My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Shift vs Support Response Pattern
Two types of conversational responses: shift responses redirect attention to yourself, while support responses help the other person elaborate and feel heard.
Decision Rule
Use support responses to build connection and make others feel interesting. Use shift responses sparingly and only after thoroughly exploring their topic.
How It Works
Support responses create psychological safety and encourage deeper sharing. Shift responses, while natural, can make people feel unheard and less important.
Failure Modes
Overusing shift responses makes you seem self-centered and uninterested
Pure support responses might make you seem passive or boring
Fake curiosity is transparent and backfires
Example Decision
“When someone says 'I'm training for a marathon,' shift response: 'I ran a 5K once.' Support response: 'What got you into long-distance running?'”
Related Knowledge
Dating is a skill that can be learned and improved systematically
Most dating failure comes from lack of knowledge and practice, not fundamental unchangeable factors
Most people try on the wrong things in dating
Basic effort applied to the right areas beats sophisticated effort applied to wrong areas
The Secretary Problem for Dating
A mathematical framework from optimal stopping theory that determines when to stop searching and commit to a dating partner, based on sampling 37% of your dating pool to establish a benchmark.
Date Like a Scientist
A systematic approach to dating that involves running experiments with different types of partners to discover who actually makes you happy long-term, rather than relying on preconceived notions of your 'type'.
F*ck the Spark Philosophy
A counter-intuitive approach to dating that rejects the requirement for immediate chemistry or 'sparks' and instead focuses on slow-burn connections that develop over time through compatibility and shared experiences.
Create a dating app profile that stands out from 90% of other profiles
Significantly more matches and meaningful conversations, dates with people you're actually compatible with