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Codex Audentia

Codex: An ancient manuscript text in book form.
Audentia: Latin for “audacity”.

This is not a blog. This is my codex — a working notebook with all my notes and rambles in their full glory. It is raw, unpolished and unfiltered. I write these posts mostly for myself and don’t publicize them, so there’s no newsletter or RSS feed for these, sorry.

RamblesReflections

Ruthless

The word "ruthless" conjures for most people the image of someone who's evil, brutal, and sadistic. It's real meaning, is someone who acts without any pity or compassion for someone's misery. They are ruth-less. Another way to see being "ruthless" is someone who acts without taking other people's opinions and inconveniences into account. The lines between ruthless, selfish, and egoistic get more and more blurred the more you think about it. Does it take ruthlessness to win a world championship, when it means denying everyone else who showed up to the tournament, regardless of how much they and their families…
Aman Y. Agarwal
September 18, 2023
Rambles

Not nice

Afer navigating the professional / business world over the last decade, I've come to realize that in general, people are nice. I've made lots and lots of acquaintances, who have helped me in many ways. 99% of people want to do the right thing when given a choice. It doesn't mean they'll go out of their way and take personal losses to help you, but they'll be polite and respectful even if they're acting selfishly. But I've also learned that quite a few people you'll meet, including many in prominent, successful positions, are not nice. By which I mean, they're…
Aman Y. Agarwal
September 17, 2023
Reflections

Animal Plane

The average human lives in the animal plane. His priorities: Fetch food and shelter (earning a living) Reproduce (raising kids) Play (often self-destructive or numbing activities) I wake up everyday with the intention of living on the highest plane I can, as much as I can.
Aman Y. Agarwal
September 13, 2023
Miscellanous

Two Quotes for Men

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." - Robert A. Heinlein “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval…
Aman Y. Agarwal
September 10, 2023
MiscellanousReflections

No Plateaus in Language Learning

This week, I achieved a goal that seemed immense when I started out: I finished reading the entire transcripts of 75 episodes (3 seasons of 25 eps each) of one of my favourite creative works ever, Bakuman. That's 250,000 words in Japanese. For context, the longest Harry Potter book (Order of the Phoenix) — with 766 pages — has 257,000 words in English. Over 11 months, I have read 413,000 words total (yes, I track all of it, using LingQ). It averages out to around 1,250 words per day. I've also listened to the original audio of whatever I read.…
Aman Y. Agarwal
August 27, 2023
RamblesReflections

(New) Systems That Help Me Work HARD AF

Being self-employed + working remotely from home + having ADHD (not diagnosed, but I just know) has been a terrible combination for my productivity. As of June 2023, I've found a series of workarounds that have made my present self the most productive (and hard-working) version of me that I've been in a long time. I'm consistently able to squeeze out around 5 productive hours per day (which is the sweet spot for me), working out regularly, having a roughly consistent sleep schedule, and eating properly most days. (Yes, these are all things I've struggled with for many years). Here…
Aman Y. Agarwal
June 22, 2023
Miscellanous

My Japanese Learning Tools and Systems

LingQ (reading and listening) -- paid Animelon (reading and listening; watching anime) -- free DeepL (translation software 10x better than Google's) -- free Anki (flashcards for memorizing kanji: NihongoShark deck) -- free / paid for mobile Nihongo-Pro.com (looking up kanji data) -- free Jisho.org (looking up kanji data) -- free Cure Dolly Youtube channel (for grammar fundamentals course) -- free 10ten reader (browser extension; reading helper) -- free Okaeri School Youtube channel (for intermediate & advanced grammar) -- free JapanesePod101 Youtube (for beginner content) -- free Random websites (to learn hiragana and katakana) -- free LingQ is the only tool…
Aman Y. Agarwal
March 3, 2023
Miscellanous

Notes from Oren Klaff’s Material

1. What’s going on in your industry/market that’s SO transformational, that it becomes an hidden opportunity in itself?! Is the macro convincing, is there enough change in the market to justify the opportunity? 2. Talk to the right investors! Stick to your channel — the people who are already putting money into YOUR kind of deals TODAY. 3. When you’re early stage, and don’t have traction, make the MACRO picture SO BIG and SO COMPELLING that it gets all the attention in itself. It’s as if there’s a major fracture and mega flood coming, and the investors see you as…
Aman Y. Agarwal
February 20, 2023
Miscellanous

