1. Asymmetry is subjective and personal - what represents +ev to one person may be a terrible gamble to another --> this is why there is a market and explains why successful investing often means taking contrarian positions.
2. Expected value (probability × magnitude) is crucial in asymmetric decisions - for example, venture investors know that if 90% of startups fail, the 10% that succeed must deliver returns of 1,900%+ to make the portfolio profitable.
3. The concept applies beyond investing to all life decisions - from simple examples like spending seconds locking doors to prevent break-ins, to career choices where "table selection" (choosing the right opportunity space) can create outsized returns by going against conventional wisdom.
h/t ash
https://x.com/mrjasonchoi/status/1915047256530771971?s=12&t=2q9OLMlaobNlHLewOXT4uA
2. Expected value (probability × magnitude) is crucial in asymmetric decisions - for example, venture investors know that if 90% of startups fail, the 10% that succeed must deliver returns of 1,900%+ to make the portfolio profitable.
3. The concept applies beyond investing to all life decisions - from simple examples like spending seconds locking doors to prevent break-ins, to career choices where "table selection" (choosing the right opportunity space) can create outsized returns by going against conventional wisdom.
h/t ash
https://x.com/mrjasonchoi/status/1915047256530771971?s=12&t=2q9OLMlaobNlHLewOXT4uA
X (formerly Twitter)
Jason Choi (@mrjasonchoi) on X
Notes on asymmetry. Trying a new format
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have been preaching asymmetry in life to friends all around
"asymmetry is what upside and downside you personally underwrite" is a good way to put it
regardless, when asymmetric opportunities come in life whether career, life, love, or finances, you MUST seize it
"asymmetry is what upside and downside you personally underwrite" is a good way to put it
regardless, when asymmetric opportunities come in life whether career, life, love, or finances, you MUST seize it
humblespace
https://youtube.com/shorts/2KViA4Z_BW8?si=rbn1irpYm6Whnm37
If you hold a gun and I hold a gun, we can talk about the law.
If you hold a knife and I hold a knife, we can talk about rules.
If you come empty-handed, and I come empty-handed, we can talk about reason.
But if you hold a gun and I only have a knife, then the truth lies in your hand.
If you have a gun and I have nothing, then what you hold in your hands isn’t just a weapon, it’s my life.
The concepts of law, rules, and morality only hold meaning if they are based on equality. The harsh truth of this world is that when money speaks, truth goes silent, and when power speaks, even money takes three steps backwards.
Those who create the rules are often the first to break them for rules are chains for the weak and tools for the strong.
In this world, anything good must be fought for. The masters of the game are fiercely competing for resources, while the weak sit idly waiting to be given a share.
If you hold a knife and I hold a knife, we can talk about rules.
If you come empty-handed, and I come empty-handed, we can talk about reason.
But if you hold a gun and I only have a knife, then the truth lies in your hand.
If you have a gun and I have nothing, then what you hold in your hands isn’t just a weapon, it’s my life.
The concepts of law, rules, and morality only hold meaning if they are based on equality. The harsh truth of this world is that when money speaks, truth goes silent, and when power speaks, even money takes three steps backwards.
Those who create the rules are often the first to break them for rules are chains for the weak and tools for the strong.
In this world, anything good must be fought for. The masters of the game are fiercely competing for resources, while the weak sit idly waiting to be given a share.
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humblespace
https://open.substack.com/pub/assataunfiltered/p/the-cost-of-convenience-we-have-fallen?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
No one is a finished product and we have become accustomed to passive learning, taking in bites of info from advice TikToks just to save them and never go back. Although learning can be passive it also should be intentional, because as more and more processes become more and more linear, our brains will become a redundant mush.
in an increasingly globalised world, so does homogeneity
in so, people have lost their style by trend hopping with a focus on results, disregarding the process
without the process, you can never be truly unique or skilled in your own way
in so, people have lost their style by trend hopping with a focus on results, disregarding the process
without the process, you can never be truly unique or skilled in your own way
It's just like peeling garlic, tedious, it leaves your hands sticky and it's not completely necessary as you could just buy garlic paste. But it's intimate and makes the final product feel so much more like it’s yours.
Ease, speed, pressure and convenience, have all muddied the waters of artistic development. We have chosen short-term validation at the very expensive cost of long-term fulfillment.
