William Liao @williamliao

Taiwanese American, daily blogger of ideas about impactful work in service of others, photographer (ephemera.photography)

William Liao last shared their writing spotting weeds
To be “lost in the weeds” is to be so caught up in minor detail as to completely miss the point.
Imagine two people getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum.
One person spends this opportunity scanning the painting while admiring da Vinci’s creation;...
William's Pantry
🍺 40 Beers
🥟 46 Dumplings
🧇 29 Waffles
🍪 29 Cookies
🍵 49 Teas
🍣 38 Sushis
☕️ 38 Coffees
🍫 41 Chocolate Bars
🍍 36 Pineapples
🥓 36 Bacons
🥚 36 Eggs
🥩 26 Steaks
🍊 45 Tangerines
🍓 25 Strawberries
🥃 28 Whiskeys
Collections

a few things at most

In an investor panel that I recently attended, every panelist emphasized two pieces of advice on succeeding in an endeavor:

Don’t try to do all everything at once: when you have 20 things to do, figure out how to pick 10; from 10 figure out how to pick 1 or...
2022-06-19 02:04:18

you can figure it out (really)

Marie Forleo wrote a great book titled ‘everything is figureoutable’.

I love the title because it captures the punchline of the book perfectly:

However intimidating or confusing something might be, you can figure it out. 

When you can approach a problem with full confidence in your ability to find...
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2022-06-18 04:28:52

foresight

We have some foresight. 
We can think about and anticipate some problems and address them.
We can’t, however, anticipate everything. 

Trying to do the latter is easily one of the top reasons why a) we take too long to try something or b) worse — we never try at...
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2022-06-17 05:13:30

decide and act quickly

It’s good to be back. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect this last month, and will be making some decisions about what and where my content will be moving forward. Updates coming soon. 

In the meantime, here is today’s Daily Spark on June 15th — as promised.

 ...
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2022-06-16 05:36:15

taking 30

I’m going to spend the next 30 days away from writing.

Instead, I will use the space I normally hold for writing to do some much-needed reflection on foundational questions like: 

how do I want to put myself out in the world?

what do I want to express? 

...
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2022-05-17 06:34:15

New Day's Resolutions

It’s more useful to think of a New Year’s resolution as 365 daily resolutions. 

In many cases, the first slip-up in the pursuit of a goal can feel like a pass-fail situation. And when we think we’ve failed for good, it’s very hard to get back up. 

Think...
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2022-05-14 21:24:55

the point

On the last day of one of my classes in college, the professor offered the class some life advice by way of his own life story:

He had a law career that, by many accounts, was very successful.

He was on track to become a partner at his firm, he...
2022-05-14 03:21:13

resilience

A colleague that I’ll never forget working with was known amongst his peers for his exceptional work ethic, levity, and joy. 

He always worked hard but never took himself too seriously. 

He would fail spectacularly in one moment and then reflect, laugh, and learn the next moment. 

...
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2022-05-13 04:57:02

slack

In 2008, John Cook shared a powerful example of queuing theory: 

If you have one bank teller, an average of 5.8 customers per hour, and an average of 10 minutes required to serve each customer, customers will have to wait almost five hours — an entire afternoon — before...
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2022-05-12 05:10:19

the forest

One of my favorite adages is “see the forest for the trees.” 

The ‘trees’ are the finer details, the ‘forest’ is the big picture — what all those details amount to. 

This adage seems useful for thinking about how we spend our time. 

The ‘trees’ are the...
2022-05-11 02:54:28