Josh Waitzkin
American former chess prodigy, martial artist and author of The Art of Learning; eight-time national chess champion, two-time world champion in Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands, and the first Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Marcelo Garcia.
Everything they publish, on ppll ↗
Josh Waitzkin did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.
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Their wordsI think of learning as unobstructed self-expression. So friction is a form of obstruction.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 1st of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsI mean, embracing looking absurd in certain moments is a very interesting hack to what others might not be taking advantage of in the learning process.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 2nd of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsSo I think to answer your question, conceptual learning has been—when you learn a technique, you’re learning one thing, when you’re learning a principle that embodies a technique, you might be learning a thousand things.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 3rd of 8 in this piece
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Our reading
Coming to an art late is a disadvantage but also frees a learner from insiders' assumptions
Their wordsAnd you’re right, I think it’s a disadvantage in a lot of ways that we’re coming in it so late. But it’s also a wonderful advantage because we’re not socialized by any of the assumptions that a lifetime surfer would make.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 4th of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsIt’s very interesting to take our assumptions and examine them, flip them upside down, rip them apart.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 5th of 8 in this piece
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Our reading
The best teacher to imagine is one's own self decades in the future, who knows one most deeply
Their wordsIf my goal is unobstructed self-expression or self-actualization within an art, then the person who’s teaching me should be the person who knows me most deeply. And that’s my person 20 years from now.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 6th of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsWe can also cultivate the ability to look through the frame but also see the frame.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 7th of 8 in this piece
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Our reading
Where accurate feedback is scarce, as in investing, progress depends on creating feedback loops
Their wordsI would argue that a lot of what defines the learning curve of someone in a field like investing where accurate feedback loops are few and far between, it’s how creative you are in manifesting them.
↗The Tim Ferriss Show #412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self (transcript)tim.blog 8th of 8 in this piece
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