & they don’t know why

- Unless you do the work nothing works

- No one else can take risks for you

If you don’t take risks then life is guaranteed to suck. It’ll be boring as hell

11. “A country’s assets reside in the tinkerers, the hobbyists, and the risk-takers.”

• A lack of imagination & creativity is the real virus

• Countries should invest more in creativity.

• Entrepreneurship should be a high school class as important as math.

Final Thought

Nassim is controversial because of his views on the current war in the Middle East

Not everything he says you will agree with

That's the point

Spend more time learning from controversial people

"Those who are offended need to be offended more often" – Mae West

Want to share your lessons with the world like Nassim Taleb does?

You’ll find my best secrets for how to do it in my free email course: timdenning.com/startonsocial-…