Top 15 George Mack Quotes

I have a theory that everyone consumed a piece of media between 9-13 years old that is the foundation of their entire worldview. Everything they learnt since was stacked on top of this. Asking this is one of my favourite ways to get to know someone.

Underappreciated advice: Get friends who are significantly older than you. There's no mimetic competition. Just decades of wisdom they love to share. This was normal for most of your ancestors.

Rule of thumb for spotting upcoming trends: If it’s a talking point on Reddit, you’re probably early. If it’s a talking point on LinkedIn, you’re definitely late.

A good rule of thumb is to assume you’re always neglecting non-linear games. Think 10x more about these things than your minds default response: What city you live in, mattress, hiring a personal trainer, literally any form of hiring, dating app profile, how you introduce yourself, salary negotiations, how close you live to friends, what you want in a partner. You have to fight Parkinson’s law because you could do these tasks in minutes, which is why most people spend mere minutes on 1000x giga-decisions.

The easiest way I’ve found to increase my agency is to create two characters in my head:

Person A - Low agency self
Person B - High agency self

Ask: What would person A do? And what would person B do?

Ironically, Person A never asks this question. He acts on autopilot.

Useful rule of thumb for solving problems: Assume the problem is a side problem. The main problem is how you're viewing the problem. If you solve the main problem, the solution for the side problem often reveals itself.

If you compliment someone behind their back, the listener respects your loyalty. If you gossip about someone behind their back, the listener starts wondering if you'll do the same once their back is turned.

The strangest paradox I've seen in highly creative people is how uncreative their creative process is. Simply saying: "I will sit down and come up with twenty bad ideas every day this year" often beats any fancy note-taking system or binging LSD waiting for ideas to happen.

I've noticed a direct negative correlation between aliveness and envy. If someone works on things that make them feel alive behind their eyes, the envy towards other people melts and turns into joy.

The easiest way to increase my bias to action is to say to myself: “I’m not thinking small enough.” If you’re delaying eating an elephant, think of the smallest bite. If the elephant is too big, try an organ, if too big, try an individual cell, if too big, try an atom, if too big, try a proton, if too big, try a quark. You start with a few quarks on your plate, the 3 tiniest steps imaginable, and before you know it, you’ve got an elephant shaped stomach.

General worrying will give you rumination. Specific worrying will give you next steps.

Lesson from video games: The most addictive video games in the world avoid overwhelm (this is too difficult) and underwhelm (this is too boring). When designing anything in your life, optimise for whelm. If too much whelm, break into easier chunks. If too little whelm, move faster and harder.

3-factor authenticator for decisions: 1). Luck razor - What do I think will produce the most luck in the future 2). Story razor - What do I think will make for the best story 5 years from now? 3). Alive razor - What makes me feel the most alive behind the eyes? If all 3, go.

Good rule of thumb for creating content: Don't optimise for views. Optimise for memory. 100 people remembering your work 1 year later > 1 million views today that are forgotten tomorrow. You don't want an audience that has dementia.

The best writing advice I’ve found is to read your writing on Kindle. When I read my work in Google docs, I think I’m a genius and I need to say more. When I read my work on Kindle, I think I’m an idiot and need to say less.