Some Paradoxes of Modern Life

 

David Perell

@david_perell

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Some Paradoxes of Modern Life 1. The paradox of reading: The books you read will profoundly change you even though you’ll forget the vast majority of what you read. 2. The paradox of writing: Great writing looks effortless. But because the ideas are so clear, casual readers don't appreciate how much time it took to refine them. 3. The paradox of creativity: Your work is done when it looks so simple that the consumer thinks they could've done it, which means they won't appreciate how hard you worked. 4. The paradox of decision making: It’s better to choose, commit, and get started instead of waiting for the best possible option, so the correct decisions are actually suboptimal. 5. The paradox of originality: Many of history's greatest artists have found their voice by copying others. We discover who we are by imitating others and watching our uniqueness emerge over time. 6. The paradox of news: By telling us to care about everything, the news leads to apathy instead of action. 7. The Productivity Paradox: We keep inventing things that save us time, but it feels like we have less time than ever before. 8. The Paradox of Strategy: The same things that help you achieve outlier success also increase your chances of outlandish failure. For example, investing with leverage increases your chances of risk and reward.