Tiny Thoughts * Obsess over substance, not status. What endures is what matters. ** The hardest truth about happiness is that it's a choice. Watch how people discuss their problems. They'll spend hours explaining why things are terrible, how unfair life is, and how others need to change. But suggest they might have the power to improve things and they suddenly have countless reasons why that's impossible. Self-pity feels safer than responsibility. *** Persistence isn't just pushing harder—it's having energy that demands new ideas. Think of a founder solving a problem. Someone with just determination keeps trying the same approach. But a truly persistent founder has a restless energy that demands new solutions. When one approach fails, their energy compels them to imagine new ones. This cycle—energy demanding imagination, imagination feeding energy—is rare. Energy without imagination is force. Energy with imagination is persistence.