FS | BRAIN FOOD
May 24th, 2026, #682 - read online - Free Version
Welcome to Brain Food, your weekly signal in a world full of noise.
Tiny Thoughts
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If intelligence is getting what you want, wisdom is wanting what's worth getting in the first place.
**
People who get an unusual amount of work done are maniacal about removing things from their lives that others tolerate.
***
Guarding your time isn't rude; it's how you get stuff done.
Letting a meeting go on longer than necessary is nice to them, but unkind to yourself.
Nice is what people want from you. Kindness is what you owe yourself.
Insights
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Garth Brooks
“You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy.”
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Louis L'Amour
“Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”
***
YouTuber Mark Rober on failure:
“Nobody who plays Super Mario Brothers or some video game for the first time falls into a pit and is just like: 'oh my gosh I fell into a pit, I failed, how embarrassing, I never want to play this game again.' You're like: 'okay crap, there's a pit right there. Okay, next time I'm gonna go a little bit faster, I'm going to jump a little earlier.' You immediately learn from the failure and you're stoked to try again.”
Outliers
This is one of the craziest stories ever. And it's full of practical insights you can apply in life and work.
Chung Ju-yung started so poor that he ate tree bark as a kid to survive. Before he passed away, he was one of the ten richest people in the world.
His autobiography describes how he escaped poverty, developed a mindset for success, founded Hyundai (one of the world's largest conglomerates), and practically lifted an entire country out of poverty.
Every time I read this book, I'm inspired to go faster and further.
+ Listen and Learn Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Youtube | Transcript (For Members)
Some of my favorite moments:
(all links to Spotify, but timestamps should match Apple)
- 4:25 Eating tree bark to survive
- 7:14 Running away from home
- 9:05 His father tells him, "a nobody like you isn't going to make it."
- 12:04 Arrives in Seoul at 19 with no money and no job
- 12:57 The crazy inspiration for his mindset that nothing is impossible
- 15:32 How he went from delivery driver to operator, ahead of the shop owner's son
- 18:09 Learning that speed matters more than cost and that "there are trials, but there are no failures."
- 21:22 Hyundai
- 30:12 The Goryeong Bridge: In over his head (and refusing to quit)
- 49:41 Going against Korean Culture and keeping politicians happy
- 56:07 What he said every time someone told him something couldn't be done
- 1:23:24 Making cars
- 1:34:34 Building ships
- 1:47:14 The crazy story behind winning the largest construction project in history
- 2:12:15 Diligence will overcome all difficulties
The Knowledge Project
I meant to include a few of my favorite moments from the interview last week with Winston Weinberg (all links to YouTube):
- 0:10 The massive 200 page Google document that he uses to prioritize and run the company and life
- 2:21 The way he filters for what to work on (and that I've started to use for meetings)
- 5:01 "You get instant gratification from making progress in the way that people think progress is made."
- 13:03 The crazy way he got lawyers attention while demonstrating his product
- 18:24 Leadership is context engineering
- 21:56 The 24 hour rule around failure
- 25:24 Making decisions very, very fast
- 28:50 The reason people are stressed
- 34:04 You need to fail constantly in order to succeed
- 54:52 Why legal fees are not coming down despite lawyers using AI
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Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week.
— Shane Parrish
P.S. Wow.
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