#668: Derek Sivers The Joys of an Un-Optimized Life, Finding Paths Less Traveled, Creating Tech Independence (and Risks of the Cloud), Taking Giant Leaps, and Picking the Right Game of Life

Off the top of my head, I think of how important it is to be done with something so that you can move on. I don't want unresolved decisions sitting unresolved, sitting undecided, for a long time. I feel the weight of those. Unfinished projects, because I'm trying to make it perfect, I feel the weight of those. I've learned the importance of just getting things done and finishing. And to do that, you usually have to say good enough.

The way I think about it is asking yourself, what kind of people do I like being around? Because these are people you're going to be serving; you have to like them. You want to love your customers and love serving them because, ultimately, even if it's the money, what you really want is the emotional fulfillment ... What if your customers are jerks? Would you be happy getting rich running an all-night vaping store?

Number one, almost nothing is objectively true. Number two, beliefs are placebos ... Number three, rules and norms are arbitrary games that can be changed ... And number four, refuse ideology.

We spend so much of our life, the first half of our life, deferring to authority and thinking that authority has power over us. And at a certain point, you realize that you’re free. You’re liberated from that as long as you don’t break the law.

I think we should be skeptical of every -ism. I think we should avoid -isms, avoid ideology, and take ideas piecemeal—which means, ideally, you should be open to somebody you don't like taking their good ideas from people you don't like; and the people you do like, admitting that some of the things they say, you're not going to adopt that. And when somebody does that, to me, that shows a stronger thinker, a clear thinker.

If you set up your business to serve the people that you love being around, even if it makes less money, you’re going to be much happier.

You should expect that you will outlive most businesses. I think that, to me, is the biggest misconception that people have about Facebook or Apple or Google. It's likely you might outlive Google and Facebook.

I think that saying enough, good enough, is a superpower.

No beliefs are true. When we say, 'I believe,' it's an indicator that what we're about to say next is not true.

If you wonder why I'm so happy, why I'm thriving, why I seem to be doing well; to me, a lot of my happiness comes from this worldview that is radical doubt. It's skepticism.

Someone made up these rules, and most people follow those rules, but they're not true ... Realizing they're not true gives you an incredible advantage.

I call it my people compass. If you're not sure which way to go, you can ask yourself, well, who do I admire? Who do I like?

Nobody cares what you're not good at.

I think that the temptation to keep playing, even though the rewards are done, isn't that the definition of addiction? Continuing a behavior even though it's not rewarding you anymore—so, to me, that's what making money is. It's a game that I've decided to stop playing because I got enough.

Even those categories can be involuntary—that you can suddenly be a rescuer even if you never intended to be one just through the power of imitation. And you can deliberately step into these roles by imitating others.

Whatever you are is now. Whatever your preference is now. So, when my kid says, 'I hate tomatoes,' I say, today; and he goes, 'Oh, right. I hate tomatoes today,' because it's leaving open the possibility that you might change your mind tomorrow.

You have to kind of decide what's worth optimizing. We don't need to optimize everything. It's okay to have some things be good enough.