Language Learning: Embrace the Low Gear

When learning a language, your "car" has to start on Gear One. There's just no way around it. The initial "ramp up" period takes the MOST effort from your brain — while also making the LEAST amount of progress in return. (If you're not uncomfortable within the first 30 days of acquiring a new language, you're doing it wrong and wasting your time.) Your brain has to get "warmed up" to the language and forge those new connections — it takes a while! You'll constantly stop and look up what stuff means (and promptly forget it 30 seconds later). You…
Aman Y. Agarwal
February 11, 2023
RamblesReflections

Ruthless Expectations: The Importance of Becoming Certain

I wonder if athletes who win Olympic Gold medals feel surprised about it. "A Gold medal would be nice, I'll try my best — but even if I get Bronze, it's not a bad deal." Can you win Gold with this mindset? From what I've been told, most people who go on to accomplish anything in their lives, do so because they EXPECTED to. They envisioned it, prepared for it, and took the actions necessary to execute it. Champions aren't surprised when they win — they're shocked when they don't. How do people develop this level of certainty with their…
Aman Y. Agarwal
January 25, 2023
MiscellanousRamblesReflections

Success is closely linked with death.

An (incomplete) meditation on my definition of success. I'm not even very old — but I recently noticed that I've already gone through several definitions of "success" in my life, as I was finding my way in this world. Here are a few things I've learned (and I'll probably keep revising this list forever): 1. Once I accepted my mortality — I'm not "death proof" and the reaper could indeed show up any day (even tomorrow) unannounced — a lot of things I thought of as being successful, were no longer important to me. 2. One huge aspect of success…
Aman Y. Agarwal
November 25, 2022
Miscellanous

A new giant leap for mankind

Holy moly. I have made a discovery that will change the world forever. You've heard of the PB&J sandwich, right? Peanut butter and jam. A classic. Well, guess what you outdated, unrefined country bumpkins. I present... the P B C J. Add SPICY CHUTNEY (or your favorite flavored hot sauce) to your PB&J, and it becomes 10 times more exciting. You heard it here first. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Aman Y. Agarwal
November 3, 2022
MiscellanousRambles

Language learning — a bowl of vapor

Every orange speck in this image is akin to a "word" or a small "piece" of the language. And it is just as light as air. At first, you start with an empty bowl. As you start learning, you start to grap some specks and place them at the bottom carefully. They are immediately usable, and part of your active vocabulary! You can say "hello" and "goodnight" or whatever. As you begin to grab more specks — now by the handful — and throwing them at the bottom of the bowl, most of them bounce right back and keep floating…
Aman Y. Agarwal
November 1, 2022
MiscellanousReflections

Language is easy. Culture is difficult.

The process of learning a language is really the process of acquiring a new culture. It's not "how to say X." It's "how to convey this feeling/meaning?" The difference is nuanced, but it makes a huuuge difference. For instance, you don't say "I want to eat cake" in Japanese.You instead usually say, ケ－キが食べたい — which roughly means, "cake induces the desire to eat (in me)" or "the cake is eat-wanting" (however you want to phrase it).The cake is the SUBJECT of the sentence, not the object!In Japanese, as opposed to English, it's acceptable to attribute a kind of "life" or…
Aman Y. Agarwal
October 26, 2022
MiscellanousRambles

Adventures in Learning Japanese – #1

Rough draft. The deeper I get into Japanese, the more I realize that how much language and culture are intertwined with each other. Learning Japanese is not about learning how to say what I naturally say in English, using Japanese words and sentence structures. No — the process of learning Japanese is to learn what the Japanese say, when trying to express a certain Japanese idea, shaped by their Japanese perspective. There are many things that don't just cross over. Plenty of things you can say in Japanese that you'd never say in English, because it doesn't belong to modern…
Aman Y. Agarwal
October 10, 2022
MiscellanousRambles

