John Stephenson
@JSargent88
stream of johnsciousness - notes to myself in public • building
“Anyone who is both clever & lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses intellectual clarity & composure necessary for difficult decisions. Beware of anyone who is stupid & diligent as he will always cause mischief.” ~ Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord
If you’re having different versions of the same argument, the relationship has stalled. Same fight, new costume. The relationship isn’t evolving and neither are you.
You can never think your way to becoming an interesting person.
“It is futile to persuade those who are committed to misunderstanding you. Instead, focus your energy on those who naturally resonate with how you show up in the world.” - Lauren @buridansridge
The cheat code for relationships, friendships, and partnerships is to get to rejection quickly.
The co-exist people are unable to co-exist with people who disagree with them.
“If you're intellectually honest and advocate for a system that controls people, turn over the keys to your enemies for a dry run.” ~ @naval
I’m watching a lot of people melt down over this. Am I really taking the pro–free speech side here? Shock upon shock. I am! The assertion seems to be that President Trump has just as much right to sue as any other citizen. But the idea that the President of the United States is…
Surround yourself with people playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.
“The law is something that everybody wants to get into and nobody wants to stay in. From the outside, everybody wants in; from the inside, everybody wants out.” Peter Theil @peterthiel describing his brief stint at prestigious NY firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
High-performance professions operate on a delayed gratification model. If you reach the genuine peak, you inevitably sacrifice a portion of your soul to the machine - becoming a perpetuator of what you once despised. It is the slow surrender to a system that demands the…
“In any conflict of interest, the left will always side with the person or thing that causes the most harm to civilization.” ~ @Devon_Eriksen_
An old observation: progressives believe that to explain something is to justify it, in some sense. Contributing factors are exculpatory.
Those who create value will always be in conflict with those who can’t.
"communism always gained power by force and never by persuasion, not only because it was inherently unpersuasive but also because persuasion and dialogue implicitly acknowledge the autonomy of the individual." newcriterion.com/article/the-re…
“We work so hard for something that’s so fleeting. This is not the place to look for satisfaction.”
As someone who gets stuck in deep, existential thought daily this is a highlight reel 😂😂
“My children are not avatars of social justice.”
My strongest political belief is that not one opportunity should be eliminated for my children in pursuit of justice for past harms. They are not avatars of social justice. They are thinking, breathing individuals with unique goals and desires equal to those of every other…
Wisdom lands when it’s delivered like a punch, not a lecture.
To live in California’s natural beauty, you pay a “resort fee” of high taxes, political chaos, and social disconnection, not unlike paying for a day at a Disney theme park.
Towns closer to physical beauty will ultimately attract more Democrat than Republican migrants, especially once they become expensive to live in — liberals are more willing to pay a premium to live closer to natural beauty (and to live in charming urban neighborhoods). This…
“Nobody wants to talk about it, but what level of untapped talent is there in this country that a combination of DEI and immigration has cut out of the loop over the past 50 years.” ~ @pmarca
Marc Andreessen: if you're the parents of a smart kid where I grew up [rural Wisconsin] and you think you're going to get them into a top university in this country, you're fooling yourself... What level of untapped talent exists in this country that a combination of DEI and…
Adversity leaves a mark, but it doesn’t get the final word. You can honor the pain of trauma without surrendering your agency.
Funny how “overnight success” is always decades in the making.
10 years of building connections, growing my brand, and putting out useful content continues to open up doors to rooms I didn't even know existed.
Most books don’t earn 8 hours of attention. They bury 20 pages of insight in 350 pages of filler.