School for Startups Minutes
The short vignettes are taken from School for Startups Radio. We release a quick thought to motivate or educate you about a different facet of entrepreneurship every day.
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SFS Minute 964: Imperfection
04/03/2026
SFS Minute 964: Imperfection
I want a good life, and I want a good life for you. So this week, we have gone through some of the components, listed them, and given some advice. I’m going to wrap that conversation up today, but before that, I want to review briefly. You need to work on positive, happy relationships in your life. You need to have something that’s important, something that you do that’s meaningful. You need to realize that enough is enough. You don’t need absolutely everything. And you need to control one part of your day, even if it’s just 10 minutes in the morning. You need to have some control over your life. I’m going to add one more component to this list of the things you need to do to have a meaningful, good life. I’ll do that right after this. The final component is accepting imperfection. Not everything is going to be perfect, and that’s okay. Not everything is going to be a 10, and that is okay. We need to realize that a seven or eight is a good day, too.
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SFS Minute 963: Controlled Time
04/03/2026
SFS Minute 963: Controlled Time
Do you have everything in the world that you want? I mean absolutely everything. If so, where do you put it? Oh, you got a bigger house so that you could have more stuff. A good life means that we eventually have enough, realize that, and quit accumulating stuff. This week, I’ve been talking about what the components of having a good life are, and we have realized some really important things. I’m going to share another one of those with you right after this. A good life means that you control some of your time, maybe not all of it, but some of it. We go through life, and we have disasters and emails and all sorts of boss issues that we have to deal with, and the kids are difficult, and at the end of the day, we’re just happy to have a few minutes to ourselves. That is so true. We need to work very hard to have more time where you decide what is going to happen. Maybe it’s early in the morning.
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SFS Minute 962: Enough
04/03/2026
SFS Minute 962: Enough
Do we have a good life? Do you have a good life? When you think about yourself and what you have done in the last 20, 30, 80 years, do you feel like it’s a good life? That is so important for us to think about and to make sure that we are creating the circumstances so that when we are at the end of our lives, we say yes to that question. So we need to think about it and actually spend some time making sure we’re doing the right things. So this week, I’m going through some of the components that make you say yes and get you excited, and I’ll share another one of those right after this. A good life has enough, but not everything. We Americans are always trying to get more: more cars, bigger houses, more jewelry, more of everything, and all we are doing is creating more complexity and more things to worry about. We need to realize that we have enough and quit competing with everyone.
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SFS Minute 961: Meaning
04/03/2026
SFS Minute 961: Meaning
We all want a good life. We want a good life for ourselves, our family, and our friends. The problem, though, is that we don’t go to the next level and actually define what a good life means. So this week, that is what I am going to do. I’m going to talk about a good life and the components that make it up. I already talked about the fact that relationships are incredibly important to having a good life. I’ll add another piece to that right after. One component of having a good life is to include something that matters to you, something that is important. You get out of bed in the morning to do this. You might not even do it to get paid. You might just do it because it is what you love, the way you love spending time. It doesn’t have to be perfect or make the world a better place. All it should do is give you satisfaction and make your life more worthwhile.
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SFS Minute 960: Relationships
04/03/2026
SFS Minute 960: Relationships
I think, universally, everyone wants the same thing: a good life, right? We all wish that for ourselves and for our friends and family. We say, “I want to have a good life. I want to be happy.” But we never go to the next level and define what that actually means, to say these are the components of a good life and how to work on each one. So that’s what I’m going to do this week. I’m going to define the five components of having a good life and try to give you one or two pieces of advice on how to make it happen. I’ll get started right after. When we talk about a good life, one of the most important components is strong relationships with your spouse, your family, your friends, and your deity. There’s nothing more important than building lifelong relationships that you can rely on when times are hard.
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SFS Minute 959: Enough
03/28/2026
SFS Minute 959: Enough
This week, we have been talking about the idea that optimizing our lives to the maximum degree might not be such a good idea. This optimization culture quickly teaches us that there's always a better version of everything: a better routine, a better system, a better diet, a better version of you. That sounds awesome at first, but over time, it creates a moving target that you will never reach. There is one more suggestion I want to make on what you should do. I'll do that right after this. At some point, you need to say, “Enough.” It becomes one of the strongest and most important decisions that you can make: enough work, enough progress, enough dieting, enough improvement. The lesson is grounding. Satisfaction does not come from endless optimization. It begins when you decide that you have already done enough and enjoy the rest.
