Skip to content
By using Twitter’s services you agree to our Cookies Use. We and our partners operate globally and use cookies, including for analytics, personalisation, and ads.
  • Home Home Home, current page.
  • About

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Language: English
    • Bahasa Indonesia
    • Bahasa Melayu
    • Català
    • Čeština
    • Dansk
    • Deutsch
    • English UK
    • Español
    • Filipino
    • Français
    • Hrvatski
    • Italiano
    • Magyar
    • Nederlands
    • Norsk
    • Polski
    • Português
    • Română
    • Slovenčina
    • Suomi
    • Svenska
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Türkçe
    • Ελληνικά
    • Български език
    • Русский
    • Српски
    • Українська мова
    • עִבְרִית
    • العربية
    • فارسی
    • मराठी
    • हिन्दी
    • বাংলা
    • ગુજરાતી
    • தமிழ்
    • ಕನ್ನಡ
    • ภาษาไทย
    • 한국어
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文
  • Have an account? Log in
    Have an account?
    · Forgot password?

    New to Twitter?
    Sign up
vgr's profile
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
@vgr

Tweets

Venkatesh Rao

@vgr

Conversational account. For work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian. IKEA builder.

Los Angeles, CA
venkateshrao.com
Joined August 2007

Tweets

  • © 2020 Twitter
  • About
  • Help Center
  • Terms
  • Privacy policy
  • Imprint
  • Cookies
  • Ads info
Dismiss
Previous
Next

Go to a person's profile

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @

Promote this Tweet

Block

  • Tweet with a location

    You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

    Your lists

    Create a new list


    Under 100 characters, optional

    Privacy

    Copy link to Tweet

    Embed this Tweet

    Embed this Video

    Add this Tweet to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Add this video to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Hmm, there was a problem reaching the server.

    By embedding Twitter content in your website or app, you are agreeing to the Twitter Developer Agreement and Developer Policy.

    Preview

    Why you're seeing this ad

    Log in to Twitter

    · Forgot password?
    Don't have an account? Sign up »

    Sign up for Twitter

    Not on Twitter? Sign up, tune into the things you care about, and get updates as they happen.

    Sign up
    Have an account? Log in »

    Two-way (sending and receiving) short codes:

    Country Code For customers of
    United States 40404 (any)
    Canada 21212 (any)
    United Kingdom 86444 Vodafone, Orange, 3, O2
    Brazil 40404 Nextel, TIM
    Haiti 40404 Digicel, Voila
    Ireland 51210 Vodafone, O2
    India 53000 Bharti Airtel, Videocon, Reliance
    Indonesia 89887 AXIS, 3, Telkomsel, Indosat, XL Axiata
    Italy 4880804 Wind
    3424486444 Vodafone
    » See SMS short codes for other countries

    Confirmation

     

    Welcome home!

    This timeline is where you’ll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

    Tweets not working for you?

    Hover over the profile pic and click the Following button to unfollow any account.

    Say a lot with a little

    When you see a Tweet you love, tap the heart — it lets the person who wrote it know you shared the love.

    Spread the word

    The fastest way to share someone else’s Tweet with your followers is with a Retweet. Tap the icon to send it instantly.

    Join the conversation

    Add your thoughts about any Tweet with a Reply. Find a topic you’re passionate about, and jump right in.

    Learn the latest

    Get instant insight into what people are talking about now.

    Get more of what you love

    Follow more accounts to get instant updates about topics you care about.

    Find what's happening

    See the latest conversations about any topic instantly.

    Never miss a Moment

    Catch up instantly on the best stories happening as they unfold.

    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Most of the time ambiguity in goal-setting is not about wanting the wrong thing or being confused about means-ends matches. It is about wanting the thing wrong. You want to want the thing-itself. The naked, nominal, stated goal, not psychologically adjacent bullshit.

      3 replies 12 retweets 135 likes
      Show this thread
    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Half of experience is recognizing when you want the thing versus when you want the thing only because you unconsciously want something else that’s a potential side effect you don’t want to cop to.

      2 replies 9 retweets 146 likes
      Show this thread
    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      The inefficiency of unacknowledged goals cannot be six-sigmaed away. If you’re working out to look good or for endorphin rush l, but pretending to work out for strength/health (even to yourself) the dissonance will make you ineffective at both.https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1164362068205531137?s=21 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      🤔 In my Seattle gym there were 3 power racks and often all in use but dumbbell area generally open. In LA it’s the reverse. Lots of people doing dumbells, but 2 power racks usually open. The LA people all have sculpted upper bodies too. Hollywood aesthetic workout?
      Show this thread
      2 replies 4 retweets 80 likes
      Show this thread
    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      There’s something like “starter” motivation though. Many entrepreneurs start out with chip-on-shoulder motives, like wanting to prove their worth to some bully who punched them at age 8. But the good ones eventually graduate to wanting the actual thing they’re building.

