An unspoken rule they never teach you in school: you can simply choose a delusional sense of optimism toward the world, believing everything will work out and that you’ll succeed in every facet of life. Reality bends more often to stubborn endurance than it does to calculated doubt.

“The lifestyle of  an entrepreneur  at its core is:  I can take more pain than the other guy, and I'll prove it.” “ There's a zen that can happen when a warrior has fought for a long time. You can get used to it.” “ You almost start accepting it. Like, something bad happens and you don't even get mad.” “ There are benefits.  But you need to make sure you don't get so used to it that it doesn't even bother you. You can get so zen, you're unbothered.” “ There's something special about the extra fierceness of being bothered, being upset about something that is wrong.” — @travisk

If you’re a hyperactive, high agency type of guy, the only path where you don’t go insane is entrepreneurship. It’s the only life that will stimulate you enough and put you in different situations and problems that actually make your brain function. The more you try to tame that energy the less you will feel alive. Some of us were made for complexity and ambiguity. The safe path is the most dangerous one. You know deep down you’re made for something different. Business is what gives you that. Avoid traditional jobs at all costs. Of course the price is high stress, uncertainty and lots of ups and downs… but let’s be honest, would you have it any other way? No. It’s too boring.

I knew a man who lost everything and he became softer. i knew another man who lost everything and he became a monster. same fire different metal. the pain did not decide. they decided. and most people do not know they are deciding. the ones who transmute pain are dangerous in the good way. they have been somewhere you have not been and they came back with something and you can feel it when they walk into a room. they are not pretending to be okay. they are actually okay and that is terrifying to people who are pretending. pain that is not transmuted gets transmitted. you will give it to your children. you will give it to everyone you touch. it will leak out of you sideways in ways you cannot see and everyone else can i do not trust people who have not suffered. there is nothing there yet. they are still theoretical. suffering is the entrance exam and some people fail it forever and some people pass it once and become real. the secret is you have to go toward it. you have to want it more than it wants you. most people run and the pain follows. the ones who turn around and walk into it come out the other side and there is another side and no one told you because the ones who know cannot explain and the ones who explain do not know. God buries the gold in the wound

Most people between 25-45 who are very smart, well-liked, “elite” in various ways, highly-paid and educated… have never experienced being laid off and then struggle to quickly bounce back to a role they want or makes sense for them. But it is going to happen to them soon. It’s going to be brutal on their egos and identities. The psychological torment coming to otherwise extremely confident and competent young people at the tops of their fields will be something quite destabilizing for society.

Tbh @SoftgenAI is a great concept and works as a charm. Most underrated vibecoding tool right now!

I love SF but hated Stanford. deeply incurious, entitled, conformist place 1) Nobody leaves campus. Caltrained to SF once every 1-2 mos, which was unusual + hard to get ppl to join. Kids are totally disconnected from / uninterested in the real world. 2) Stanford ships incoming freshmen 3 books over the summer and organizes a panel of the authors your first week on campus. Still remember turning to my dormmate to ask what they thought. Reply: “You actually read the books?” 3) Reflexive disrespect for humanities. Was told regularly “Why would you study IR?” and “Everyone smart enough to study CS does.” My freshman dorm was 75% eng. Eng is cool but so is interdisciplinarity. 4) Meanwhile humanities grade-inflate like crazy to retain anyone at all. Profs gave me 0 critical comments on my essays until I did an Oxford tutorial abroad and realized how little I knew. Nobody does readings or psets, ppl believe the focus is networking not learning. 5) There’s just a sense of I’m special so don’t have to try. New grads are too good to have non-prestigious job titles. Founding is all status no substance — kid raises $1m for a startup he knows is fake and starts waving around a Brex to buy ppl shots. I don’t feel like I became a person until I left junior year

This is one of the biggest problems in America and nobody in power cares “Private equity is ruining everything and it's driving me insane. My dog's vet got bought out by private equity. And it used to be this place that actually like dogs. The doctors were so awesome. Now every time I go, they try to upcharge me on everything. — I went today and I took my dog. He needs to get his like prescriptions refilled, basically. So we did a heartwarm test and they proceeded to quote me for $2,000 in additional services that he may need, one being teeth cleaning, which all of that was for teeth cleaning actually. And I've gotten quotes for other places for teeth cleaning because I know his teeth need to be cleaned pretty soon. And I've gotten quoted for $400 at other places. $400. Why is it $2,000 at my former vet, where I used to be able to go in without an annual exam and get vaccine, where now I have to annual exam. I have to go in for an exam for anything. And every time I go in, they try to upsell me on multiple things that I've already declined. And they don't even pet my dog. They don't even act like they like dogs” “I just feel like private equity getting into pet ownership is insane because we've been pushed out of the market to be able to afford children because of private equity and private insurance. And so a lot of us have gotten dogs and pets because we want to have something in our lives. And now they're making this extremely unaffordable as well. I was shocked by the way they tried to close the meeting and push for additional tests that weren't discussed with the doctor, weren't discussed before I arrived, saying that because he's five, he needs to get these tests. And then when I get the quote for the dental work, it was actually pre operation blood work when I haven't agreed to going and getting his teeth cleaned there. It's a scam. I feel scammed. I feel like every time I go somewhere it's been bought out by private equity and everywhere is trying to price gouge me where I feel like becoming Amish may be the next best thing I could do for myself because I genuinely can't continue to live in a world that is controlled by private equity”

46. Softgen It took me 20 minutes to get my app done. Compared to all other tools I've tried, softgen felt the more autonomous. I didn't have to debug things. It did it all on its own.