My plan to become fluent in Japanese in 12 months

Regret I first started learning Japanese in the autumn of 2014, eight years ago, as a final year college student — but gave it up within 4 months, because I had to study abroad in China. Those 4 months, I focused mainly on speaking basic sentences and didn't even learn katakana or kanji. Needless to say, I am still a beginner (although I've watched a lot of TV dramas and anime, which means I'm used to the sound of the language and a few words/phrases that repeat a lot). I always knew (or rather hoped) that I'd come back to…
Aman Y. Agarwal
October 2, 2022
MiscellanousReflections

Risk vs Uncertainty

I recently read The Dhandho Investor by Mohnish Pabrai. The biggest lesson I took away from his book was this: There's a difference between "risk" and "uncertainty." Risk refers to what you might lose. You are always risking "something" in exchange for the possibility of getting something else. How much does it cost you just to play the game? Uncertainty refers to the number of possible outcomes. Some are more probable than others. What I find fascinating is that you can detach the two and see them as completely separate factors while making a decision. You can have high risk,…
Aman Y. Agarwal
September 9, 2022
RamblesReflections

It’s not about the Eiffel Tower

My take on travel I've traveled to a bunch of places — but interestingly, when I look back on them, I don't remember all that much. I can't recollect most of the "things" I saw – the beautiful nature, the wonderous creations of mankind – they're all somewhat lost in my subconscious. A great example of this is the Eiffel Tower. When I went to Paris, I was excited to see it. And then I saw it. Then the next day, I climbed up to the top. And then I kept seeing it from time to time as I traveled…
Aman Y. Agarwal
September 3, 2022
Reflections

Lessons from my failures (and successes)

I recently had a business failure. Long story short, here's the bullet list of lessons learned. If you're not me, and you're reading this, just know that I wrote this for myself. It may or may not apply to you. FocusIf I had to distill everything into one word, it would be focus. Focus, focus, focus. FOCUS! Ignore the free ice cream van.Keep focusingThis is not a joke. Stop strategizing or changing things. Just STOP! Once you make a decision, don't switch directions until you've burned the fucking tires and they're melting on the tarmac. Finish all your thinking before…
Aman Y. Agarwal
August 25, 2022
MiscellanousRambles

Why I never hired for “Experience”

I never understood the concept of hiring people based on an arbitrary number of how many years they've existed in an industry. Experience is wonderful, but it's only helpful in very specific types of jobs: 1/ When you need someone who has PRACTICED (to achieve a certain level of skill): some things just have to be polished by deep intentional training and repetition. There's no way around it. 2/ You need them to have a huge pre-existing NETWORK (which takes time to build): whether you build those connections one by one, or at scale through a large audience or community.…
Aman Y. Agarwal
August 9, 2022
RamblesReflections

Being Boring

I live a fairly austere lifestyle. I don't drink alcohol. I don't drink tea. I don't drink coffee. I eat 99% vegan – almost never consuming meat, fish, chicken, dairy, or eggs. I don't eat much sugar. I like music, but only in the background. I'm not a big fan, and I'm not an early adopter. I don't like buying new clothes. And of course, I don't smoke. Never used weed or acid or any recreational drugs. I don't go to nightclubs or bars. And I don't watch porn. A lot of people ask me, what do I do? The…
Aman Y. Agarwal
August 3, 2022
RamblesReflections

Death and Time: Living a Life of Home Runs

In recent months, I've been struggling with my mortality, as well as the fact that the universe is too big, vast, and ancient – and permanent – for me to make any significant impact. I live on a tiny speck of dust, floating in an ocean of stars. All our history (and future) is limited to a few thousand years of this little wet particle. Whatever I can build or achieve during my lifetime, is temporary – it will only push this world a tiny bit. The sad thing is that we are too small, insignificant, and doomed to perish…
Aman Y. Agarwal
July 16, 2022
Reflections

The Four Pillars Behind All Achievement

It took me ages to have this epiphany. And now I'm sharing this with you. To accomplish anything great, you must get these four things right. And if you've ever failed to accomplish something, it was probably rooted in one of them going wrong. Mindset Strategy Tactics Discipline of Execution Do whatever you can to diagnose where your issue is. And then fill in the gap. You heard it here first!
Aman Y. Agarwal
June 12, 2022
Miscellanous

Building the Dream Team

Growing up, I always knew I would be an entrepreneur one day, and that I'd have to hire excellent people. And I was always been insecure about it. Would the best people want to work with me? Would ANYONE want to work with me? Would anyone accept me as their "boss"? Would I be able to earn their loyalty? Would I be able to truly sell them on my vision? What if they leave me? What if I have to fire someone? Would they be my friends, or would I have to be detached in order to maintain respect? My…
Aman Y. Agarwal
May 12, 2022
Miscellanous

Is an Ivy League degree worth it?