      1 reply 3 retweets 104 likes
      Show this thread
    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Motivation is a skill. Wanting things is not something you can just “do” beyond lollipop level at age 3. You have to learn to zoom in on the thing that vaguely attracts you, with enough precision that the motivational feedback loop kicks in. Like a starter motor.

      8 replies 67 retweets 537 likes
      Show this thread
    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      This means iterating through various configurations of means and ends, laying on your couch, until the energy surge kicks in and gets you off the couch knowing precisely what to do. Energy must match precision. Otherwise you’re still confused.

      3 replies 5 retweets 122 likes
      Show this thread
    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      If you feel like you’re going to bust through lack of clarity about what you actually want with raw force, you’re in for disappointment. Motivational ambiguity and uncertainty is not the same as environmental uncertainty and ambiguity. It doesn’t yield to brute force.

      1 reply 6 retweets 100 likes
      Show this thread
    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      The 20s are easy. Almost everything people think they want turns out to be indirectly about wanting sex or a partner (or dealing with inability to get them). Once you sort out your feelings about that, motivation around other things gets much simpler. Things get messy at age 30.

      2 replies 6 retweets 100 likes
      Show this thread
    9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Kids know how to actually want things until they turn into teens. Then it gets so hard, they start failing badly at it, attribute it to “angst” and decide they’ll never be able to want things with the clarity of 8-year-olds again. Not true. Just gotta learn adult version.

      3 replies 7 retweets 99 likes
      Show this thread
    10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      A lot of goal-selection precision is just emotional range in disguise. The more feelings you’ve felt, and the wider the range of intensities, the more the right goals will click unmistakably in any situation. Gen Z seems to be rediscovering Gendlin/focusing for training this.

      1 reply 7 retweets 87 likes
      Show this thread
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Verbal precision is equally important for complex goals though. Goal-motivation-fit is the right word or phrase locking into the right precise emotion about a thing.

      4:03 PM - 4 Jul 2020
      • 3 Retweets
      • 57 Likes
      • ZIA Julian Amir H. Hajizamani Ray Doraisamy *** Sanjay Krishna Kaushik Murali 9 Oliver
      1 reply 3 retweets 57 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          For simpler, more somatic goals, something like the description of archery in Herrigel’s Zen and the art of archery is a good guide. Or the inner game of tennis. But for something like a large corporate team project, words become necessary.

          1 reply 1 retweet 45 likes
          Show this thread
        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Hollywood has a good model for this, in terms of the high concept of movie pitches.

          1 reply 1 retweet 22 likes
          Show this thread
        4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          A bad failure mode is when means are clearer than ends. You half-ass learning to want “get a good job” because the means, “do well in college” doesn’t require that clarity of purpose. Then you get the job and realize you don’t want it because you never interrogated the goal.

          3 replies 3 retweets 88 likes
          Show this thread
        5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Incompletion typo in tweet 2. Should read “because under or overshooting what you seriously want kills motivation”

          1 reply 1 retweet 29 likes
          Show this thread
        6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          A big part of locking on to motivationally sustainable goals is learning to quit unsustainable ones. This means taking “not feeling it” feeling seriously. It’s almost always a necessary and sufficient reason to quit. Or phone it in at bare minimum if you can’t quit practically.

          2 replies 9 retweets 129 likes
          Show this thread
        7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Emotional fail fast heuristic. Sometimes this is misleading, but usually there’s something off internally. And often externally as well (missing information, felt but unarticulated risk, etc) Move fast and break things. Feel fast and break goals. Crash early, crash often.

          2 replies 5 retweets 102 likes
          Show this thread
        8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jul 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Sometimes you can name the reason for quitting (eg “afraid”) and that itself can supply a new motivation for doing it (“build courage”). But then you’ll do it differently. Like running at the high risk part instead of navigating around it wondering why you’re doing it at all.

          14 replies 4 retweets 69 likes
          Show this thread
        9. End of conversation

      Loading seems to be taking a while.

      Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.

        Promoted Tweet

        false

        • © 2020 Twitter
        • About
        • Help Center
        • Terms
        • Privacy policy
        • Imprint
        • Cookies
        • Ads info