In 1950, the average GPA at Harvard was estimated at 2.6 out of 4. By 2003, it had risen to 3.4. Today, it stands at 3.8.

The more elite the college, the more lenient the standards. At Yale, for example, 80% of grades awarded in 2023 were As or A minuses. But the problem is also prevalent at less selective colleges. Across all four-year colleges in the United States, the most commonly awarded grade is now an A.

Here

To detect your own shortcomings, it can be helpful to witness them in others. You start with judgment: Look at that kid next to me on a plane switching between iPad games every three minutes; he can’t even finish a single level in a maximally stimulating artificial world before jumping to something new. You feel better than. You are right to despise this behavior. And then. And then. Wait a second… Don’t I do something like that too? Maybe not as egregious, but categorically similar. I start a podcast and jump to a different one. Or start in a podcast and decide to go with music instead. I’m in such a rush to pierce the silence that I click buttons before thinking.

1. Let’s start pausing before acting
2. Let’s force ourselves to stick with our decisions
3. Doing either #1 or #2 habitualizes both items

Boy how nice it is to be in an establishment where no music is being played. Just the sounds of humanity.

1. Respect uncertainty
   • Nobody knows instead of a personal statement like I don’t know
   • Everything is there to be found out
2. Notice three new things
   • Multiple answers to any question
   • New stuff in your surroundings
3. When learning, avoid absolutes. Learn conditionally
   • Not is, could be, would be, possibly, it would seem that, might be
   • This shifts opens you to possibilities unavailable in absolutes

Tragedy or inconvenience?

Most stress is about things that never occur.

I’m capable of a better outcome.
I’m not capable of a better effort.

My most hated villain ever.

Nice quote: “We’re only as sick as our secrets.”

Benefit of the doubt is an important concept to learn as a kid. Reputation, perhaps more than facts, drives outcomes in applications and justice. For this reason, one should really try to avoiding screwing up in ways that will taint a reputation.

that just as someone could be “not boyfriend material” because he’s not adult enough, someone could be “not hookup material” because he’s too adult, and thus likely to entail certain emotional commitments that are deemed too costly for such a short-term encounter.

Add it to things worth avoiding.

Subtract it from things worth doing.

HERE

is an inheritance.