A core component of what made Federer so great for so long: the importance he placed on rest, work-life balance, and adjustments to enhance his sustainability when it came to tennis:

• “Even when I was at my best, it was important  to me to have a rewarding life full of travel, culture, friendships, and family. These are the reasons that I never burned out.“
• Federer's fitness coach: tough consistent work was necessary, but so was rest and escape. Dedication and moderation. Fresh legs were vital, feeling fresh in the head was vital. Rest and recovery weren’t a break from training, they’re a central part of the mechanics that makes training work
• He likes to mix it up, keep himself from not getting bored. “I hadn’t been around somebody that had as much flexibility in their approach that Federer does. At Wimbledon, he’d stay in different houses. He doesn’t always need to practice in the same place, or javelin one favorite meal. Federer changed coaches even as a winner multiple times. This was a pattern throughout  his career. Federer said he felt they had fallen into a routine. This was a key element in Federer’s career longevity. Too much routine can kill the joy. Too much focus can grind you down. (Of the 128 men who played singles at the 1999 French open, he was the last one still playing on tour). RF: “I never fell out of love with the sport. Never”

Federer won 80% of the matches he played, but only 54% of the points - even the best players lose almost as much as they win 

• A former coach: "the gap between the best tennis player in the world and number 4 is massive. The 200th best player in the world is closer to number 4, than number 4 is to number 3."
• Federer, like Djokovic, believed that stagnation is regression. Maintaining the same level was actually losing ground
• Built a team around him that held him to high standards. “You’re gonna doubt yourself enough. You can’t have other people around you doubting you. You have to run away from your naysayers.” Federer literally switches his dentist because he didn’t want to hear any negativity
• Became great student of prior players. This is somebody who made it to Wimbledon semis in 1968. And this is somebody who won doubles in 1954

On resilience: “when people reach out for career advice  deliver the words that guided my own career: 'Suck it up…' My advice to people during difficult times is just do your job and show they were wrong and act like you’re unperturbed by it even though you are perturbed by it." Examples of slights and challenges Blankfein had to deal with in his 25 years at Goldman before becoming CEO:

• Rejected by Goldman; joined separate company that had just been acquired by Goldman
• In his first few years: “Was at the bottom of the food chain in many ways (acquisition not Goldman, commodities not equities or fixed income, salesmen not trader). Not part of most meetings where real info was shared, meant didn’t have much to add. Often I didn’t have anything to do and was told to hold a phone to my ear to look busy. 100 of 300 laid off as business wasn’t growing, was told they were thinking about firing him but didn’t.”
• A colleague nicknamed him “overhead”
• Struggled to get another colleague to return his calls, needed to go to his boss eventually to help get his calls returned - had to deal with multiple such “stiff arms”
• One boss only gave him one complement ever:“well, that’s not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard”
• In his first major title bump, he was made head of a team then the offer was rescinded a few weeks later after some members of the team bristled at it. 
• When added to major firm committee, was done so at first in unprecedented approach as listener only, and invited to only every other meeting. 
  
• Was required to briefly move countries for work when he and his family would have preferred to stay. 
• Received negative 360 feedback from his colleagues in many performance reviews 

Advice on Career Navigation & Finance

• Stay put [at one company] rather than starting fresh somewhere where the people above you won’t have loyalty to you and those below you will resent you. 
• in moments of org chart ambiguity, try simply acting like you’re in charge. If people listen, fine. If they don’t, just shrug and move on. People usually respond to demonstrations of leadership more than to titles.
• Risk management matters more than prediction. You are not in the forecasting business, you are in the contingency planning business
• The best traders are not right more than they are wrong. They correct and adjust more quickly than others

Managing Goldman during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis

• No one alive on Wall Street had ever experienced anything as calamitous and dramatic as the global financial crisis of 2008. Almost 2 decades later, we are living in  the world that the crisis made: an era of intense polarization, distrust of institutions and authority, rising inequality, class conflict, populous movements, and authoritarian government
• Core problem many banks had done: borrowed too much (leverage 33:1), borrowed too short term (relying heavily on repo loans), and invested too much of what it borrowed into speculative mortgage securities (that were now ~illiquid untouchable toxic assets).
• On managing during a crisis: “I’m like a flight attendant during turbulence - smile like you’re enjoying yourself. If you look afraid, the passengers will freak out”
• Should you find yourself faced with monumental judgments at a critical time, you might wish you were somewhere else, and someone better suited was in your place. Well guess what? they’re not coming, but you are there. And who knows if someone else would be better anyway
• someone from his team said they didn’t think they could do this anymore during the financial crisis. “For goodness sakes, you’re getting out of Mercedes to go to the ny fed, you’re not getting out of a Higgins boat in Omaha beach, get a grip.”
• I told people that their reputations for the rest of their careers would be established by how they handled this moment. And not just your reputation with others, your reputation with yourself. Your own sense of confidence will come from how you perform under the kind of pressure we’re facing. When you look back at your career, you’re going to think most about what kind of difference you made in challenging times like those were in now, not the good times.
• "A crisis is the precondition for a fantastic display of resilience and character. Congratulations." 

Miscellaneous 

• Do what you have a passion for (left tax law after 4 years practicing; his wife cried and his parents questioned the move). “Some colleagues in tax, dreaded getting monthly new packets of tax rulings; others waited eagerly for it…was looking at a life that would be comfortable, boring, and to me not that meaningful... I just thought “I can’t aspire to this, it looks deadly”.
• to this day, it’s hard to remember where I’ve been cause I saw hotels offices and taxis which looked more or less the same everywhere we went
• Public speaking: “When you’re swimming, it doesn’t matter whether the water is 6 feet or 600. It shouldn’t matter if you’re speaking to 6, 60, or 600. It’s the same stroke”
• Some people mistake stubbornness for character
• From public housing in Brooklyn attending public school that were failed to making it to the top of perhaps the most prestigious firm in finance. Shared a bedroom with his sister then his grandma. “As Gd is my witness, I will never share a bedroom again, unless it’s with someone I want to share a bedroom with. Escaping the neighborhood was my primary objective in life”
•  

Another pretty incredible robotics video (last 20 seconds is particularly impressive!)

Gonna start using 'ultrathink' a lot!

Facebook's first Director of Product Engineering and prior CTO of Dropbox on his lifetime craft of coding changing rapidly 

2 weeks vs 37 years 

Why download an app when you can soon conjure one up tailor fit for you (per legendary engineer Andrej Karpathy)

AI was able to make a very realistic fight between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise…The effect AI will have on film and TV is titanic  

AI is expensive 

Yes, Aditya Agarwal's post rings very true to me. While I certainly enjoy the break neck pace with which I am able to get things done with Claude, it is strange to think the hours I spent learning specific technologies like React may no longer be as useful as they were a short year ago?

I imagine chess champions felt this throughout the 1990s as computers started to defeat them.

Norway is crazy good at winter sports 

Connor Hellebuyck saved 41 of 42 shots to lead the USA hockey team to its first gold medal since 1980 - the road to the gold was filled with resilience at every level, from high school to college to professional.