Commitment issues aren’t about the options. They’re about the operator.When you know what you want, most choices eliminate themselves.

No. 634 – June 22, 2025Welcome to Brain Food, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights you can use in life and work. (<a href="https://fs.blog/brain-food/" dir="ltr">Read the archives</a>). Not subscribed? <a href="https://fs.blog/newsletter/" dir="ltr">Learn more and sign up</a>.<h2>Tiny Thoughts</h2>You become what you scroll. Choose accordingly.Commitment issues aren’t about the options. They’re about the operator.When you know what you want, most choices eliminate themselves.The greatest business failures often come not from playing the game poorly, but from continuing to excel at things that no longer matter.<h2>Insights</h2>Japanese saying on the art of thoughtful elimination:“Your garden is not complete until there is nothing else you can take out of it.”Napoleon on having a detective’s eye and noticing the details, even the invisible ones:“All great events hang by a single thread.&nbsp;The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity; the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.”Sherlock Holmes on consciously curating your inputs:“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands.”<h2>The Knowledge Project </h2>Anna Wintour has spent four decades at the top of an industry that reinvents itself every five years. In this episode, I explore how the legendary Vogue editor-in-chief used unreasonable standards, clarity, and complete indifference to others’ opinions not just to reach the top, but to adapt fast enough to stay there.Here are 3 of the 12 lessons I learned from her journey to the top (<a href="https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-anna-wintour/#:~:text=Lessons%20from%20Anna%20Wintour%E2%80%99s%20journey%20to%20becoming%20Vogue%E2%80%99s%20legendary%20Editor%2Din%2DChief%3A" dir="ltr">read the rest</a>):+ High Agency: When passed over for fashion editor at Harper’s despite doing the job’s work, Anna didn’t complain or negotiate. She resigned immediately, taking her assistant with her. She moved to New York without a job lined up, betting everything on her vision. The system won’t fix itself for you. When merit meets politics, choose exodus over argument.+ Don’t Care What They Think:&nbsp;Putting Madonna on Vogue’s cover in 1989 horrified fashion purists. The woman had just lost her Pepsi sponsorship over a controversial video. Religious groups wanted boycotts. Anna did it anyway because a businessman on a plane said Vogue would “never” feature Madonna. The issue sold 200,000 extra copies. When everyone agrees something would “never” work, that’s precisely when it will. Consensus kills innovation.+ Signal Without Static:&nbsp;When Grace Mirabella asked what position Anna wanted at Vogue, Anna’s answer was one word: “Yours.” The meeting ended immediately. She got the job anyway. This was Anna’s gift: surgical clarity. No maybes. No committees. “People work better when feedback is fast, direct and honest,” she said. “She was kind but not always nice,” one colleague observed. Nice people soften rejection with false hope. Kind people say no and let you move on. Clarity isn’t cruel. It’s the most expensive gift you can give.This 60-minute episode is dense with lessons and insights you can use in your life and work.

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No. 634 – June 22, 202 5

Welcome to Brain Food, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights you can use in life and work. (<a href="https://fs.blog/brain-food/">Read the archives </a>). Not subscribed? <a href="https://fs.blog/newsletter/">Learn more and sign up </a>.

You become what you scroll. Choose accordingly.

Commitment issues aren’t about the options. They’re about the operator.

When you know what you want, most choices eliminate themselves.

The greatest business failures often come not from playing the game poorly, but from continuing to excel at things that no longer matter.

Japanese saying on the art of thoughtful elimination:

“Your garden is not complete until there is nothing else you can take out of it.”

Napoleon on having a detective’s eye and noticing the details, even the invisible ones:

“All great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity; the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.”

Sherlock Holmes on consciously curating your inputs:

“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands.”

Anna Wintour has spent four decades at the top of an industry that reinvents itself every five years. In this episode, I explore how the legendary Vogue editor-in-chief used unreasonable standards, clarity, and complete indifference to others’ opinions not just to reach the top, but to adapt fast enough to stay there.

Here are 3 of the 12 lessons I learned from her journey to the top (<a href="https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-anna-wintour/#:~:text=Lessons%20from%20Anna%20Wintour%E2%80%99s%20journey%20to%20becoming%20Vogue%E2%80%99s%20legendary%20Editor%2Din%2DChief%3A">read the rest </a>):

+ High Agency : When passed over for fashion editor at Harper’s despite doing the job’s work, Anna didn’t complain or negotiate. She resigned immediately, taking her assistant with her. She moved to New York without a job lined up, betting everything on her vision. The system won’t fix itself for you. When merit meets politics, choose exodus over argument.

+ Don’t Care What They Think:  Putting Madonna on Vogue’s cover in 1989 horrified fashion purists. The woman had just lost her Pepsi sponsorship over a controversial video. Religious groups wanted boycotts. Anna did it anyway because a businessman on a plane said Vogue would “never” feature Madonna. The issue sold 200,000 extra copies. When everyone agrees something would “never” work, that’s precisely when it will. Consensus kills innovation.

+ Signal Without Static:  When Grace Mirabella asked what position Anna wanted at Vogue, Anna’s answer was one word: “Yours.” The meeting ended immediately. She got the job anyway. This was Anna’s gift: surgical clarity. No maybes. No committees. “People work better when feedback is fast, direct and honest,” she said. “She was kind but not always nice,” one colleague observed. Nice people soften rejection with false hope. Kind people say no and let you move on. Clarity isn’t cruel. It’s the most expensive gift you can give.

This 60-minute episode is dense with lessons and insights you can use in your life and work.

Commitment Issues Aren’t About The Options | Shane Parrish

SHANE PARRISH (FS)

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