Humility & Hubris - Learning From A Punch In The Mouth

When I was 18 years old I was playing in the United States Hockey League, one of the premier junior A leagues in North America. It was my first year in the league and needless to say it was a challenging transition coming from minor hockey. Not only was the league leaps and bounds above any level I had played at previously, but there was a new dynamic in the form of fighting. The league played NHL rules and fighting typically resulted in a five minute time out, a pat on the back from your teammates, and a few new fans in the stands. I was hesitant to fight in my early days, however I got into a few and eventually found that I was pretty good at it. I never took on the role of the team’s go to fighter or anything, but I was less than hesitant to shy away for a scrap when warranted. Well over half way into my rookie year I had yet to “lose” a fight. That is not to say I won every fight either, just that I left each prior tilt feeling at least OK about it. A little cockiness, that was only revealed in hindsight, started to set in. One night up in Rochester, Minnesota I started a fight with the wrong kid and proceeded to get pumped for over a minute straight. I was, at the time, too cocky and proud to go down and end the fight so I stood there taking a beating convinced I could come back and get the best of him. Standing outside after the game with some buddies, my face throbbing in pain, in subzero temperatures, waiting for the bus to be fully loaded, I was dished a healthy dose of humility. This was not the first time and it would not be the last, it was merely an extremely memorable occasion for obvious reasons.

This last weekend, almost a decade after getting speed bagged, I suffered another proverbial ass kicking. Although this time around it wasn’t a southpaw opponent, it was at the hands of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). I wasn’t necessarily cocky heading into the test as I had my reservations, but I really thought that my two months of preparation were enough to reach my goal score. The score doesn’t lie. My preparation wasn’t enough, and it hit me like a punch in the face. I was lambasted with all the standard emotions; disbelief, anger, self doubt, etc. However, when all the dust began to settle I forced myself to look at my GMAT setback like any other.

Getting a healthy dose of humility is never fun, but always necessary. Necessary in that it prevents the inevitable creep of hubris which poisons the human psyche. So what lessons can learned from this punch in the mouth that can be paralleled to future trials and tribulations?

1. A dose of humility is a stake in the ground – these unpleasant events are clear and distinct points in time where character decisions are made. Where do you go from here? Do you let the situation control your decisions moving forward or do you accept reality and continue to persevere towards your goal?

2. Humility serves as a reality barometer – After my emotions settled down I looked at my situation and said ‘it is what it is.’ That statement although simplistic and clichéd serves a purpose. That purpose is to help you get a grasp on reality. Things are never as good as you think they are when you are up and never as bad as you think they are when you are down. Although a dose of humility often puts you in one of the down spells, it has the effect of smacking you back into concert with reality. After you have recovered from the shock of recent events you can use the adversity to gather a firm grasp on where you are at; you can then accurately devise of plan of where you are going.

3. When you get punched in the mouth punch back – With the GMAT, I could take my score and move on. I could go do something else or alter my goals so that they are achievable without doing anything else, but I won’t. I want to take another run at it. I want to do as well I know I can do. I want reach my original goal. With the GMAT or anything else, sometimes you just have to use some old fashioned perseverance. I see this partial failure as just a step in process of success. There is no guarantee I won’t do worse on the next try, but at least I will know that I took another swing. Like a fight in hockey, it isn't really that important whether you "win or lose" but that you showed up in the first place!

Get Rich In The Military: A Real Life Example

A while back I wrote guest blog post for the site Bizzia entitled Get Rich in the Military. The post was a summary of some of my personal beliefs surrounding money and how you can exploit some of the unique opportunities you have serving in the armed forces. I hadn't really gone back and read the post in a long time but the other day I got an email that had me go back to revisit it. The email I received was from a fellow Air Force member named Jared. He spoke about how he has transformed his outlook on money and began achieving his financial goals. It was great for him to reach out and to allow me to post his story. I think his story is a great example of how achieving your financial goals is much more about your mind and a few simple habits than any complex system or knowledge. If you treat your circumstances as opportunities, don't make excuses, and keep your overall happiness as the ultimate goal then i think success is inevitable. Jared definitely is subscribing to the BadskiBlog definition of what true wealth is and it is great to see him succeeding. Thanks for taking the time to email me!

