It started with a sketch on a napkin.

On May 18, 2005, a Yelp employee named Bob Goodson doodled two crude symbols — a thumbs up and a thumbs down.

People are valuable because they are different. Everybody is unfathomably different from everyone else, yet society rarely harnesses that individuality.

During the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a race to be the most technologically advanced nation.

“The most valuable real estate in the world is the graveyard.

There lie millions of half-written books, ideas never launched, and talents never developed.

Malcom McLean was born into a farming family in North Carolina in 1914. During the Great Depression, he helped support his family by starting a small trucking company to move farmers’ goods. By 1940, his grit and resourcefulness had grown the business to thirty trucks.

Machines have mastered connecting the dots looking backward. They can sift through mountains of data and see patterns we’d miss. Competing with them here is a wasted effort.

The Rich also trade time for money, but at a higher hourly rate. They’ve built a rainy day fund, maybe six to twelve months of expenses saved. But their financial security still depends on their continued effort.

Let’s try a thought experiment. Travel back with me to 1999/2000. Everyone knew the internet would change everything, but nobody could predict how and who the winners would be.

Until 1970, every major currency in the world was backed by gold reserves. The post-war Bretton Woods system pegged the U.S. dollar to gold at $35 per ounce, while other currencies (pound, franc, yen, etc.) were pegged to the dollar within narrow bands.

The world came to an abrupt halt in 2020 with the outbreak of COVID-19.

Overnight, streets emptied, factories shut, and economies froze. Echoes of the Great Depression resurfaced, marked by mass unemployment, food insecurity, bankruptcies, and even rising social unrest.

My grandfather spent his entire career with Indian Railways, retiring happily as a Station Master. Railways were the high-tech sector of his time.

In 1900, France had only about 3,000 cars on the road. Business was looking bleak for brothers Édouard and André Michelin, owners of Michelin Tyres.

In Afghanistan, U.S. Civil Affairs teams were deployed not just to be present, but to add value—to dig a well, install a pump, or build a clinic. As Olson puts it, “Presence without value is perceived as occupation.”

1. Neglecting Health
Smart people often work tirelessly, pushing themselves to succeed—only to ignore their physical and mental health. Eventually, they find themselves unable to enjoy the very fruits of their labor.

Why do humans believe in stories?

Because we are the only species that imagines stories, tells stories, records stories, believes in stories, and often, gets wealthy by investing in stories.

Humans are meant to move.
Move when the sun is up and sleep when the sun goes down. Align your body with nature’s rhythm.

We often believe something can’t be done simply because it hasn’t been done before. But once the psychological barrier is broken, what was once unthinkable becomes inevitable.

Fred Smith, founder of FedEx, famously wrote a college term paper at Yale outlining a radical idea: an overnight commercial air delivery service. His professor reportedly gave it a “C”, calling the concept unrealistic.

Safety pins hold a special place in every Indian home. Indian moms would choose a safety pin over a Swiss Army knife any day. It’s not just a tool, it’s the foundation of Indian jugaad.

Global debt has soared to $325 trillion, with the U.S. government alone accounting for $36 trillion. Have you ever wondered why the debt-to-GDP ratio keeps rising?