As someone who went to a fairly established Ivy League school (Cornell), I can say that it's like buying a Chanel bag. Do you need it? No. Is it better than a cheap bag? Not much. Do you like the aesthetic quality and "allure"? Yeah, it's pretty good. Is it worth going into debt to buy one? Up to you. Addendum: I do believe that if you want to be a researcher, a big school can provide many facilities and opportunities you can't get elsewhere. And I, one of the "deviants" who actually visited EVERY SINGLE BUILDING on the Cornell…
Aman Y. Agarwal
May 1, 2022
Reflections

Falling vs. Scaling

There seem to be roughly two approaches to accomplish something great. One is to put yourself in a position where, if you don't succeed, you "die." There is no backup, no plan B. It's what's called "jumping off the cliff and building an airplane on the way down." Doing it this way is more chaotic, more exhilarating, and also automatically makes you more focused. It also makes your team more tight, because nothing bonds people better than trying to overcome a large shared threat. The high stress is accompanied by high euphoria. I'll call this, quite literally, "falling" to succeed.…
Aman Y. Agarwal
April 30, 2022
Reflections

How I Hire: The Heart of a Teacher

Nobody can be the expert on everything. As an entrepreneur, I always have to find people who know more than me, and trust them to do their job. But hiring is tough (and that's probably an understatement). People lie in interviews all the time (from both sides) trying to make the best impression. And often, jobs go to the best salesperson, not the most suitable person (at least for non-technical/managerial roles). When I'm hiring someone – whether it's a freelancer on Upwork or Fiverr, or a consultant – I use one key criterion to filter them out, and it works…
Aman Y. Agarwal
April 29, 2022
Reflections

The Monk Life

It took me a long time to learn that being a HIGH-PERFORMANCE PERSON demands the "monk life." Any great endeavour, personal growth, or massive success is rooted in sacrifice. A balanced life is an average life. Achieving high performance means you can only obsess over 1-2 priorities (maybe 3) in your life — the ones that bring you the most meaning and joy — and everything else usually has to be renounced. When looking for the City of Gold in the rainforest, you must be willing to take a machete in your hands and hack away at the vines in…
Aman Y. Agarwal
April 25, 2022
Rambles

Obsession

In any project, business or organization, the psychology of the leader is the biggest factor towards success or failure. I've realized I have an obsessive personality. By nature, I tend to get obsessed with things. I can forget about food. Sleep. Standing. Moving. All so that I can keep doing whatever I'm doing. But I'm also very easily distracted. My brain is an overly energetic dog. The only way to keep me productive is to put my brain on the track with a big, clear rabbit to chase. I can chase that rabbit all the way to the finish line.…
Aman Y. Agarwal
March 17, 2022
Miscellanous

Book Cover Design Brief (Final)

Hello, awesome designer! You can scroll below to read the brief, or watch this video I made first! https://youtu.be/VTUNXG_3_v8 Before I talk about the book itself, let me share some visual examples. 1) Ideally it should have a kind of "3D" paper style, either for the title OR for the illustration OR the background. As I publish more books after this one, I'd love for this to become a sort of "signature" for all my covers. A few examples: 2) I'm flexible on the STYLE of illustration/background. It can be simple or complex depending on what works best, but it…
Aman Y. Agarwal
March 12, 2022
Reflections

Lethargy, Procrastination, Ambition

I've been reading a lot again. I sometimes wonder, when was the last time I had the urge to jump out of bed in the morning? It certainly has felt like years. I believe the last time it happened was while writing or promoting an essay over several days, or any other project that was incredibly meaningful and important to me, was a lot of fun, was challenging to figure out, had a deadline, and usually involved accountability to other people. I have an obsessive personality — I can, and dare I say need to get obsessed with something to…
Aman Y. Agarwal
February 6, 2022
Rambles

