Volume 4 | 22 Things That Made Me Think in 2022

Now that you've almost forgotten about the offensive remark Uncle Leo made at the dinner table or when Grandma Patty asked (yet again) when you're finally going to "settle down", it's time for another newsletter edition.

However you spent the holidays, thanks for spending these next few minutes with us.

Here are 22 things that made me think* in 2022 (so original, I know):

*Some made me not only think, but laugh and/or cry. As Jim Valvano says, "If you laugh, you think and you cry, that's a full day."

Haven't subscribed? New here? This newsletter, Makes Ya Think, poses questions about human behavior, and hopefully, provides insights that challenge your beliefs, offer a unique perspective and if nothing else...make you think.

Here we go: I'll likely dive deeper into many of these in future newsletters. Let's start with dessert first...why not?

The Ice Cream Principle

Tell 10 people to get ice cream.

If they have to agree on a flavor, they’ll pick chocolate or vanilla every time. Groups of people don’t agree on what’s cool or interesting. They agree on what’s easy. ”Consensus” is just another way of saying average.

- David Perell

The Measure of Success

I’m seeing a growing number of students complain: “My grade doesn’t reflect the effort I put into the course.” Public service announcement: You don’t get an A for effort. You earn it for excellence. Success is measured by the level of mastery you show, not how hard you work.

- Adam Grant

Rejection vs. Regret

"Rejection is a sharp pain that dulls over time. Regret is a dull pain that sharpens over time."

On Digging Deep

"The disease of our time is that we live on the surface. Real work and real satisfaction...come from going deep into something - the book you're writing, the album, the movie - and staying there for a long, long time."

- Stephen Pressfield

Keeping an Open Mind

"The hallmark of an open mind is not letting your ideas become your identity. If you define yourself by your opinions, questioning them is a threat to your integrity. If you see yourself as a curious person or a lifelong learner, changing your mind is a moment of growth."

- Adam Grant

The Beauty of Imperfections

"Imperfections are beautiful. They are the window into a person's complexity, depth, and character." - Lex Friedman

Your Actions Impact the Future

"If you went back in time before your birth you'd be terrified to do anything because you'd know that even the smallest nudges to the present can have major impacts on the future. Applied to today, a reminder that how you live each day really does matter. It changes the future."

- Tim Urban

A Museum of Passion Projects

"As you become an adult, you realize that things around you weren't always just there; people made them happen. But only recently have I started to internalize how much tenacity *everything* requires. That hotel, that park, that railway. The world is a museum of passion projects."

Bringing vs. Requiring Energy

"People tend to either bring positive energy to people around them at work or require energy from others to stay positive. Aside from specific skills, one of the things founders are desperately looking for is people who can help should the positive energy burden with them."

Finding Your Worth

"A bottle of water can be .50 cents at a supermarket. $2 at the gym. $3 at the movies and $6 on a plane. Same water. Only thing that changed its value was the place...so the next time you feel your worth is nothing, maybe you're at the wrong place."

- Kobi Simmons

Drugs (Because Why Not)

"Caffeine is one of the few drugs people use to feel normal, alcohol is one of the few drugs people use to seem normal, and cannabis is a drug that makes the normal seem more interesting."

- Andrew Huberman

Losing a Loved One

"One of the reasons losing a loved one hurts so much is because only certain people can bring out certain personality traits in you. When those people die, that part of you dies too."

Jerks

"If you meet a jerk once a month, you've met a jerk. If you meet a jerk every day, you're a jerk."

Stop Comparing Yourself

"If you only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.” - Montesquieu

Fundamental Attribution Error

We tend to:

• Attribute someone else's actions to their character - and not to their situation or context.

• Attribute our actions to our situation and context - but not to our character.

We cut ourselves a break, but not others.

Why Everyone Should Write, Not Just Read

Read to collect the dots. Write to connect them.

I'll admit, I started this newsletter for selfish reasons - to connect the dots of what I've read. However, I genuinely hope these dots connect with you too.

- image from David Perell

More Things That Made Me Think*

Movies

• Before Sunrise (Before Sunset and Before Midnight are great too)

• The Worst Person in the World

TV Shows

• New Girl

• The Good Place

Podcast

• Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Tik Tok Follows

• Corporate Natalie

*Some of these didn't make me think all that much, but I'm desperately trying to get up to 22 things. That's why I included laughing and crying in the definition. After all, you don't need to be thinking all the time.

See ya next year (signing off like the annoying kid from school before leaving for winter break),

Kevin