A note from Daniel

Life would be impossible without the carbon atom. Most astrobiologists scientists who study the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe believe that if we are ever to discover convincing evidence of extraterrestrial life, be it on Mars or in some distant galaxy, it, too, will turn out to be carbon-based. Why are we so confident about carbon's essential role in creating living things? The answer has to do with the core properties of the carbon atom itself. Carbon has four valence electrons residing in the outermost shell of the atom, which, for complicated reasons, makes it uniquely talented at forming connections with other atoms, particularly with hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur and, crucially, with other carbon atoms.

Daniel Where Good Ideas Come From, page 47 · February 15, 2024 Save to shelf
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Daniel p. 171

Apple calls it concurrent or parallel production. All the groups— design, manufacturing, engineering, sales meet continuously through the product-development cycle, brainstorming, trading ideas and solutions, strategizing over the most pressing issues, and generally keeping the conversation open to a diverse group of per-spectives. The process is noisy and involves far more open-ended and contentious meetings than traditional production cycles— and far more dialogue between people versed in different disciplines,
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Ultra Successful p. 60

The False Constraints That Limit Your Potential: - How Quickly You Can Scale Whether it's your business or your career, there are unspoken timelines that people accept as gospel.They are all untrue: "You can only really grow at 10% a year." "You need to pay your dues for a decade before getting promoted." These artificial limits keep people moving at a crawl when they could be sprinting or pushing for more. The most successful people I know refuse to accept conventional wisdom about timelines, and oddly enough, they break them all the time.
Daniel

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