- 01
Looking again
Cézanne drew the same subjects hundreds of times, because one look only gives you one line. Marigold's argument about people.
Audio drama · Love at First Psych — Cara Bastone
- 02
The Tender Mercies of the Lord: The Thesis of The Book of Mormon
Nephi opens the record with it, Moroni closes by asking you to count them from Adam until now. Mercy arrives as strength, not as relief.
Scripture · 1 Nephi 1:20 & Moroni 10:3–4 — Nephi and Moroni
- 03
Categorising the problem
Christensen: months of being stuck usually means the categories are wrong, not the effort. Re-sort by circumstance rather than by attributes.
Idea · Theory-building and jobs to be done — Clayton Christensen
- 04
To be learned is good, if
Jacob's warning: being learned is good while you're still listening. The failure is the moment knowing starts to feel like enough.
Scripture · 2 Nephi 9:28–29 — Jacob
- 05
Learning to Fly: The Four Forces of Flight
Thrust, drag, lift, weight. You move, the air resists, and the resistance is what lifts you — a wing makes no lift without making drag. And the weight was never the enemy; it's the reason there was a flight.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 06
Freedom through discipline
Every choice settled in advance is one you stop re-deciding daily. The attention that frees up is the freedom.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 07
The Marginal Cost Doctrine
The accounting rule that kills incumbents kills people the same way. The cost of doing it wrong just this once is always the marginal cost — and the marginal cost is never the price.
Book · How Will You Measure Your Life? — Clayton Christensen
- 08
Mirroring truth
Jeff Brownlow: the most powerful person in the room isn't powerful — they're reflecting something true, which is why it can't be taken.
Told to me · Jeff Brownlow
- 09
Survey wide, cultivate narrow
Virgil: praise the large estates, farm the small one. Breadth is how you choose; depth is the only part that ever yields.
Proverb · Georgics II.412 — Virgil
- 10
Never ready
You weren't ready for junior high, a mission, marriage or the first baby either. Competence arrives after the crossing, never before.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 11
Handle Hard Better
Kara Lawson: it never gets easier, you get better at hard — and the moment they see you managing, they hand you something harder.
Talk · Handle Hard Better — Kara Lawson
- 12
Identity first
Clear's three rings — outcomes, processes, identity. Change the identity and the behaviour follows; change the outcome and nothing holds.
Book · Atomic Habits — James Clear
- 13
The golden circle
Sinek's rings: what, how, why. Everyone can state the what, almost nobody the why — and the why is the part people actually respond to.
Book · Start With Why — Simon Sinek
- 14
Inflation pays the asset holder
Inflation moves wealth from cash and lenders to whoever owes fixed money against something real. Only the unexpected part counts.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 15
The climb, not the peak
The climb is the point, not the summit — but Sisyphus climbs forever and learns nothing, so the climb has to actually be teaching you something.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 16
A God that Expects Nothing of Us is Making Nothing of Us
Wilcox: being asked something is evidence of what someone has in mind for you. Low expectations are the politest way of giving up on people.
Told to me · Brad Wilcox
- 17
Laddering
A feature carries a functional benefit, which carries an emotional one, which stands in for a value. Keep asking why until the person can't answer.
Framework · Means-end chain theory — Jonathan Gutman · via Glenn Christensen
- 18
Clicking on Utah
Ben Iverson's mother clicked the new document icon because it looked like Utah. Perfect behaviour, wrong model — fine until the icon changes.
Idea · Instrumental and relational understanding — Richard Skemp · via Ben Iverson
- 19
Relational knowledge vs extractive knowledge
You can't own truth, only stand in relation to it. Extraction hands you a possession; a relationship keeps yielding.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 20
What if God gave you what you wanted?
Grant the wish in your head and describe the Tuesday it produces. Most of that picture never needed the wish and could start now.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 21
Purpose over skills
Christensen gave an hour a night at Oxford to working out his purpose, at the expense of the degree. He used the econometrics a few times a year.
Book · How Will You Measure Your Life? — Clayton Christensen
- 22
The Four Statures & Three Resources
Serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength — those four are the statures. Time, career and money are only the resources traded to build them, and the whole thing produces charity.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 23
Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: Hygiene Factors vs Motivators
Satisfaction and dissatisfaction aren't two ends of one dial — they're separate scales. Fixing the pay of a bored person gives you a bored person who is paid more.
Framework · Two-factor theory — Frederick Herzberg
- 24
Life attracts life
From The Alchemist, and confirmed by a speaker in the backyard playing bird calls — which brought birds, then bees, then butterflies.
Book · The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho
- 25
Take people up on their offer
Steve Spencer: the ride or the meal is only the pretext — what's on offer is an hour of somebody's life. Say yes, and enjoy it.
Told to me · Steve Spencer
- 26
Group Momentum
Brittney Miller: one person committed changes the ask from do this with me to we're doing this, and every invitation after that is cheaper.
Told to me · Brittney Miller
- 27
What’s a good opening line when I meet someone?
Leil Lowndes: almost any sentence works. What carries is whether they're put at ease, and whether you sound like you care about something.
Book · How to Talk to Anyone — Leil Lowndes
- 28
Adventure in responsibility
Peterson: an adventure needs stakes, and stakes need something that depends on you. Nothing is at risk for a person who owes nothing.
Idea · Jordan Peterson
- 29
Difficulty and God
Two axes, not one. Difficulty is the one everybody watches and it settles nothing — hard doesn't mean right and easy doesn't mean wrong. Which side of the other axis you're on is what decides.
Mine · Michael Morton
- 30
Diverge, then converge
Forte's CODE: Capture and Organise open the funnel, Distil and Express close it. Most collections die because only the first half ever happens.
Book · Building a Second Brain — Tiago Forte
- 31
Personal Integrity: The Groundwork of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Eyring: faith is the foundation, and small honest choices are the ground it gets poured on. Groundwork can't be done during the storm.
Talk · Mountains to Climb — Henry B. Eyring
- 32
The calling triangle
Called, then set apart, which confers authority — but only obedience turns authority into power, and power is what fulfils the calling.
Framework · Taught in the Church