Shane Parrish

And I noticed when I started working for myself, I was spending so much time trying to prove myself right.

I'm looking for

esoteric facts that back up my ideas.

I'm trying to prove other people wrong.

And all of a sudden, when I'm working for myself, I'm like, I just really want the best outcome.

I don't care whose idea it is.

Because all of a sudden, I'm invested and my investment is in the outcome.

And it's not in me as a person.

It's not in my ego.

And I think that that little phrase, that little compression of an idea is very powerful to remind ourselves with.

When we have these moments, when we dig in, when we entrench, we're not thinking, right?

We're just responding.

And our emotions are in charge.

Our ego is in charge.

Our biology is in charge.

And I think that's normal and natural.

We are animals.

At the end of the day, we have these animal tendencies, these animal instincts.

What separates humans is our ability to push the clutch, to interrupt stimulus and response for just a second.

And in that moment, reason instead of react.