“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.” — Bruce Lee
“The main cause of our unhappiness is that we identify so strongly with the ego.” — Tenzin Palmo
≈ Expose your ego.
≈ Put your ego aside.
≈ Leave your ego at the door.
Ego is not your Amigo.
Get small – Littleness – The sense of transcendence that makes us small
面子是這個世界上最不值錢的東西。
One of the great mistakes in life is suffering for years because you didn’t want to feel foolish for five minutes.
- You don’t want to apologize, so you let a relationship deteriorate.
- You’re scared of the sting of rejection, so you don’t ask for what you want.
- You fear people will say your idea is dumb, so you never start the business.
- 有人為了愛面子，不願意與他人學習請教，失去了成長的機會。
- 有人為了愛面子，不願意與他人應對互動，失去了良好的人緣。
- 有人為了愛面子，把錢花在奢侈的物質上，失去了用錢的效率。
“Keep Your Identity Small” by Paul Graham
Politics, like religion, is a topic where there’s no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. All you need is strong convictions/beliefs, and anyone can have those.
I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people’s identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that’s part of their identity.
So it’s not politics that’s the source of the trouble, but identity. When people say a discussion has degenerated into a religious war, what they really mean is that it has started to be driven mostly by people’s identities.
The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.
“I assume I’m below average” by Derek Sivers
Now I just assume I’m below average.
It serves me well. I listen more. I ask a lot of questions. I’ve stopped thinking others are stupid. I assume most people are smarter than me.
To assume you’re below average is to admit you’re still learning. You focus on what you need to improve, not your past accomplishments.
TODO David Foster Wallace’s Commencement Speech “This Is Water”
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