#22 10 Valuable Things I've Learned This Year

Siim Land (0:00)

Another year has ended, another one has started, another opportunity to grow and evolve as a person. 2017 was quite hectic.

Oh! I got a lot of things done, got my degree, grew this YouTube channel, started this podcast, and I made many other revelations about life in general.

SPEAKER_2 (0:21)

Maximum effort.

Siim Land (0:22)

So, this video is about the lessons I've learned, the life lessons I learned in 2017 Actually, I learned these lessons over the course of previous years already, but it's still a great idea to remind yourself these. And I think like these lessons, they became more embedded into my mind this year in particular. At my signal, unleash hell. So, let's begin with the first and the most fundamental idea I want you to adopt as your life's philosophy. I think it should be the core belief of every human being. The first lesson, I know nothing.

It's the Socratic paradox.

I know one thing and that is that I know nothing. What it basically means is that you should always stay humble and remain a lifelong learner. You can never be 100% sure of anything. You can never be sure that you're right. You can never say that you know it all.

SPEAKER_3 (1:19)

I know how to do it. Come on, don't bullshit me.

Siim Land (1:21)

There's always gonna be someone who's smarter than you, who's better looking than you, who's richer, who's stronger, and who has a bigger ego. So it doesn't matter. You have to maintain the beginner's mind until the very end.

And what's more, if you think that you're right in some way, then you're immediately leaving yourself vulnerable to failure. If you have the arrogance to think that you've reached enough mastery or knowledge about something, then that's the moment you immediately begin to make mistakes. You start to miss your own shortcomings and you fall victim to your own cognitive biases. I think like you should always feel like a small imposter to feel that you don't deserve to be where you're at.

SPEAKER_2 (2:03)

What an idiot!

Siim Land (2:05)

Because you cannot ever be sure that you do deserve it or that you're correct about something. You definitely want to have strong beliefs and convictions, but at the same time, you never want to become too attached to them to simply start believing something so much that you block out all other criticism.

SPEAKER_2 (2:26)

Good!

Siim Land (2:27)

More for me and you! In fact, there is no such thing as being correct. Whether or not something's good or bad depends on the context and the overall situation. Which brings me to the second lesson that I learned. Avoid all absolutes.

Never say never. Never say that you're going to be doing something for the rest of your life. Never think that things will remain the same as they are right now. Never make definite claims about anything. Absolute statements also leave you vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of life.

You as a person change, as does the world around you. They can also make you less congruent and guide you away from your true purpose. Instead, you have to be like water, like Bruce Lee.

SPEAKER_2 (3:11)

I said empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water.

Siim Land (3:18)

Which brings me to the third lesson that I learned. The greatest strength is vulnerability. I'm gonna use the idea of anti-fragility to explain it. Fragile things break under pressure. Resilient things resist and stay the same.

Anti-fragile things adapt and get better. Like in the example of being like water, you have to constantly adapt to the changing circumstances. Now water can flow or it can crash. This requires you to be vulnerable and open about your weaknesses. Fragility is embedded into anti-fragility. You have to first get weaker before you can get stronger.

The reason you build muscle is that you're tearing them down at first before you can grow.

Learning something new requires you to first admit that you know nothing. When it comes to relationships, then the same principle applies.

You have to be vulnerable first before others could trust you and be vulnerable themselves. When you're trying to grow as a person, then you have to be honest about yourself and your behavior. Which brings me to the fourth lesson that I learned. Double down on extreme ownership. If you don't know, then extreme ownership is Jaco Willings and Leif Babin's idea of taking responsibility for everything in your world.

SPEAKER_2 (4:35)

Take ownership of everything in your world, the good and the bad.

Siim Land (4:40)

Before 2017, I had already got my health in check, good habits, my financial situation was quite fine and I was following my purpose. But the more and more I started to use this kind of philosophy of taking extreme ownership, then the more I realized that there are so many more things to take responsibility for.