1. Memento Mori — Live. Love. Matter.

We choose meaningful work, serve people over ego, and optimize for being helpful—not being “right.”

Behaviors: Seek work that energizes; default to service and humility.
Anti-patterns: Performative busywork; winning arguments that don’t advance outcomes.

2. Be an Engineer, Build a Better Future
Engineering is a way of thinking.

Backgrounds vary; the bias to build does not.
Behaviors: Prototype > pontificate; ship small, iterate.
Anti-patterns: Tech-for-tech’s-sake; endless debate without artifacts.

3. Tell the Truth, Fast
Facts over opinions. No spin, no hiding. Early bad news saves
projects.
Behaviors: Separate “fact/assumption/opinion”; surface risks immediately—no blame.
Anti-patterns: Omission, sandbagging, or late surprise reveals.

4. Make Teammates, Not Co-workers
We invest so people can leave; we build a place they want to stay.
Behaviors: Candid feedback with care; share context and credit.
Anti-patterns: Gatekeeping, hero culture, or silent bystanders.

5. Build Solutions, Not Gadgets
Start from the problem. Measure impact, not novelty.
Behaviors: Define user and success metric before building.
Anti-patterns: Searching for problems that fit our tools.

6. Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
One priority beats five. Time follows strategy.
Behaviors: Give ~80% of calendar to the #1 objective; say “no” clearly.
Anti-patterns: Priority whiplash; treating everything as P0.
 

7. Fail Fast, Fail Cheap, Learn Secrets
Design experiments as low-cost Monte Carlo steps to uncover
non-obvious leverage.
Behaviors: Pre-register “what we’ll learn”; cap cost/time; archive
results.
Anti-patterns: Expensive, open-ended “science projects” with fuzzy learning.

8. Play the Long Game, One Step at a Time

Compound small wins. No Hail-Mary planning.
Behaviors: 10-yard drives; confront weaknesses with explicit plans.
Anti-patterns: Overreliance on strengths; magical thinking about
timelines.

9. Model Excellence, Demand Excellence, Inspire Greatness
Standards are viral—raise them and let others raise yours.
Behaviors: Define “done” and quality bars; coach and invite coaching.
Anti-patterns: “Good enough” creep; unreviewed output.

10. Bring Joy to the Struggle
Hard things are hard; we don’t make them harder.
Behaviors: Protect sleep and health; show up with energy and respect.
Anti-patterns: Cynicism, drama, or adding to a teammate’s load.

Inspired by: Feynman, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman; Thiel, Zero to
One; Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things; Grove, High Output
Management; Burchard, High Performance Habits; Duarte, HBR Guide to
Persuasive Presentations.

©2025–2030 Synthetic Physiology Lab.