A note from Daniel

THE SECOND-LEVEL THINKING PRINCIPLE: Ask your-self, "And then what?" First-level thinking looks to solve the immediate problem without regard to any future problems a solution might pro-duce. Second-level thinking looks at the problem from beginning to end. You can't solve a problem optimally unless you consider not just whether it meets your short-term objectives but whether it meets your long-term objectives as well. A failure to think of second-order consequences leads us unknowingly to make bad decisions.

Daniel Clear Thinking, page 140 · January 22, 2024 Save to shelf
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Sinasi Arslan p. -1

The greatest aid to judgment is starting from a good position. The company with cash on the balance sheet and low debt has nothing but good options to choose from. When bad times come, and they always do, their options go from good to great. On the other hand, a company with no cash and high debt has nothing but bad options to choose from. Things quickly go from bad to worse. And this example easily extends beyond the boardroom as well.
Sinasi Arslan
Sinasi Arslan p. -2

Each moment puts you in a better or worse position to handle the future. It's that positioning that eventually makes life easier or harder. When our ego takes over and we show someone we're the boss, we make the future harder. When we are passive-aggressive with a colleague at work, our relationship becomes worse. And while these moments don't seem to matter much at the time, they compound into our current posi-tion. And our position determines our future.
Sinasi Arslan

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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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