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SFS Minute 958: Simplicity
03/28/2026
SFS Minute 958: Simplicity
Tim Ferriss, the man who wrote The 4-Hour Workweek, just recently revealed that he thinks we may have gone too far as a society in optimizing everything in our lives. Some people are wearing sensors on both wrists. But something interesting is starting to happen now. After years of adding tools and systems and routines and tracking, many people are starting to do something in the opposite direction. I'll tell you what it is in just a second. Some people are embracing simplicity. They are deleting apps, reducing commitments, and simplifying their schedules, because simplicity reduces your mental load. Every time you add something, it requires more attention. Every tool you adopt creates another decision. Over time, complexity becomes exhausting. The lesson is practical. Sometimes, simplicity is all you need.
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SFS Minute 957: Meaning
03/28/2026
SFS Minute 957: Meaning
This week, we're talking about optimizing your life and whether it can go too far. For example, you can't optimize your way into one thing, and we'll tell you what it is. Optimizing is great at improving efficiency. It helps you get more done and waste less time with better systems. But it does not create—I'll tell you what it doesn't—right after this. Meaning. It does not create meaning. There are great things about better systems, but we can't do that without something at the very base of it. We can optimize our schedule, our calendar, and our workflow and make everything run smoothly, but there is still something missing, and that is meaning. It doesn't come from inefficiency or efficiency. It comes from connection, purpose, relationships, and doing something that is more important than just us.
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SFS Minute 956: Biohacking Can Go Too Far
03/28/2026
SFS Minute 956: Biohacking Can Go Too Far
This week, I'm pointing out that the idea of optimizing your life may have gone just a little bit too far. Today, I want to talk about biohacking and how it has already gone too far. For example, biohacking began as a very practical idea: get better sleep, improve your focus, eat better, make small changes that help your day work better. But like many ideas, it can escalate and go too far. I'll tell you what happened right after this. Optimizing your life may have gone too far with all of you biohackers and supplement takers. Have you started saying that meals are no longer meals, they are inputs? Rest is no longer rest; it's recovery optimization. The lesson is steady. Health is supposed to support our lives, not take them over.
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SFS Minute 955: Optimization Becomes Obsessive
03/28/2026
SFS Minute 955: Optimization Becomes Obsessive
For the last 10-20 years, we've been obsessed with optimizing everything. Optimize your website, optimize your sleep, optimize your diet, your morning routine, and we have to track it, measure it, wear something on our wrist that tells us about it, improve it. Get more apps that do more things and tell us more about what we're doing. No one embodied this more than Tim Ferriss, the man behind The 4-Hour Workweek. He has actually come out and walked it back a little bit, though. I'll tell you what he is now saying right after this. At some point, optimization crosses a line. Instead of improving your life, it becomes your life. You are no longer living; you are managing several different apps. The lesson is simple but important. Tools are supposed to support you, not consume you and become your entire life.
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SFS Minute 954: Bad News Business Model
03/21/2026
SFS Minute 954: Bad News Business Model
This week, I've been trying to present a happy message that counters what we see in the world today. It is very scary right now, with our 401Ks going up and down. The stock market is crazy, the price of oil, inflation, we all know the problems that we are facing, but I've tried to share the message that good things are happening as well. For example, AI is going to give you an opportunity to level up. Learn it now, and your salary will go up quite a bit because of that. So many positive things. I want to share another one with you in just a second. All of the news media make more money when there is bad news. In fact, bad news is the business model. So we have to remember that people who win are the ones who see opportunity out there when other people see fear.
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SFS Minute 953: Speed
03/21/2026
SFS Minute 953: Speed
This week, we are looking at the world from a little bit further away. Instead of getting up close and personal in the micro analysis, we're doing a macro, 40,000-foot analysis, trying to show you that the world is actually getting better despite all of the bad things we see. Despite the wars and inflation and the stock market going up and down, good things are happening. I'll give you an example right after this. One of the big advantages that we have as small business owners, or just as individuals, is that we have more speed. Big companies are slow. They have committees and approvals and layers of management. Whereas we entrepreneurs can progress with one decision, click open, we can move that fast, and that's why we entrepreneurs have an incredible speed advantage in today's world. Use it. Think about it.
