Tim Urban

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Value of deep work

  “A long post created over a bunch of days allows for me to paint a complete picture of what I think and work through a topic with all the nuance it warrants.”

  Our noteTim reflects on why his usual long-form writing process is superior to quick emotional posts.

• Speed of learning

  “Among his many frustrations with formal classroom learning is the "ridiculously slow download speed" of sitting in a classroom while a teacher explains something, and to this day, most of what he knows he's learned through reading.”

  Our noteTim discusses Elon Musk's view on the inefficiency of traditional classroom learning.

• Perception of death

  “We think of the divide between life and death as a distinct boundary, and we believe that at any given point, a person is either definitively alive or definitively dead.”

  Our noteTim challenges the common assumption that death is an instantaneous and binary event.

• Email list building

  “Give us your email and we'll let you know the next time I do something embarrassing.”

  Our noteTim Urban uses humor and vulnerability to encourage readers to subscribe to his newsletter.

• The Hardest Phase

  “Outlining/planning, on the other hand, is both the hardest and most important part of the process. And it's the one part where I can sit there determined to make progress, and make none.”

  Our noteTim identifies outlining as the most critical yet stagnant part of his workflow.

• Living in pixels

  “Jack's error is brushing off his mundane Wednesday and focusing entirely on the big picture, when in fact the mundane Wednesday is the experience of his actual life”

  Our noteTim explains why focusing only on long-term goals makes us miss our actual life.

• The Pixel Theory

  “Jack doesn't live in the picture's broad strokes, he lives at all times in a single pixel of the image - a single Today.”

  Our noteTim describes how our daily reality is just one small pixel of a larger life story.

• Balance in agency

  “The question isn't whether life is better lived as an ocean or a ball of clay. It's about when is the right, and the wrong time for each one.”

  Our noteTim discusses the importance of knowing when to be proactive and when to go with the flow.

• Human self-centeredness

  “Being the celebrity species, humans rarely give a second thought to other species, even those in their own family.”

  Our noteTim Urban explains why humans ignore other primates despite being closely related.

• Unregulated evolution

  “For male orangutans, the bigger the face, the better chance of getting laid - and now the male orangutan population has out-faced each other into total absurdity.”

  Our noteTim Urban describes how extreme competition for a single trait can lead to absurd results.

• Sunk cost trap

  “I'm really, really bad with the sunk cost fallacy. I had already put so much time and thought in, and I couldn't handle all of it being for nothing.”

  Our noteTim reflects on why he couldn't abandon a project that was becoming too large.

• Project timeline planning

  “If I believed I was working on a six-year project, I'd have worked the project into my normal life.”

  Our noteTim discusses how underestimating a project's duration prevents a healthy work-life balance.

• The Procrastination Habit

  “The procrastinator is in the bad habit, bordering on addiction, of letting the monkey win. He continues to have the intention to control the monkey, but he puts forth a hapless effort, using the same proven-not-to-work methods he's used for years”

  Our noteTim explains why procrastinators fail to change despite their intentions.

• The Brick Analogy

  “A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, unglorious tasks looks like from far away. No one "builds a house." They lay one brick again and again and again and the end result is a house.”

  Our noteTim breaks down large achievements into small, manageable units of work.

• Breaking down goals

  “Often, the key to succeeding at something big is to break it into its tiniest pieces and focus on how to succeed at just one piece.”

  Our noteTim explains how to approach massive life goals or long-term commitments like marriage.

• The Traffic Test

  “The Traffic Test is passed when I'm finishing up a hangout with someone and one of us is driving the other back home or back to their car, and I find myself rooting for traffic.”

  Our noteTim defines a simple metric for determining if a person is truly enjoyable to be around.

• Control and surveillance

  “The government's biggest fear with visitors is that they sneak off at some point and take photos of something they're not supposed to see, so this island location (with guards surrounding the hotel) is perfect.”

  Our noteTim explains why North Korea forces all tourists to stay in a specific hotel on an island.

• Focus on magnitude

  “when you start talking about really big numbers, what becomes relevant is the number of digits, not the digits themselves”

  Our noteTim discusses why orders of magnitude are more useful than exact digits for large numbers.

• Innovation in energy

  “To conquer #2, we'll need to pour money and innovation into sustainable energy production the same way we've poured ourselves into coming up with creative new ways to extract fossil fuels.”

  Our noteTim discusses the necessity of investing in clean energy production to achieve a sustainable future.

• Scalable learning

  “It's a reminder of how groundbreaking the invention of the mass-produced book was. Until then, the only way to learn something was through having a human explain it to you in person.”

  Our noteTim reflects on the historical shift from oral tradition to self-directed reading.

• Responsible leadership

  “he resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, and when he took the office of President, he made sure not to act like a king or dictator”

  Our noteTim describes George Washington's decision to limit his own power and set a precedent.

• Defining by negation

  “By declaring myself an atheist and calling it a day, I was basing my whole spiritual identity on what I wasn't”

  Our noteTim reflects on the limitation of defining one's identity solely by what they reject.

• Analyzing universal behavior

  “When something is both odd and universal, there's gotta be something deeper going on.”

  Our noteTim explains why he is investigating the psychology behind sports fandom.

• Fascination with greatness

  “Humans have a fascination with freakish greatness, no matter what the skill is.”

  Our noteTim discusses why people enjoy watching elite athletes perform.

• Cultural humility

  “Being an outsider in Japan is bizarre. Japan is such a prominent concept in history, in global economics, in technology, and in the culinary world, it's easy to forget that you have no idea about Japanese culture.”

  Our noteTim discusses the realization that global prominence does not equal cultural understanding.

• Adapting to reality

  “I arrived in Tokyo, realized that I was standing on another planet far in the future, and understood that the utopian Japanese countryside would have to wait for another trip”

  Our noteTim explains why he changed his travel plans upon seeing the scale of Tokyo.

• Creative process duration

  “Stephen creates what he calls "Day to Night" photographs by going to a beautiful or interesting place and planting himself in one spot for around 24 hours.”

  Our noteTim Urban describes the intense physical commitment required for Stephen Wilkes' photography project.

• Effort vs viral content

  “Behind the browser they're reading this article on is a Word doc of the funny, insightful article they spent the last month carefully working on”

  Our noteTim reflects on aspiring writers who work hard while low-effort content gets all the attention.

• Topic selection criteria

  “I decided as I researched that this was A) a supremely important topic that will only become more important in the years to come, and B) something most people don't know nearly enough about.”

  Our noteTim explains why he spent ten weeks researching and writing about SpaceX and Mars.

• Underestimating research time

  “Anyway, it's now Friday and what was supposed to be the fourth post is still in the research phase, because there was a lot more to learn about the topic than I anticipated.”

  Our noteHe explains why a planned post was delayed due to the complexity of the research.