You may have something to show for 2025 but what will you have to show for your life, a collection of intangible Instagram posts?
Build a relationship with your craft, one that is undetermined by whether or not anyone sees it, a relationship that is your own and can never be taken away from you.
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what’s your specific knowledge? or in this case, your thing?
https://www.shaanpuri.com/essays/finding-your-thing
https://www.shaanpuri.com/essays/finding-your-thing
A life without the suffering that comes with deliberate struggle is a life of surrender.
Not because suffering is sacred in itself but because it is the only force that keeps the wolves of stagnation at bay.
Comfort is an insidious poison that dulls the edge of the mind, withers the will, and renders the soul lethargic, indifferent to its own decline.
Nietzsche saw this truth with fierce clarity: only those who live dangerously, who throw themselves into the abyss of effort and uncertainty, truly live at all.
To seek the disease of ease is to conspire in one’s own diminishment. To evade hardship is to reject the very crucible that forms something greater than the pitiable creature that merely survives, fattened on security and stripped of fire.
To truly live—rather than merely exist—one must reject the illusion of safety and embrace the uncertainty that defines life. Growth, passion, and fulfillment lie beyond the walls of comfort, in the unpredictable terrain of risk and self-discovery.
When we prioritize security above all else, we sever ourselves from our deepest instincts, reducing life to a mechanical routine devoid of vitality.
The mind, clinging to logic and predictability, suppresses the heart’s natural pull toward adventure. In our obsessive quest for control—rigid plans, insurance policies, the sterile rituals of modern life—we betray life’s inherent dynamism.
To restore our vitality, we must let go of the craving for absolute certainty and dare to enter the unknown, where life’s true energy and renewal await. In the words of Joseph Campbell, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
When we venture beyond the familiar, something stirs within us—a renewed sense of aliveness, a spark of possibility. Fear begins to loosen its grip as we embrace uncertainty, finding in it the thrill of growth and discovery. This willingness to risk comfort for transformation sharpens our minds and strengthens our spirits, turning life from a routine into a living adventure.
To be alive now is to stand on the edge of that adventure, with every breath a step closer to the end—and yet, also a chance to begin. In this fleeting, precious moment, we are faced with a choice: to answer the call, confront the challenges that forge us into something more, or to retreat into safety and live only half a life.
The invitation is clear—to awaken, to become, and to live boldly before the final breath calls us home.
Not because suffering is sacred in itself but because it is the only force that keeps the wolves of stagnation at bay.
Comfort is an insidious poison that dulls the edge of the mind, withers the will, and renders the soul lethargic, indifferent to its own decline.
Nietzsche saw this truth with fierce clarity: only those who live dangerously, who throw themselves into the abyss of effort and uncertainty, truly live at all.
To seek the disease of ease is to conspire in one’s own diminishment. To evade hardship is to reject the very crucible that forms something greater than the pitiable creature that merely survives, fattened on security and stripped of fire.
To truly live—rather than merely exist—one must reject the illusion of safety and embrace the uncertainty that defines life. Growth, passion, and fulfillment lie beyond the walls of comfort, in the unpredictable terrain of risk and self-discovery.
When we prioritize security above all else, we sever ourselves from our deepest instincts, reducing life to a mechanical routine devoid of vitality.
The mind, clinging to logic and predictability, suppresses the heart’s natural pull toward adventure. In our obsessive quest for control—rigid plans, insurance policies, the sterile rituals of modern life—we betray life’s inherent dynamism.
To restore our vitality, we must let go of the craving for absolute certainty and dare to enter the unknown, where life’s true energy and renewal await. In the words of Joseph Campbell, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
When we venture beyond the familiar, something stirs within us—a renewed sense of aliveness, a spark of possibility. Fear begins to loosen its grip as we embrace uncertainty, finding in it the thrill of growth and discovery. This willingness to risk comfort for transformation sharpens our minds and strengthens our spirits, turning life from a routine into a living adventure.
To be alive now is to stand on the edge of that adventure, with every breath a step closer to the end—and yet, also a chance to begin. In this fleeting, precious moment, we are faced with a choice: to answer the call, confront the challenges that forge us into something more, or to retreat into safety and live only half a life.
The invitation is clear—to awaken, to become, and to live boldly before the final breath calls us home.
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