Book Cover Design Brief

Staying true to the idea of documenting my journey in raw, unfiltered fashion. It's time to seriously start looking for a book cover designer for my labour of love over the last 12+ months. If I delay this any longer, my book may never get done.   Quick overview of the book The book is titled "TECH FLUENT CEO." The working subtitle for the book is: The Eccentric Entrepreneur's Guide to Leading and Innovating in the Age of AI (Subtitle could also be: The Ambitious Non-Techie's Guide to Leading and Innovating in the Age of AI) It's target audience is…
Aman Y. Agarwal
December 14, 2021
Reflections

Productivity Systems Review

As I've discussed before in this codex here and here, a routine is the most fundamental infrastructure of any profession. Without a solid customized routine, you're just an amateur. I'm on the right track. Big question in productivity and routines is, what do I optimize for? Depending on the priority, the routine changes. Here are some options: Reduced anxietyClarity on goals and what I need to be doingCreative energy, generating fresh ideasDeep focused energy Another question is, am I choosing priorities from the wrong emotional place? My routine can't be reinforcing impatience and beliefs like "I'm not productive enough," "I'm…
Aman Y. Agarwal
December 7, 2021
Reflections

It could take 50 years

If a daily or weekly habit takes 5 years to show an amazing result, is that worth the effort? It could be building muscle sustainably, stretching to become more flexible, learning an amazing new skill, etc. I'll be 34 in the next 5 years. If at 34 I'm healthier and stronger than I've ever been, more flexible and agile, more mentally clear and happy, and having enough money to retire, that is worth the wait. Then think about 20 years. If it takes me 20 years to build a net worth of almost a hundred million dollars, that's an INCREDIBLE…
Aman Y. Agarwal
December 2, 2021
Reflections

A Teaching Superpower

My unlikely, unplanned journey to becoming a world-class teacher. (This is not a blog. It’s a codex – raw, unpolished and brutally frank) Let's get 3 things out of the way first. I never planned to be a teacher, never thought it would be one of my careers, and wasn't good at it as a child. It was not god's gift nor a hobby.It's surprising to me that I'm now regarded as a world-class teacher. Now only have I personally taught people on 4 continents, many more have read my essays and tutorials, etc.I have however found more success as…
Aman Y. Agarwal
December 2, 2021
Reflections

Revisited: An Entrepreneur’s Routine

The last time I discussed this topic was in August 2020: https://aman-agarwal.com/2020/08/25/getting-into-a-routine-as-a-solo-entrepreneur/ What Happened It seems like stress, productivity, procrastination and discipline are all intensely interconnected. Over the last 13 months, I've been through many stages of crippling stress and procrastination, when I also felt very unproductive. At the same time, I've also made some terrific changes in my life that I can't take for granted: Had a 132 day unbroken streak of Chinese reading on LingQNoFap streak unbroken (and still ongoing) for 148 days straight. I never thought I could have achieved this, without the help of certain friends…
Aman Y. Agarwal
October 12, 2021
Rambles

Age of AI Post Design

This codex post is about how I'll design the webpage for each episode of the Age of AI Podcast. The key thing to understand is that these posts will become (by intention) the biggest source of traffic to the company website, and are therefore a crucial part of the business funnel. How I handle and guide the traffic coming to the page will decide how we find customers as a company, so it makes sense to put some thought into how each page will be setup. Here's what I'm thinking right now: It needs to provide value, while branding us…
Aman Y. Agarwal
October 3, 2021
Rambles

NEW Homepage Design for SANPRAM

It's time to design a new home page. Here's what the old one looks like: Needless to say, it's time for an upgrade. I don't think that the customers I'm trying to attract will find this very legitimate or give off the "world-class" feel I'm looking for. Process comes first How do we go about it? First, it's important to set a goal. What are we trying to accomplish here and how does this fit? The landing page should give an introduction and "anchor" our brand, for anyone who's curious about what the company does. It's not a sales page.How…
Aman Y. Agarwal
May 14, 2021
Rambles

