CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 2:33
Introducing Kevin Kelly's Excellent Advice for Living
David Senra explains how he found Kevin Kelly's book and read it in one sitting, and reads Kelly's preface about how the advice began as a birthday tradition. He then starts through the maxims with enthusiasm, listening well, and demanding deadlines, backed by Ed Catmull and Christopher Nolan.
- •Kelly began with 68 bits of advice on his 68th birthday and grew to about 450
- •Senra found the book on a friend's Instagram story and read it in one sitting
- •Enthusiasm is worth 25 IQ points; listening well is a superpower
- •Deadlines force decisions and make you do something different rather than perfect
- •Ed Catmull and Christopher Nolan are cited on deadlines
- 2:33 – 5:10
Forgiveness, Your Own Ruler, and Learning by Teaching
Senra moves through maxims on forgiveness, not measuring life with someone else's ruler, and collecting and sharing like Buffett. He adds gratitude, ridiculously ambitious goals, teaching to learn, and choosing kindness.
- •Forgiveness is a gift to yourself
- •Michael Dell and James Dyson refused to measure life with someone else's ruler
- •Buffett collected information and shared it through shareholder letters and talks
- •Gratitude unlocks other virtues, and Rick Rubin is cited on practicing it
- •Trying to teach what you know reveals what you don't understand
- 5:10 – 7:26
Seeing Through Others' Eyes, Habits, and Disagreement
Senra highlights how much of the book is about understanding other people's perspectives, including what "yes" means to the other party. He then turns to habits, with Rockefeller's rope metaphor, and the value of friends who disagree with you.
- •Understanding what yes means for the other party is key to negotiating
- •Habit is more dependable than inspiration
- •Rockefeller compared habits to ropes that grow too thick to break
- •A friend changed Senra's mind in a minute by quoting Napoleon and Lyndon Johnson
- •Find smart people who will disagree with you
- 7:26 – 11:39
Persistence, Agency, and High Expectations
Senra covers the rule of three in conversation, graceful recovery from mistakes, and Kelly's "Don't be the best, be the only." He then discusses agency, being interested in others, and Kobe Bryant on written training plans. The section closes with high expectations, the golden rule, and redoing work.
- •Ask a person to go deeper three times to reach the real reason
- •Pros make as many mistakes as amateurs but recover gracefully
- •Everyone is shy, so introduce yourself and send the email
- •Kobe Bryant wrote his summer training plan down to avoid negotiating with himself
- •Steve Jobs on being a yardstick of quality; ask for advice rather than feedback
- 11:39 – 12:29
Tools, Acting the Part, and Owning Mistakes
Senra reads Kelly on walking and buying tools, followed by a sponsor break for Ramp. He then covers acting like you belong, with Nolan Bushnell's advice to Steve Jobs, and Munger on admitting mistakes.
- •Think with your feet on a walk or with your hand in a notebook
- •Buy the cheapest tools first and upgrade those you use a lot
- •Bushnell told Jobs to pretend to be in control and people will assume you are
- •Taking responsibility for mistakes elevates a person
- •Munger said not to deny, externalize, or wallow in mistakes
- 12:29 – 15:09
Grudges, Customer Obsession, and Protecting New Ideas
Senra covers releasing grudges and Bezos's view that customer obsession beats competitor obsession. He then reads Kelly's advice to separate creating from improving and gathers quotes on the fragility of new ideas.
- •Hatred poisons the hater, not the hated
- •Bezos says customer obsession compounds into a moat
- •Separate creating from improving; don't select while you invent
- •Kettering, Catmull, Ford, and Ogilvy all describe new ideas as fragile
- •Senra queries his personal AI, Sage, of notes and transcripts
- 15:09 – 17:37
Giving, Perseverance, and What People Remember
Senra covers giving to others, showing up, and friends over money, tied to Henry Ford and Steve Jobs. He relates Kelly's point on funerals to John Mackey's advice about relationships, then covers imagination, crises, and an "Would I do this tomorrow?" filter.
