It sucks jumping in a cold pool but once you’re in it’s fine. Same pattern applies to:

-Getting started with work each day

-Having a hard conversation with a friend

-Singing in front of people

-Breaking up with someone

Most of the time, jumping in is the hardest part.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) August 18, 2021

So hard to stay on the tightrope. pic.twitter.com/AiUN37c0Ug

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) March 29, 2021

The Fermi Paradox has 2 possibilities and both make me want to hug you.

Either the universe is teeming with aliens, which means we’re a single family in the cosmic society.

Or there’s no one else, in which case we’re stranded together on a tiny island in the vast darkness.

♥️

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 27, 2021

If you went back in time before your birth you'd be terrified to do anything, because you'd know that even the smallest nudges to the present can have major impacts on the future.

Applied to today, a reminder that how you live each day really does matter. It changes the future.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) April 21, 2021

Cherish your Q1 friends pic.twitter.com/w9BrW2iesr

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) July 4, 2021

When you’re the boss of the ideas in your head, you’re always willing to revise them.

When there’s no amount of evidence that will change your mind about something, it means that idea is your boss.

Humility is the awareness that no idea is worthy of being your boss.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) March 11, 2021

Life is a multi-generational collaboration pic.twitter.com/I4yK6IoNQO

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) September 16, 2021

Being patriotic doesn’t imply you think your country is perfect. Just like having self-esteem doesn’t mean you think you’re perfect.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) July 5, 2021

Every human on Earth is at most your 50th cousin. Such a silly family.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 24, 2021

When kids repeatedly ask “why?” they’re trying to see the underlying reasoning behind what they’re told by authorities. “Because I said so” rejects that instinct and says “stop reasoning and obey.” We then become adults who only know how to trust authorities other than ourselves. pic.twitter.com/yfDnEMFjLo

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) March 19, 2021

Who you are in your head—your thoughts, desires, motivations, emotions, biases—none of it means you’re a good or bad person. All that matters is your behavior. If you have to override your natural inclinations to be a good outward person, that makes you especially admirable.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) October 28, 2021

The human psyche has weather. When we feel bad about the present and future, it’s cloudy in our psyche. When our psyche is cloudy, it colors everything. Things feel gloomier, angrier, scarier, and more depressing. This of course has all kinds of negative effects on behavior.

/1

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2021

A culture that sees all people as flawed is compassionate and forgiving—a safe place that encourages creativity and independence.

A culture that sees people as either angels or demons is always full of fear, shame, and disgust—a terrifying place that encourages only conformity.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) August 11, 2021

You’re not a progressive or a conservative or a moderate or radical or other political noun.

You’re also not progressive or conservative or any other political adjective.

Those are words for ideas, not people. Your mind is way too rad to be locked in a noun or adjective prison.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) December 1, 2021

Feed a man a fish, feed him for a night.

Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

Teach a man to reason from first principles, he can teach himself to fish. Then he can invent a better fishing rod and feed a billion people.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) March 23, 2021

Politics encourages us to see the world as monolithic groups of people in conflict with one another. But empathy comes from remembering the top and bottom of this tower—that there's a lot we all have in common, and a lot about every other person we can never fully understand. pic.twitter.com/2BTKEOnezO

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) April 3, 2021

This deep focus writing schedule:

M: 3 hours
T: 3 hours
W: 3 hours
Th: 3 hours
F: 3 hours

Is more hours than:

M: 0 hours
T: 0 hours
W: 0 hours
Th: 7 hours
F: 7 hours

The second requires two Herculean efforts, the first requires none. Consistency compiles to huge numbers.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) March 9, 2021

A batter who averages 4 hits every 20 at-bats is out of a job.

One who averages 5/20 is mediocre.

6/20, an all-star.

7/20, the league MVP.

There's probably some area of your life you're going 4/20 and feel hopeless. But upping your game just a little might change everything.

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) May 30, 2021

If I aired a highlight reel of your most selfish life moments and most shameful thoughts, you'd seem like an awful person. If I aired a reel of your best, kindest moments, you'd seem like a saint. But people aren't highlight reels, and the unedited cut is always a messy mix! pic.twitter.com/r3E53eFcAJ

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) December 16, 2021

Go hug someone pic.twitter.com/I63AaP1xQu

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) September 16, 2021