Educational Resources for Employees

I wonder how I could provide my team with the training they need. Major areas: Negotiation and collaborationJob-related skills and knowledgeThings that would accelerate their career in generalPersonal growth and well-being Negotiation Black Swan method by Chris Voss. The most effective I've found yet. Ship a copy of the book to every new team member and see if they learned anything from it. Also the Vimeo uploads by this user: https://vimeo.com/user104273425 Things that accelerate their career in general Writing good emails. Speaking more clearly. Sales and marketing. I can share with them: The 10-day MBAEbooks that changed my life and…
Aman Y. Agarwal
May 3, 2021
Reflections

Hiring Philosophy

It's been a while since I wrote in this codex. I've been interviewing candidates for SANPRAM, and it's a little overwhelming. One of my core principles in recruiting is to root for their success. It has helped me receive consistently good feedback from them that it's the best recruitment process they've ever been through. But on the flip side, rooting for everyone's success means now I have too many candidates I'd love to somehow fit into my team at SANPRAM. I've grown somewhat attached to them! Naturally, it's not fair to them or to me to hire people who aren't…
Aman Y. Agarwal
May 3, 2021
Rambles

Brainstorming Job Descriptions

SANPRAM needs its first recruiting page. Let's chart out what the page will look like. Hiring Philosophy Trust is foremostRoot for their successLook for students of their craft - the very best way to see if someone's really fit for a role or not.Hire happy people - no complainersBe welcoming to everyone Audience People who want to try something unique, adventurousMotivated to learn new things and succeedMay be frustrated with job/internship hunting (not sure what they're good for, ignored/ghosted by recruiters, impostor syndrome, submitting resumes etc)Want to be given a chance, responsibilityWant to do great workHeart of a teacherEnjoys reading?…
Aman Y. Agarwal
February 6, 2021
Rambles

Brainstorming the careers page

Goals Attract people who are students of their tradePeople who want to try new thingsPeople who are nice and honestPeople who want to make a markGood communication skills What we can offer to such people Ownership and freedom to experimentBeing recognized and celebratedSupportive team and clean cultureVariety of workAbility to hone their craft What candidates may be concerned about Not knowing if they're good or notNot knowing if they'll get selectedTired of applying and not hearing back? Structure Build trust, be remarkable, be encouraging What does every internship post do? Show how cool the company isTalk about the competitive naturePromise…
Aman Y. Agarwal
February 1, 2021
Rambles

The Eccentric CEO Page

Goals of the page: Establish the brand of SANPRAM and myselfGet guests excited about being on the podcast/showGet listeners excited about tuning in Don't just make it like an Anchor webpage - give it more personality! The page should have more things than the average podcast page. Like a description and what makes it unique. Without useful stuff, nobody will remember it! Who is the target guest/customer? A true student of businessEnjoys discussing and sharing knowledgeNot very shyHas a good sense of humorWants to learn and get better.Willing to invest in themselves and their company.A "promising" CEO Accusation audit: There…
Aman Y. Agarwal
December 23, 2020
Reflections

Micro Famous?

While researching podcasts, I accidentally came across Matt Johnson of "Pursuing Results". He drove home what Seth Godin has already talked about repeatedly - that the riches are in the niches. He talked about some ideas that had already been taking shape in my head, so it's good to get validation: Using podcasting and content generation as a way to network with ultra influencers.Appearing on podcasts as a way to hack initial growth. What he says is the backbone of such a strategy, however, is to be very clear about your messaging and value proposition, and your target customers. Without…
Aman Y. Agarwal
October 17, 2020
Rambles

Film and TV business Codex Entry

(This is not a blog. It's a codex - raw, unpolished and brutally frank.) A lot of changes happening. Business models are changing, therefore lots of opportunities. The data is pointing towards starting a distribution company that also does production, instead of a production company that also does distribution. Using this codex entry to save all the ideas in my head right now. Free digital distribution has very low margin: Ads are NOT effective for monetizing online. Look at YouTube's monetization:https://onezero.medium.com/this-is-how-much-youtube-paid-me-for-my-1-000-000-viewed-video-1453cad73847$1000 from 3 million viewers. So if you make a movie for a million dollars, ad revenue will not break…
Aman Y. Agarwal
October 17, 2020
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