- •The more you give to others, the more you get
- •Jobs says about half of entrepreneurial success is perseverance
- •People at funerals remember what kind of person you were
- •John Mackey said at his age you think about relationships, not the five-thousandth store
- •Michael Dell said if you don't have a crisis, make one
- •Buffett kept his calendar clear, echoing the filter of asking if you'd do it tomorrow
- 17:37 – 19:27
You Are What You Do: Research, Empathy, Apologies, and Incentives
Senra covers being judged by actions, Aristotle on habit, and the rule of seven in research. He then reads maxims on empathy for nasty people, hiring for attitude, apologizing well, and Munger's view on incentives.
- •Aristotle said excellence is a habit, not an act
- •Rule of seven: keep asking who to ask next to find any answer
- •Treat nastiness as an affliction to ease conflict
- •Hire for aptitude and attitude, then train for skills
- •Munger said he always underestimated the power of incentives
- 19:27 – 22:49
Mastery, Relationships, Focus, and Kindness
A rapid run through maxims about being weird as a kid, mastery, relationships over transactions, family identity, and optimism. Senra also covers focus on the important, kindness, and the point that time is finite and focus matters more than more time.
- •The thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great
- •Replace transactions with relationships
- •Focus on the important; the urgent is a tyrant
- •Praise people while they are alive
- •You need more focus, not more time
- 22:49 – 25:51
Purpose, Behavior Change, Compounding, and Infinite Games
Senra reads maxims on priorities, purpose, calm, and gratitude, then highlights that changing behavior changes thinking. Further entries cover limiting hours, copying heroes, compounding, being a good ancestor, and infinite games.
- •Show me your calendar and I will tell you your priorities
- •Your purpose is to discover your purpose
- •It is easier to change how you think by changing your behavior
- •Copy your heroes shamelessly until you get them out of your system
- •Good things happen slowly through compounding; seek out infinite games
- 25:51 – 30:09
Simple Ideas, Detours, Goofing Off, and Email Subject Lines
Senra covers taking a simple idea seriously, tied to Munger, plus no secrets and protecting productive hours. Kelly also argues efficiency is overrated and that bad news should come first. The chapter ends with detours and Ogilvy on headlines.
- •Take one simple thing extremely seriously
- •Secrets corrode all who hold them
- •Goofing off, Sabbaths, and breaks are essential for top performance
- •Give the bad news first and end on good news
- •Ogilvy: the headline carries most of an ad's value, and he wrote at least sixteen per ad
- 30:09 – 33:29
Imposter Feelings, Long Games, and Thinking for Yourself
After sponsor reads for Vanta and Collateral, Senra covers accepting compliments and the imposter feeling, long-term compounding, and the three gates of speech. He continues with trust, explaining problems to others, and building new models, and shares Tobi Lütke's unpredictability.
- •Doing things only you can do means you are not an imposter
- •A long game compounds small gains to overcome big mistakes
- •Words should pass three gates: true, necessary, kind
- •Explaining a problem to others often reveals the solution
- •Buckminster Fuller said to build a new model rather than fight reality
- •Tobi Lütke's answers are unpredictable because he thinks for himself
- 33:29 – 35:54
Encouragement, Evangelists, and Seeing Others' Viewpoints
Senra shares the example of Edison encouraging a young Henry Ford. He then covers looking back twenty-five years, honest storytelling, promoting what you love rather than bashing, and the golden ticket of seeing things from others' points of view.
- •Edison's encouragement helped Ford persevere through years of struggle
- •Evaluate choices as if looking back twenty-five years
- •The world needs more evangelists than critics
- •Simplify, simplify, simplify, then exaggerate
- •Mastering the view through others' eyes unlocks many doors
- 35:54 – 37:25
Trust, Ownership, Sabbath, and Life's Lessons
Senra covers asking for what you want, trust built in drops, and curiosity about others' views. He recounts Sam Zell's point that what you own eventually owns you, then reads the Sabbath maxim and closes with the lesson that life teaches in the order needed.
- •Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets
- •Being curious about another person's view is the most powerful way to change it
- •Sam Zell said what you own eventually owns you and rented most things
- •Commit to no work one day a week as a Sabbath
- •Life lessons arrive in the order you need them
