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Tim Ferriss

Shane Parrish on Wisdom from Warren Buffett, Rules for Better Thinking, How to Reduce Blind Spots, The Dangers of Mental Models, and More (#695)

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Artist's rendering of Shane Parrish.
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“Outcome over ego.”

— Shane Parrish

Shane Parrish (@ShaneAParrish) is the entrepreneur and wisdom seeker behind Farnam Street and the host of The Knowledge Project podcast, where he focuses on mastering the best of what other people have already figured out. Shane’s popular online course, Decision by Design, has helped thousands of executives, leaders, and managers around the world learn the repeatable behaviors that improve results. His work has been featured in nearly every major publication, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

Shane is the author of Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements, Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, and AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

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#695: Shane Parrish on Wisdom from Warren Buffett, Rules for Better Thinking, How to Reduce Blind Spots, The Dangers of Mental Models, and More

This episode is brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. Right now, get a FREE Welcome Kit, including Vitamin D3+K2 and AG1 Flavor Sampler, when you first subscribe. Visit DrinkAG1.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive your 1-year supply of Vitamin D—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones!

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Want to hear another episode with someone who spends his life learning how to solve problems and optimize time? Listen in on my conversation with Atomic Habits author James Clear, in which we discuss habitual accountability, systemic scaffolding, capturing good ideas, leveraging maximal results from minimal scale, defying algorithms, how success generates opportunities and distractions, building good habits while breaking bad ones, optimizing environment for habit adherence, and much more.

#648: James Clear, Atomic Habits — Simple Strategies for Building (and Breaking) Habits, Questions for Personal Mastery and Growth, Tactics for Writing and Launching a Mega-Bestseller, Finding Leverage, and More

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Shane Parrish:

Farnam Street Blog | The Knowledge Project Podcast | Decision by Design | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

SHOW NOTES

  • [05:43] The Stopwatch Gang influences a D student.
  • [10:54] How a low-grade troublemaker gets vetted for an intelligence job.
  • [17:23] The impact of frequent relocation on a child.
  • [21:33] The benefits of a challenging education (once the tears dry up).
  • [31:09] From 68131-1440.blogger dot com to Farnam Street.
  • [36:10] An early exploration of cognitive biases.
  • [39:39] “Ordinary moments determine your position, and your position determines your options.”
  • [45:55] Incisive, deliberate decision-makers.
  • [47:44] Defining mental models.
  • [50:47] The declaration of platform independence.
  • [52:50] A Farnam Street business breakdown.
  • [56:05] Scrutinizing the problem statement.
  • [1:03:12] The power of asking “And then what?”
  • [1:05:26] Setting yourself up for success with automatic rules.
  • [1:21:31] Doubling down on email and the evergreen.
  • [1:28:05] Investing with the benefit of deal flow.
  • [1:32:41] Thoughts on index fund investment.
  • [1:34:58] Factoring sleep into opportunity cost.
  • [1:43:33] How to make better decisions.
  • [1:48:10] Why should we write in the age of AI?
  • [1:52:08] Parting thoughts.

MORE SHANE PARRISH QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“Outcome over ego.”
— Shane Parrish

“Automatic rules turn your desired behavior into your default behavior, and they do it when you’re at your best.”
— Shane Parrish

“Why risk what you have and don’t need for what you don’t have and don’t want to begin with?”
— Shane Parrish

“Are you thinking independently of the circumstances, or are the circumstances thinking for you?”
— Shane Parrish

“Writing is the process by which we realize we don’t understand what we’re talking about. And it’s only when you sit down and put pen to paper or even type out an idea that you have, a decision you’re making, an idea you’re wrestling with, that you sort of see where you don’t understand it. And the process of writing is not only refining that idea and helping you reflect on it, but you actually generate new ideas in the process of writing.”
— Shane Parrish

“You tell yourself a story about why sunk cost doesn’t apply in this situation or why you’re not overconfident in this situation. And the smarter you are, the better those stories get and the more believable they get.”
— Shane Parrish

“If you put Warren Buffett in a bad position where all of his options are bad—it doesn’t matter how smart he is, it doesn’t matter how Warren Buffett he is—everybody looks like an idiot when they’re in a bad position, and everybody looks like a genius when they’re in a good position.”
— Shane Parrish

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