Some of Life’s Great Paradoxes

Wisdom is the co-existence of contradictory truths.

Here are some of life’s great paradoxes:

(1) Be ambitious. But limit desire.

Ambition fuels you toward your potential. But if left unchecked, it will want more than what your potential requires of you.

Be ambitious, but recognize when it asks for unnecessary things.

(2) Money is the great everything and the great nothing.

It’s a required pursuit for life, but a pointless pursuit upon death. So use it to highlight your values, as your values will outlive your money.

Embrace the story of money while also recognizing that it’s a fairy tale.

(3) Freedom is about having options. But options are often paralyzing.

Great artists work with constraints. That’s because an open-ended world is one with too many decision trees.

Entertain your options, but remove them quickly to do your best work.

(4) Time is the great constraint. Attention is the great liberator.

Time ensures that we have one life to live, but the way we spend our attention ensures that we live many lives in one.

To break free of time, make good use of your attention. A fresh world awaits with each use.

(5) What makes life interesting are its challenges, not its comforts.

Goals require you to work now to be comfortable later. We think we want the comfort, but the joy ultimately comes from the challenges of the work.

A reward without the struggle is one we cannot appreciate.

(6) You are valued by what you produce, but your mere existence is enough.

Your ability to create great things is how you will be rewarded.

But the people that love you most do so simply because you exist. In the eyes of these special people, existence precedes utility.

(7) The ones you love most are the ones you can’t choose.

We value our friendships & partners because they signify our agency.

But the love for our parents, siblings, and children is driven by our lack of agency. We had to love without choice, and that kind of love is truly special.

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