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SFS Minute 952: Gatekeepers
03/21/2026
SFS Minute 952: Gatekeepers
I am arguing this week that the world is better than we all think and feel, and that there's never been more opportunity. There are great things happening at the macro level, and I know it's hard to accept because the micro level, the war, the taxes, the inflation, my job being cut, all of that is so scary, but I'll tell you, if at the macro level, good things are happening. And I'll tell you one of those right after this. So here's the good news: the gatekeepers are gone. You do not need to ask for permission anymore. If you want to do a podcast, write a book, create a movie, or get a job, all of those can be done without asking anyone's permission. So the lesson is very profound. Start today. Success today starts the minute you raise your hand and start doing it yourself. The gatekeepers aren't going to stop you.
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SFS Minute 952: Gatekeepers
03/21/2026
SFS Minute 952: Gatekeepers
I am arguing this week that the world is better than we all think and feel, and that there's never been more opportunity. There are great things happening at the macro level, and I know it's hard to accept because the micro level, the war, the taxes, the inflation, my job being cut, all of that is so scary, but I'll tell you, if at the macro level, good things are happening. And I'll tell you one of those right after this. So here's the good news: the gatekeepers are gone. You do not need to ask for permission anymore. If you want to do a podcast, write a book, create a movie, or get a job, all of those can be done without asking anyone's permission. So the lesson is very profound. Start today. Success today starts the minute you raise your hand and start doing it yourself. The gatekeepers aren't going to stop you.
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SFS Minute 950: Systems
03/21/2026
SFS Minute 950: Systems
This week, I want to talk about some things that will make you happy and feel a little more content. You know, every day right now, it feels like the world is falling apart. We have wars, elections, markets going up and down. Your 401K is like a basketball. You turn on the news, and you only hear bad stuff. There's something that they don't tell you, though, and this week I'm going to focus on that. I'll be right back with my first example. What they don't tell us is that most of the systems actually work. Our life is more stable than ever before. Supply chains are better, medicine is better, and information is better and instant, but the machine keeps working. Crisis gets attention. Stability does not. If you build your business or your life based on headlines, you will fail and panic. If you build your life and business on a long-term trend, you will win. The opportunity has never been greater.
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SFS Minute 951: AI
03/21/2026
SFS Minute 951: AI
These are scary times right now. We have elections coming up, and the other guys are already stealing it. We have a war going on that I don't think any of us really want. The market is going up and down like NCAA basketball, and my team is not winning, and it's a scary time. And then they throw AI at us. I want to share another way to look at it right after this. So let me tell you what's going to happen with AI. Every major technology shift has not eliminated work; it does, though, shift who gets paid the most. The people who learn the tool early now become the new winners. AI is not replacing entrepreneurs. It is replacing entrepreneurs who refuse to adapt. The question is not whether AI will take your job. The question is whether you will be able to use it before your competitor does.
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SFS Minute 949: Literacy
03/14/2026
SFS Minute 949: Literacy
I've been trying to point out that, at the macro level, the 30,000-foot level, things in the world are actually getting better. It's very hard to understand that and to feel it all. The news is bad. We're at war. Gasoline prices are going up. They say it's a hard time to be optimistic, but I've been trying to point out some ways that the world is getting better. I'll give you one more great example right after this. For most of human history, reading and writing have been very rare skills. Education was limited to small groups, but over the last century, education systems around the world have improved dramatically. Today, global literacy rates are higher than at any point in history. Billions more people can read, learn, and participate in economic and civic life. The lesson is encouraging. Access to knowledge increases opportunities and makes the world better.
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SFS Minute 948: Environment
03/14/2026
SFS Minute 948: Environment
There is no doubt that these are difficult times to live in. We have the war in Iran, gas prices going crazy, and a possible recession. There is a lot to worry about. We all love to worry about the environment, and rightfully so. We have to keep our air and water clean, but we are always hearing that it's getting worse. I'll give you the reality in just a second. Air quality regulations, cleaner engines, and improved energy sources have reduced pollution in most major cities around the world. While the challenges remain, measurable improvements are occurring. The lesson is very hopeful. When societies identify problems clearly, we have the ability to develop amazing solutions. The data is very clear. We are living in the cleanest environmental time in the last 1,000 years. The world is getting better.
