Be Your Best in 2026: The Most Important Lessons from The Knowledge Project (2025)

The Knowledge Project

Shane Parrish

Society & Culture, Business, Technology

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Knowledge Project closes 2025 with a look back at the most meaningful conversations of the year. Featuring insights from some of our most impactful episodes, this collection brings together practical insights on decision-making, leadership, preparation, relationships, trust, and performance. This episode features insights from world-class investor Alfred Lin, tech founder and operator Bret Taylor, behavioral scientist Logan Ury, legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick, former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, disciplined value investor Anthony Scilipoti, trust and communication expert Lulu Cheng Meservey, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein, and performance coach Jim Murphy. These are the insights that help you prepare better, make clearer decisions, and build momentum for the year ahead. Thank you for listening and we can't wait to see you next year. ----- Approximate Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:32) Alfred Lin: Inputs vs Outputs - Daily Routines and Priorities (08:05) Bret Taylor: Founder Mode (Accountability vs. Caricature) (19:43) Ad Break (21:58) Logan Ury: Navigating Relationships and Attachments (29:04) Bill Belichick: Preparation and Success In Life And The NFL (38:33) Indra Nooyi: Delivering a Message That Gets Heard (43:36) Anthony Scilipoti: Don’t Rely on AI, You Still Have to Put the Work In (52:11) Lulu Cheng Meservey: Engineering Trust and Building Confidence That Others Can Believe In (57:53) Harley Finkelstein: Overcoming Failure + The Hard Work Behind the Life You Want (1:05:15) Jim Murphy: Performance Habits of Successful People ----- Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠------Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠------ Follow Shane Parrish:X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish Insta: https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/ ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: Basecamp: Stop struggling, start making progress. Get somewhere with Basecamp. Sign up free at http://basecamp.com/knowledgeproject reMarkable: Get your paper tablet at https://www.reMarkable.com today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the final episode of 2025. I pulled together some of my favorite moments from the air.
0:06.1	These conversations help me think better, work smarter, and live with more intention. It's time to listen and learn.
0:13.8	Toughness, kindness and clarity, all three. But don't forget the toughness. Because you don't want yes people around you.
0:20.5	You want people who say,
0:22.0	why don't we push the boundaries of our thinking?
0:23.9	AI makes me get to the answer perhaps more quickly,
0:27.2	but you need someone with experience
0:29.3	to know which of those references matter to the business.
0:32.4	I am genuinely concerned that because of different societal factors, because of people who maybe lost out on some social skills during the pandemic, there is not that rejection resilience that many of us need in life.
0:46.3	You mentioned that we can engineer trust. How do we do that?
0:49.3	One is repeated exposure.
0:51.3	Second is establish a set of shared values.
0:55.5	Everything is here to teach me and help me.
0:57.0	It's all working for my good.
0:58.3	So we're going to go look for those moments when you're most uncomfortable.
1:01.3	And remind yourself, this is my teacher.
1:03.5	From when a customer orders something, when it gets through the distribution center,
1:08.8	how is it going to be packed, packaged, and shipped?
1:11.9	And when you look at that from a flow perspective, you start thinking about new solutions.
1:16.3	Getting really, really comfortable with being uncomfortable is magic.
1:20.2	And I wasn't always good at that.
1:21.6	The right entrepreneurs, the best entrepreneurs, they just simply out-care other people.
	...

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