Quotes worth reading

Your genes are operating beneath the surface of every habit. Indeed, beneath the surface of every behavior.

ATOMIC HABITS— James ClearSelf-Help / Business

All of us want to feel a sense of ownership over our lives and our stories. All of us want to make meaning of the events we live through—the bitter and the sweet. All of us long for connection and the chance to be fully known.

THE NEXT DAY— Melinda French GatesSelf-Help / Business

Assessing Your Sleep It would be nice if science could locate some sort of “sleep switch,” some brain pathway that could be triggered, or inhibited, to make us fall asleep instantly and cycle smoothly in and out of deep sleep and REM sleep all night, until we wake up feeling refreshed.

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

When you preserve a person’s autonomy by clearly giving them permission to say “No” to your ideas, the emotions calm, the effectiveness of the decisions go up, and the other party can really look at your proposal.

NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE— Chris Voss with Tahl RazSelf-Help / Business

If you were able to take an armed kidnapper who’d been surrounded by police and hook him up to a cardiac monitor, you’d find that every calibrated question and apology would lower his heart rate just a little bit. And that’s how you get to a dynamic where solutions can be found.

NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE— Chris Voss with Tahl RazSelf-Help / Business

But maybe, I am realizing, there’s a less fragile and more authentic dignity to be had here. One that comes from finally being wise enough to see beyond the in-the-moment minutiae of our petty pride and our rescuers’ misplaced pity.

100 RULES FOR LIVING TO 100— Dick Van Dyke with Tal McTheniaNon-Fiction

The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.

ATOMIC HABITS— James ClearSelf-Help / Business

a routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation.

ATOMIC HABITS— James ClearSelf-Help / Business

The best way to get your counterparts to lower their demands is to say “No” using “How” questions. These indirect ways of saying “No” won’t shut down your counterpart the way a blunt, pride-piercing “No” would.

NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE— Chris Voss with Tahl RazSelf-Help / Business

The sweetest two words in any negotiation are actually “That’s right.”

NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE— Chris Voss with Tahl RazSelf-Help / Business

AMPK is like the low-fuel light on the dashboard of your car: when it senses low levels of nutrients (fuel), it activates, triggering a cascade of actions.

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

Anything is possible! And all of us—from the actors and dancers to the set designers and prop-makers—took that energy and ran with it.

100 RULES FOR LIVING TO 100— Dick Van Dyke with Tal McTheniaNon-Fiction

Failing to pay attention to your feet, as most of us do, is like buying a McLaren Senna (my dream car) and then going to Walmart and getting the cheapest tires you can find. That’s what spending years in mushy shoes does to us.

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

I push my patients to train for as high a VO2 max as possible, so that they can maintain a high level of physical function as they age.

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

The primary axis of the Americas and Africa is north-south. The primary axis of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East is east-west. This leads to a wider range of climates up-and-down the Americas than across Europe and Asia.

ATOMIC HABITS— James ClearSelf-Help / Business

I can’t be fucking indicted by a local prosecutor,” he screamed at Cannon and others. “Why haven’t you shut this thing down?

2024— Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac ArnsdorfNon-Fiction

Skilled bargainers see more than just opening offers, counteroffers, and closing moves. They see the psychological currents that run below the surface.

NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE— Chris Voss with Tahl RazSelf-Help / Business

Despite well over $100 billion spent on research via the National Cancer Institute, plus many billions more from private industry and public charities—despite all the pink ribbons and yellow bracelets, and literally millions of published papers on the PubMed database—cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, right behind heart disease.

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

Happiness is that feeling you get right before you need more happiness.

THE ART OF SPENDING MONEY— Morgan HouselSelf-Help / Business

Because a mouse lives for only about two to three years—and will die after just forty-eight hours without food—a sixteen-hour fast for a mouse is akin to a multiday fast for a human. It’s just not a valid comparison.

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

In the exercise context, we’re not as interested in how rigid something is. Instead, we want to think about how efficiently and safely force can be transmitted through something.

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

Bryan Harris, an entrepreneur from Nashville, Tennessee, was the first person I saw put this strategy into action. Shortly after the birth of his son, Harris realized he wanted to shed a few pounds. He wrote up a habit contract between himself, his wife, and his personal trainer.

ATOMIC HABITS— James ClearSelf-Help / Business

The men tend to be in better shape,” he has said. (The authors didn’t measure this, but my hunch is that it may have something to do with men having more muscle mass, on average, which is highly correlated to longer lifespan and better function, as we’ll discuss further in the chapters on exercise.)

OUTLIVE— Peter Attia with Bill GiffordNon-Fiction

People get hung up on 'How much?' But don’t deal with numbers in isolation. That leads to bargaining, a series of rigid positions defined by emotional views of fairness and pride.

NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE— Chris Voss with Tahl RazSelf-Help / Business