The meaning behind the Kodokan’s motto—“The Most Efficient Application of Strength,” as Jigoro Kano put it—consists of the following. Assume that a person’s strength is measured in some sort of units. An opponent’s strength is ten, yours is seven. If your opponent pushes you with all his might, you won’t be able remain standing, even if you resist with all your might. You’ll either fall or step back. This is opposing strength with strength. Read more

Pick up a book on a topic you know next to nothing about. Put yourself in rooms where you’re the least knowledgeable person. That uncomfortable feeling, that defensiveness that you feel when your most deeply held assumptions are challenged — what about subjecting yourself to it deliberately? Change your mind. Change your surroundings… An amateur is defensive. The professional finds learning (and even, occasionally, being shown up) to be enjoyable; they like being challenged and humbled, and engage in education as an ongoing and endless process. Read more

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind beautifully written by Yuval Noah Harari is an bold,engaging, and provocating book. Below are excerpts and paragraphs which filled me with a sense of wonder and changed the way I think. Sapiens and Tolerance Tolerance is not a Sapiens trademark. In modern times, a small difference in skin colour, dialect or religion has been enough to prompt one group of Sapiens to set about exterminating another group. Read more

“Here’s the deal, Wade. You’re something called a ‘human being’. That’s a really smart kind of animal. Like very other animal on this planet, we descended from a single-celled organism that lived millions of years ago. This happened by a process called evolution, and you’ll learn more about it later. But trust me, that’s really how we all got here. There’s proof of it everywhere, buried in the rocks. That story you heard? Read more