Jonathan Adams

“The brilliance of warfare is that no amount of eloquence or talk can explain away a failure on the battlefield.”

Most “genius” is unusual taste, violent curiosity, and the inability to leave important ugliness unfixed.

“The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.”

Mediocre players spend more time in the pro shop than on the driving range. Same applies to business.

The most ROI is always in building a cleaner machine and doubling down on what's working. Go broad early. But when the opportunity to go narrow presents itself, go all in.

I stopped explaining things to people when I realized I didn’t earn a thing doing it.

Chase money and it will always elude you. Build leverage and money will chase you.

A weak man seeks power over others. A strong man seeks power over himself and leverage over everything else.

@NoRiskNoParty Not to take away from the point, but that is not a new Range Rover. It's a 10+ year old Range Rover Sport, $15k at best.

A guy calls me asking for waterproofing materials for a flat roof. I tell him, I got you. He pulls up in a brand new Range Rover. So I ask him what system he is using, just trying to make sure he gets the right stuff. He points at the yellow wrapped rolls. Those rolls are for sloped roofs, not flat roofs. I tell him straight. That is not the right product for a flat surface. He could not care less. He tells me, do not worry, I have done it before. That is like putting diesel in a gas car and expecting it to run. He bought it anyway. Never heard from him again. Not sure if the roof already failed by now. But if it did, it was not a surprise.

@BoringBiz_ Listened to the urge a few years ago, recommend.

The male urge to own a diversified HoldCo with multiple cash flowing businesses that dividend proceeds back to the parent company for capital redeployment

It’s your responsibility to continually put yourself in situations that expose you to adversity and failure. Playing small keeps you small as a person.

Stop bouncing from opportunity to opportunity every time it gets hard. Every path has trade-offs. Where you are is probably extremely good for who you need to become next. Commitment opens doors. Keep chasing the next thing and all you'll have to show is less time and energy.

The less dependent the organization is on you, the more value you can give by focusing on things that have a long term payoff. Operating out of fear will have you optimizing for dependence, not value.

Safety-seeking is expensive. Cognitively, emotionally, metabolically expensive. Your nervous system is running threat-detection 24/7, burning cycles on "what if" scenarios that never materialize. You're playing defense in a game where nobody's actually attacking you.

People can change. But building around who someone already is almost always beats betting on who they might become.

Thicken your skin or lower your expectations.

Attention is capital, not just time.

Say no more often. Do less inessential work. Put more wood behind fewer arrows.

Few things in life will hold you back as much as a lack of emotional control.