This document contains a collection of quotes and learnings that Yoann Lopez reflected on in 2019. Some quotes discuss striving to do great things and preparing the mind for luck, while others discuss examining one's life, limiting growth for its own sake, and the importance of relationships. The quotes provide wisdom on thinking about the whole picture, building new models, admitting vulnerability, and planning for experimentation over rigid planning.

1. Key Learnings 2019
Yoann Lopez

2. • These are quotes from book / articles / podcasts / etc. I
read or listened to in 2019
• Sometimes I forgot the author unfortunately 😞
• My goal is to read them as often as possible in order to
absorb their wisdom
• At one point or another I’ll take each of my key learnings
and reflect upon them by writings notes about them

3. The major objection cited by people against striving to do
great things is the belief it is all a matter of luck. I have
repeatedly cited Pasteur’s remark, “Luck favors the prepared
mind”. It both admits there is an element of luck, and yet
claims to a great extent it is up to you. You prepare yourself to
succeed, or not, as you choose, from moment to moment, by
the way you live your life.
Hamming, Richard R.. Art of Doing Science and Engineering:
Learning to Learn.

4. The unexamined life is not worth living
Socrates

5. Growth for the sake of growth is
the ideology of the cancer cell.
Edward Abbey

6. We are shaped and
fashioned by what we love.
Goethe

7. Never fool yourself, and remember
that you are the easiest person to fool.
- Richard Feynman

8. We are A-to-Z thinkers, fretting about A, obsessing
over Z, yet forgetting all about B through Y.
- Ryan Holliday

9. The process is about doing the right things, right
now. Not worrying about what might happen
later, or the results, or the whole picture.
Ryan Holliday

10. You never change things by fighting the existing
reality. To change something, build a new model
that makes the existing model obsolete.
Richard Buckminster Fuller

11. What a Man wishes, he will also
believe.
Demosthenes

12. We are rich not through the things we own,
but through the relationships that nourish
our soul.
Frederic Laloux

13. Someone once told me that growth
and comfort do not coexist. And I think
it’s a really good thing to remember.
Ginni Rometty

14. The “vulnerability loop”, a shared exchange of
openness, is “the most basic building bloc of
cooperation and trust”:
Person A sends a signal of vulnerability.
Person B detects this signal.
Person B responds by signaling their own vulnerability.
Person A detects this signal.
A norm is established; closeness and trust increase.
Jeff Polzer

15. Créez toujours, au profit du peuple, les instruments
de son bien être, et vous aurez créé les instruments
de sa puissance et de son émancipation.
Jean-Baptiste André Godin

16. To begin you must study the end. You don’t
want to be the first to act, you want to be
the last man standing.
Jose Raul Capablanca

17. If you’re truly user-centric, admit that the most
meaningful life stuff happens beyond the borders of
tiny glowing rectangles. UX folks are brokers and
intermediaries, not rock stars or ninjas. Your job is to
swallow some boredom so people can live better lives.
Ryan Bigge

18. Reject choosing between self-
love and love of others: do both.
Reid Hoffman

19. In complex systems, you can’t actually
plan, so you plan for experimentation.
Mark Eddleston

20. The secret to happiness is
Low expectations.
Barry Schwartz

21. Low standards now beat
high standards later.
Niklas Göke