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Thomas Oppong

Thomas Oppong⁠

I turn philosophy, psychology, spirituality and personal enlightenment into practical, fun wisdom for everyday life. Big ideas made useful right now.

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This Mindset Change Will Make Your Life 37x Better

This is a smarter way to make almost everything in life better.

7 min read1 day ago

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Photo by Nursultan Rakysh on Unsplash

Graffiti artist David Choe was asked to paint murals at Facebook’s first office in 2005. He was offered a choice between a $60,000 cash payment or stock in the company. Choe took the stock. He had no way of knowing how successful Facebook would become. But he applied what I call the asymmetric mindset. The process of making the right decisions where the potential downside is small, fixed and easily tolerable. But the potential upside is unbounded. Nassim Taleb popularised this as the convex payoff profile. If you have convex leverage, the potential for gains is bigger than the risk of losses. Choe could afford to lose what he was putting at risk, while the potential reward was not capped. When Facebook went public in 2012, his shares were reportedly worth more than $200 million. He risked something he could afford to lose for the one-time chance to win exponentially. This mindset applies to almost all areas of life.

The people who get the most out of life design their lives around a few habits, routines, and rituals. So that being wrong costs them little, and being right changes everything. They don’t just commit to habits at random. But have a portfolio of behaviours that compound in their favour. Things they repeat that…

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Thomas Oppong
Thomas Oppong

Written by Thomas Oppong⁠

I turn philosophy, psychology, spirituality and personal enlightenment into practical, fun wisdom for everyday life. Big ideas made useful right now.