The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms

But of course it’s not just authority figures on the largest scale who dominate us. Interestingly, some people express feeling a sense of freedom after their parents die, because they finally feel able to follow their own desires, opinions, and goals, free of parental expectations and the pressure to conform to rules their parents approved of.

We shouldn’t do things so we can be happy. We should be happy so we can do things.

Lawrence Pearsall Jacks wrote:
A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.

everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you.

mind-numbing bout

beside the point

accidental tweak of history

a sponge when it comes to learning from others and connecting the dots. I am fortunate to have the ability to soak up knowledge and wisdom easily from all sorts of people—from billionaires to monks—and then “codify” these ideas, connect those bits of knowledge, and construct unique new models for understanding the world. This is my gift.
In the world of computers, you might call this being a hacker. To hack, in that world, is to cut something apart, break it to the core, and then reassemble it to make it better than before.
That’s what I do. I was trained as a computer engineer, but I was born with a mind that loved learning how to hack life. I see patterns that others sometimes miss and

as much as cultivate them.

circular pattern of squares