This I Believe
The short version.
By Matthew Laffer
May 27, 2024
This is *some* of what I believe, in short. See the long version for exposition.
Get out of the way and be who you are in truth.
Constraints breed creativity.
Rage against using the same brochure the world is thumbing through for their desires.
Social proof is a reliable inverse indicator.
Walking alone is superior to walking with a crowd going in the wrong direction.
“Where are you?” This is the work.
Where is your real self? How much truth are you living?
If it is done passively, you will not have the experience that you are intending.
The real 10x.
Courage is a currency that comes back to you tenfold.
To the degree that you desire it and commit to it, you will receive it.
People gain a mystical strength and resolve when they make a commitment. When there’s a desire to do the work even the challenges begin to assist us in the work.
At any given moment we possess the power to start over again.
What would happen if you just begin again, with everything that you know?
“Up” has no end.
Seeing the upside in events is an underrated skill.
A doubter’s belief is your upside.
You know what’s sexy? A rich inner life.
What would it mean for you to feel internally successful?
Good vibrations.
Raising your vibrational rate is the life hack. It’s not a life hack, but *the* life hack.
Want to live a joyful life? Find comfort in paradox.
Wisdom excels folly.
The fool who persists in their folly becomes wise. Through laughter the world endures.
Restriction is really expansion.
By giving it time, you are getting time. Resisting reaction makes the picture clearer and helps you to connect the dots.
Effect is the cause.
If a cause cannot exist without an effect, and an effect cannot exist without a cause, then the effect is also the cause of the cause. Effect is the cause, and cause is the effect.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
We think the goal is the fulfillment.
But what if the goal is the process, and the process is the fulfillment?
Yeah, new all-time highs are cool.
But what if you approached it “new all the time?”
In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth.
But what if the heavens and the earth are contained *in* G-d, and not the other way around?
Run after extraordinary acts of kindness.
Be the well.
When you are a well you are nourished and in nourishment of others.
Where do you stop? That’s how unstoppable you are.
Check yo’ self for how you love, care, and share with others. Check where you stop because that’s how unstoppable you are.
Circuitry
You have to give to get. You have to love to be loved.
Ask not if it’s logical or possible? Ask only if it’s necessary.
When you love it, play the long game.
Step-by-step walk the thousand-mile road and avoid the crowds.
Sometimes, the only way to win is not to not play the game.
If the world seems imbalanced, find your own balance. That’s the best way to support the world.
A connection to oneself is the greatest gift a person can have.
P.S. All of your intuitions are true.
Real G’s move in silence.
Rumi vs. chatGPT: HAHAHA
There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.
The only way to truly listen is to remove everything you know while you are listening.
Don’t ask people how they are doing, ask them how they are sleeping. You’ll learn a lot more.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Linger around people at ease and who feel they have all the time in the world.
The best way to win a fight is to not have one.
Peace and war.
A person can be at peace with themselves or at war with themselves.
Develop a way of defining when not to scrap.
If you know yourself and you know the enemy, have no fear. If you know yourself but not the enemy, fear is an appropriate response. If you know neither yourself nor the enemy, run.
“Just do it” may work in sports, but it misses the mark in business and battle.
It is better to use two swords rather than one when you are fighting a crowd, and especially if you want to take a prisoner.
Can you make money in philosophy? Yes, if you’ve got the right one.
This *is* investment advice.
Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life; it will improve the lives of all those around you.
When the time comes to buy (and sell), you won’t want to.
The big money you make in a bull market is defined by the actions you take in a bear market.
The hidden cost of financial decisions.
Show me a company where the finance team requires approval from the creative team and I’m all in!
By accepting the illusion as your reality, you make it real. Real limiting.
Two places at the same time.
Being able to believe in your perfection while you are imperfect gives you the strength to believe in other people’s perfection while they are imperfect.
The rock and the mountain.
When you hold a part of the essence, you hold all of it.
Mind over matter.
Consciousness is everything.
Is this for real? Like, for real for real?
The real pre and post money valuation.
The real value of a person lies not in their bank account, but in their consciousness and their contribution to others.
The real KPIs are the friends we make along the way.
We think relationships are vehicles to get work done. What if we have it backwards?
Be a silly goose sometimes.
Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Matthew Laffer is a 3x entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO at Goalspriing.
