The David Perell Bot

If you’re starting a business, solve problems other people aren’t solving. Don’t copy. Competition makes marketing expensive. But differentiation is free marketing. -@david_perell

The Steve Jobs Effect: Before Apple, people were expected to read a manual to figure out how things work. But increasingly, people expect design to be so intuitive that you don’t even need a manual. -@david_perell

Teachers complain that students don't listen to them, but rarely ask if they're worth listening to in the first place -@david_perell

Elon Musk personally met with the first 3,000 people that Space X hired to make sure the company was hiring the right people -@david_perell

A collection of well-written articles demonstrates your knowledge better than any resume ever will -@david_perell

You can often cure writer’s block by pretending to text your friends instead of trying to impress your English teacher -@david_perell

One crazy form of self-discovery is when you find yourself listening to a song repeatedly because the lyrics speak to emotions that've been hiding in your subconscious mind -@david_perell

Use your intuition to find the big picture secret. Then, use logic to fill in the details. -@david_perell

Airbnb's product would be 25% better with one new feature: WiFi speed tests -@david_perell

Whenever I write, I am either thinking "this is gonna be the greatest thing ever" or "this is the worst thing I've ever written," and there is nothing in between -@david_perell

I like the motto: “Don’t put-spend your competitors. Out-teach them.” If you have a unique perspective, a solid product, and know how to spread your message on the Internet, you don’t have to spend money on paid marketing. -@david_perell

Humans are such social creatures that it’s hard for us to relax during the daytime, even when we are totally alone, because we feel like the world is moving on without us. That’s why we treasure the stillness of the night. Only then can we slow down and relax. -@david_perell

Note-taking is like time travel. It isn’t just about saving ideas. It’s about having conversations with your past and future self, so you can develop ideas over time. -@david_perell

Audiobooks are hard to listen to because the voice performances are too clean. Real human speech is messy, imperfect, and emotional. But audiobooks are so robotic that we tune out and stop paying attention. -@david_perell

The American Psychological Association once invited William James to give a talk on the first 50 years of psychology research. He simply said: “People by and large become what they think of themselves.” Then, he left. -@david_perell

I’ve started treating Zoom meetings like FaceTime calls, and taking them on walks outside instead of sitting at my desk -@david_perell

Most of my articles are written by going on long walks, jotting notes along the way, and turning them into an outline when I get back on my computer -@david_perell

Kids benefit from building skills that seem like a waste of time in the present, even though they’ll be incredibly valuable in the future. Current example: Video game design -@david_perell

The tools of creativity are always changing, but the creative process is ancient and timeless. So study the process, not the tools. -@david_perell

A psychology class where you learn by reading classic novels instead of textbooks -@david_perell

It’s sad that students learn to hate writing in school because publishing essays online is now one of the best things you can do with your time -@david_perell