Matt,

My name is Jared, I'm Active Duty AF and currently in contracting career field. I'm currently an E4 and will sew on staff next month. I like what you had to say about finances and the military.

I have been very fortunate and blessed in the last year and a half.. First off I'm in a very hot career as I believe your in the same one too. Next I have no bills (except for cell phone) and rent. I do agree buying a house is good but when I'm only using half my BAH for rent then I think renting may be the best option. I just re-enlisted with the 7 SRB they were offering. I'm investing most of that money now. On top of that I got a sweet assignment to Moron Spain where the COLA is very generous. I'm going to invest all that too. I've deployed 2 times in 4yrs and have paid off all credit cards and my truck. No sense in getting a new vehicle mine runs fine. I'm single w/ no dependents so I can save half my paycheck every month. I have sworn to never get in credit card debt again. I had over 10 thousand in credit card debt alone at one point.

So to boil this all down I joined the military 4 1/2 yrs ago with a total of 30 grand in debt to now having 2 Roth IRA's with 10 plus grand in each and over 50 grand in my bank. And you know what....it was all in the military and I only reenlisted for 4 years and I'm only an E4. I'm finishing up my business degree and the military has literally paid for all of it as I try to get my books free from a library.

I'm completely blown away with the power of money and your completely right it's all about looking at an investment in time, ownership of your time, your life.

I'm not here to brag at all, in fact I'm just amazed and tickled. If people would take your advice and stop whining about being in the military and look for the upper hand of it all you would see a lot more military millionaires at the end.

I now give advice to young Airman and telling them...it can be done!! I started late too as I joined when I was 27 yrs old and now I'm 31.

Thanks again and hope to hear back your thoughts.

Jared

Braving The Storm: Screw Financial Experts, Stay The Course

I was perusing through Yahoo Finance while eating my lunch today and wasn’t really paying that much attention to what I was looking at. As I was skimming the headlines I almost started laughing at what I saw. Here are some headlines that I found all on the same site! Disclaimer: This post is not to bash Yahoo Finance. I like Yahoo Finance. It is merely to prove a point.

Stocks Rise as Profits at Banks Provide Boost- AP

23 states report higher unemployment in September- AP

Oil falls to around $78 as inventories weigh- Reuters

The Days Of 'Buy and Hold' Are Over, says John Mauldin- Tech

John Mauldin: Tax Hikes Will Kill the 'Recovery’, Which Isn’t Real Anyway- Tech Ticker

Housing Prices: Expected to Drop More in the Next Year?

Stimulus Push Is On, Even If It Isn't Called That

Recovery in Luxury Goods Still Out of Reach

Holiday Shopping Season Gets Early Start

Foreclosure Epidemic Reaching More Expensive Homes

Is the economy recovering? Recovered? Slumping? A Farce? Are we on the brink of another crash? With headlines like the ones above who knows what to believe? With an onslaught of daily information more prevalent now than in any time in history it is important to filter through the minutia to take what information you need while trashing the rest. Do I read articles like the ones above? Yes. But I do so more to stay familiar with the general positions of the articles than I do to develop an investing strategy. If you cannot brave the storm of financial and investing information that is thrown your way it is easy, as illustrated by the headlines above, to run in 50 different directions at once without accomplishing the life goals that are the reason you are investing in the first place. Here are a few things that I try to remind myself when I am doubting my strategy, feeling restless, feeling impatient, etc.:

1. Remember your life goals – You should already be enjoying your life. You should also want to make it better. You should be investing to make your ideal vision of life a reality and to secure your financial future. If your vision of a great life is based on values and those values are aligned more on the family, friends, experiences side of the house as opposed to the Lamborghini, having six pools, and a castle side then you don’t need to drastically earn massive amounts of wealth tomorrow. Live your life today and make gradual improvements over time with your financial decisions furthering those goals.

