The Avatar appears to be human and we are misled into thinking of him in these terms but the Avatar himself warns us against this error.
What’s working, and how can we do more of it?
The most basic way to get someone's attention is this: Break a pattern.
The first problem of communication is getting people's attention.
Anger prepares us to fight and fear prepares us to flee.
Lots of us have expertise in particular areas. Becoming an expert in something means that we become more and more fascinated by nuance and complexity. That's when the Curse of Knowledge kicks in, and we start to forget what it's like not to know what we know.
Success emerges from the quality of the decisions we make and the quantity of luck we receive. We can't control luck. But we can control the way we make choices.
My grandmother told a story that when they used to leave from Southampton to go into the City, because he had apartment buildings in Queens - I was born in Astoria, Queens - they had apartment buildings in Queens and Manhattan, different businesses, and she wanted to pick blueberries on the side of the road and he wouldn't stop, so my grandma used to throw her purse out the window. She never had less than $4,000 cash, back in the 20s, and he would then stop the car and she would pick blueberries. And, he never had a record.
Partying at a club is very different than when I'm throwing a party at my house. My party's a rage. People rage when they come to my house.
Waiters are like hookers, never around when you want them.
I don't think you need to go looking for the enemy. He's going to look for you.