Posts

Growing and learning new things implies stepping out of our comfort zone. True differentiation and growth is achievable only if you are willing to dive into new areas1 and try things that may work or not. As a consequence, learning something new always implies the risk of failure. Several authors write about the importance of failure. If you never risk failure –if you never fail– then you aren’t trying hard enough, you are not learning. Read more...

Buy from Amazon Even if some factors that lead people to be successful could be attributed to sheer luck, a common trait is that successful people create things. In Norris’ vision, creating something –that is, being creative– has little to do with wild talent and is more about productivity. The first requisite for being creative is to start to do something. In his book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield writes about The Resistance, the voice that delays us from doing our work, the self-sabotaging habits of procrastination, self-doubt, susceptibility to distraction, perfectionism, and shallowness. Read more...

Sam Altman interviews Jessica Livingston, co-founder of YCombinator and author of Founder’s at Work. Stories of Startup’s early days. The interview is great, and you should watch or read it in full if you are involved in startups, building your own product or service. Traits of the most successful founders are determination, understanding your users and building a product with a great user experience, being flexible minded, and being great leaders. Read more...

Ante una situación hipotética, la mayor parte de nosotros probablemente diremos que respetamos la posición de otra persona aunque ésta no opine como nosotros. En la práctica, esto rara vez sucede. Nos cuesta bastante entender por qué otras personas no comparten nuestra opinión, sobre todo en temas como leyes, posiciones políticas, o puntos fundamentales de nuestro modo de pensar o vivir. Nuestra opinión –pensamos– es resultado de un razonamiento coherente. Read more...

In a hypothetical situation, most people would say that they will respect other people’s point of view even if they don’t agree with it or don’t understand it. In practice, however, this is hardly so. We have a hard time understanding why others don’t share our point of view, specially when those points of view influence laws, political decisions, or challenge the way we live or think. It can affect our mood, even provoke angry reactions and harsh comments. Read more...