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SFS Minute 947: Violence
03/14/2026
SFS Minute 947: Violence
News coverage understandably focuses on all of the bad: the conflict, the crime, the instability. When we see this constantly, day after day, it can feel as if the world is becoming a more dangerous place every year. But research gives us a different story. I'll tell you what it is right after this. Across centuries, the overall rate of violence has declined significantly. War deaths as a percentage of the global population are lower than they have ever been. The lesson is surprising. Human society, despite setbacks like we are seeing now, has gradually become more stable and cooperative. And in the 1970s, crime was much worse than it is now. You have to be old enough to remember that. I am. It may be hard to believe, but we are living in one of the least violent times in human history.
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SFS Minute 945: Poverty
03/14/2026
SFS Minute 945: Poverty
These are difficult times all around. We are at war again. There are sleeper cells. They tell us they are going to attack in the middle of the night. Gas prices are soaring. We could be in another recession. It's just a hard time, isn't it? So I thought that this week, I would take a step back, look at things from a 30,000-foot level, and give us a sense of the macro. It's actually pretty encouraging. I'll share why in just a second. In the last three decades, extreme poverty has gone down by as much as 90%. Over the last several decades, hundreds of millions of people have moved out of extreme poverty and into a life where they are actually having the bare necessities. It's not a life of luxury, but at least they have the bare necessities. The lesson is hopeful. Human progress often happens gradually, but the results do accumulate over time, and the world is getting better.
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SFS Minute 946: Agriculture
03/14/2026
SFS Minute 946: Agriculture
My 15-year-old and I were in the car listening to the radio, and he asked, “Dad, is it always this bad? Is the world always like this?” No, it's not, and we have to keep that in mind. These are difficult times, absolutely no doubt. The war, the gasoline prices, the insecurity, and the lack of knowing what's going to happen, it's a challenging time. However, there is some good news, and I'll share it with you just after this. Historically, food production has struggled to keep up with demand. However, modern agriculture is becoming much more efficient, and we have enough food to feed everyone. We don't have the greatest distribution system, and that's actually a bigger problem, but we have improved seeds, precision farming, data analysis, and better water management, and farmers can now produce more food using fewer resources.
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SFS Minute 944: Gratitude
03/07/2026
SFS Minute 944: Gratitude
Human attention naturally gravitates toward problems in modern life. We have a constant focus on problems and how they overshadow all of the positive experiences in our life. We do this to our own detriment. You must learn to get mentally stronger by focusing on the right things and having the right response and the right attitude. I will give my last tip of the week right after this. When we focus on how to become mentally stronger, we must also practice gratitude. Gratitude restores balance regularly. Recognizing what is working well changes how the mind interprets daily events. If you are happy for the good things and do not focus on the bad things, your mental strength will increase. Noticing and appreciating the good that already exists is the key to happiness and mental strength.
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SFS Minute 943: Setbacks
03/07/2026
SFS Minute 943: Setbacks
This week, we are talking about becoming mentally stronger, the idea of neuroplasticity, neuro brain plasticity, plastic. Yes, our brains can change, become stronger over time. It is an amazing part of the brain, something that science is just now coming to terms with. I want to talk about how we can use this to become mentally stronger in our daily lives. I'll give you an example and a tip right after this. We can become mentally stronger from learning from our setbacks. That’s right. Setbacks happen to all of us. It is unpleasant, but we have to learn how to deal with it. View a setback as data, information on how you are leading your life. Mentally strong individuals treat setbacks as a way of learning to improve. They examine what happened and adjust their approach in the future. Learn from your setbacks.
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SFS Minute 942: Reactions
03/07/2026
SFS Minute 942: Reactions
Bad things happen to all of us. Sometimes events happen that we cannot control. Plans change. Mistakes occur. Unexpected challenges pop up. Our boss yells at us for absolutely no reason. All of these events may be unavoidable. However, you can control your response. I want to give you a trick in just a second that will make you better at controlling your reactions. I will be back in just a second with that tip. You can get mentally stronger by controlling your reactions. Mental strength appears in the pause between the event and your reaction. Please take a moment to think before responding. Your outcome will be much better when reactions become thoughtful instead of emotional and automatic. You will have a much better, happier outcome without as much fighting. Control your emotions with a quick breath, and stop and think.
