Becoming Wiser

“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a foolish person can learn from a wise answer.” — Bruce Lee.

1. Read quality books. Which level are you?
1. Level 1: You don’t even read.
2. Level 2: You simply read for pleasure.
3. Level 3: You read to improve your behavior. This is the real power of reading quality books. Anyway, remember that no matter how good a book is, it only act as the messenger. Reaching Level 3 is more about our own awareness and attitude to internalize that we’ve learnt along the way.
2. Identify your bias. Then, minimize them.
1. Survivorship bias: Do you think entrepreneurship is easy and all roses? If yes, that’s a source of bias.
2. Halo Effect: Do you love everything someone says because he’s your idol? If yes, that’s another source of bias.
3. Hindsight Bias: Do you tend to feel that you actually know something after it has happened ? If yes, that could be your third source of bias. Why? If things turn out to be different from our expectation, we humans naturally forget it. Over time, we only remember things which turn out correctly but have no conscious idea about things that turn out differently. That sounds like the perfect recipe for overconfidence.
3. Let your results talk, not your mouth.
1. Most people do the opposite. People often intellectualize what they’ve learnt from a book. While doing so can be helpful, the better way is to let your results talk.
2. Be an action taker. Action speaks louder than words.
3. It’s okay to temporarily disappear, as long as you’re putting in the effort.
4. Learning from your mistakes.
1. No one is perfect. Every master was once a disaster. There’s no need to be ashamed of your imperfections.
2. Do not repeat the same mistake and expect different results.
5. Purify your social circles.
1. Distance yourself from negative people. They cost you emotionally.
2. Allow great people to enter your life. Magic will happen.
3. Raise each other’s standards and enjoy the process.
6. Last but not least…cultivate selective ignorance.
1. You don’t have to take part in every discussion or activity.
2. You don’t have to constantly prove that you are correct. Just do your part and do it well.
3. You don’t have to resist reality. Instead, you work with it.

-Dylan Woon