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SFS Minute 941: Discomfort
03/07/2026
SFS Minute 941: Discomfort
This week, I want to talk about how to become mentally stronger. Our mental strength is not dramatic. It is something that grows over time through repeated small habits. Our small daily habits are what end up controlling what we think about and how we act. In just a second, I will give you one example of how to become mentally stronger by accepting certain things right after this. You become mentally stronger when you accept that discomfort is part of life. We do not like having difficult conversations with our boss or with our spouse. We certainly do not like doing our taxes or other things that make us tense. Mental strength develops when you face that uncertainty directly. Each time you move forward with a new difficult situation, you become more confident. Courage grows not from eliminating fear, but from acting on it.
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SFS Minute 940: Focus
03/07/2026
SFS Minute 940: Focus
One of my favorite words in the entire world is neuroplasticity, neuro meaning brain and plasticity meaning plastic. The idea that our brain can change and can learn over the period of our lifetime is such a cool idea. So this week, I want to talk about how we can get mentally stronger through some of our habits. I will start with an example right after this. One of the best ways to become mentally stronger is to control your focus. That’s right, not think about certain things. Many people get overwhelmed because their problems seem so big, but perhaps the problem is that their attention is divided among too many things. Mental strength depends on focus, so you should choose what you think about. The lesson is very practical. When you focus on what you can influence, you are much happier.
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SFS Minute 939: Remain Calm
03/01/2026
SFS Minute 939: Remain Calm
This week, we have been talking about why some people advance more quickly than others. We have talked about the fact that some people solve problems without being asked. They respond faster than expected. They improve the systems around them. They make decisions when other people hesitate. I have one more thought to share on this. I'll do it right after this. People who advance quickly remain calm when major problems appear. I used to run summer camps. I had 89 summer camps around the country, and one day, we lost one of our campers. I knew where he was. He was in the bathroom. He told me that, but he did not come out of the bathroom because he had a little accident and was embarrassed. His mother freaked out. We had called the police, the campus police, and everyone went looking for him. No one left, waiting to see what happened. Of course, we found him in the bathroom, but I remained calm.
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SFS Minute 938: Improve Systems
03/01/2026
SFS Minute 938: Improve Systems
Some people get promoted more frequently than perhaps they seem like they deserve. Why do some people advance faster than others? This week, we are talking about that, and I hope you can take some of these lessons, some of these ideas, and apply them to your career and get a promotion sooner. I'll give you one way to do that right after this. Some people complete their work as assigned, and that satisfies them. Other people, though, look to see if they can improve the system. They simplify processes, they remove unnecessary steps, and they leave the system stronger than when they found it. This behavior compounds value, and improving systems benefits all who follow. Leaders recognize this behavior. People who increase efficiency beyond their individual contribution are noticed. The lesson is very clear: advancement favors those who improve the conditions around them.
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SFS Minute 937: Make Decisions
03/01/2026
SFS Minute 937: Make Decisions
Have you ever heard of the Peter Principle, the idea that some people get promoted very quickly, and everyone else shakes their head and wonders why? This week, we want to talk about that, why some people succeed more and get noticed more than everyone else. They advance faster than the rest of us. I'll share why right after this. In the first company that I started in my mid 20s, I had a business partner, and we were equal owners and both had the same amount of responsibility. We met with a very important venture capitalist, and he asked, “So who is the CEO of this business?” And I immediately said, “I am.” Those words had never been spoken, and my friend was quite taken aback, but no one ever challenged it, and I got away with it. People who make decisions quickly when others hesitate get promoted and win more. Be fast. Make your decisions quickly.
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SFS Minute 936: Respond Faster
03/01/2026
SFS Minute 936: Respond Faster
This week, we are talking about why some people advance so quickly and maybe without merit. We've all seen it and all wondered, what did that guy do to deserve that promotion? Nothing that I see. What a chump he really is. This week, we want to talk about that and figure out how you respond and how you put yourself on the track to get promoted quicker than everyone else. In my very first job, when I was 22 and 23, I got a letter asking for information from someone very important in town. Normally, it would take two to three weeks to turn around a letter like that, but I knew who he was. He had no idea who I was, so I did it in one day and sent it to him very, very quickly. He was shocked and responded very noticeably. He told my boss about it, and I learned a lesson: people who respond faster than expected get promoted very quickly.
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