2. Think long term – Massive amounts of wealth are rarely made over night. Those that are made overnight are even more rarely made in the market. Chances are that person is not going to be you. A long term consistent approach to building wealth is never dead (as claimed above) because as investment vehicles, strategies, and laws change, a long term investment horizon can absorb the unforeseen consequences of the changes and will likely beat many of the speculators on the way back up. Time and asset allocation are the biggest determinations of success that you have. Run any compounding interest model and be amazed at the power of time! Besides all that, long term investing is a hell of a lot more relaxing.

3. You only suffer losses when you sell – When you operate on a long term investing horizon it’s much more difficult to pull the trigger at the wrong time. If you don’t like your unrealized gains just wait longer. When you operate your investment scope on days your time frame to make a wise decision (or to guess wisely) is measured in minutes or seconds. When you operate in terms of decades your time frame to make wise decisions is measured in days, months or even years. By stretching the scope of your vision you have effectively error proofed your decision making ability. And if you do make a decision that looks bad in hindsight you likely are only cutting into unrealized gains and not original principle.

4. Building wealth isn’t always sexy – An average person can accumulate large amounts of money over time simply by investing in a total market index fund or a life cycle fund. Will you outperform the market? No. Will you be able to talk hot stock tips with your neighbor? No. Will your life resemble a scene out of Boiler Room? No. Should you give a shit? NO! Who cares. Investing is the one ‘sport’ where being average, as in mirroring the market, will put you ahead of a great deal of investors whose potential gains are getting chipped away through fees, emotional decisions, and the next big fool proof investing strategy that doesn’t work. Don’t compete against others, compete against the goals you have set for your life.

Personal MBA Update - The 4-Hour Work Week

Personal MBA Update - The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss: I have been wanting to read this book for quite some time and I finally got around to reading it. It was also part of my Personal MBA self education journey which was a bonus as well. I really liked this book a lot. I am sure this book gets a lot of criticism from the typical naysayers who think that people who write books like The 4-Hour Work Week just write them to make money. It is one of those books that gets you pumped up to get started. To go do something. To change your way of thinking. However, I couldn't help but think throughout the entire book that Timothy walks the talk. You can learn more about him here. He must be doing something right. There were a few key points that I took away from this book that I think are permanently embedded in me. First was the emphasis on the new rich. The new rich is all about a lifestyle design. People think they have to be rich to do the things they always want to do so they slave away in the corporate world for years sacrificing a lot of years of their lives to have a good life post retirement. This book encourages people to live how you want to live NOW. I kind of have this mentality already but I definitely could be better at actually living it out. This book provides a far end of the spectrum view of living a four hour workweek and creating your ideal lifestyle design. But if the book is the furthest point north, just head that direction. If you get anywhere closer from where you are it was worth it. The other huge lesson I took away from this book was the purposeful creation of a business with automation in mind. The goal should not be to start of business with you as the vortex of all business operations. The goal should be to create a system that runs itself and provides you with a mindless stream of income so you can pursue the things you have always dreamed of. A very simple concept but very enlightening. Obviously the book is a lot easier read than done but that shouldn't deter a reader from learning from its valuable lessons. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to aspiring entrepreneurs as they are susceptible to starting a business that creates a life they don't enjoy instead of freeing them from one they don't enjoy. Here are my notes from the book.

- " Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain
- "Anyone who lives within their means suffers from lack of imagination." - Oscar Wilde
- What I do with my time and what I do for money are completely different things
- The new rich are those who abandon the deferred life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the new rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science referred to as lifestyle design.
- People don't want to be millionaires they want to experience what they believe only millionaires can buy.
- What is the pot of gold that justifies spending the best years of your life hoping for happiness in the last?
D for definition turns misguided common sense upside down
E for elimination kills the notion of time management
A for automation puts cash flow on autopilot
L for liberation is mobile manifesto for the globally inclined
- Entrepreneur is one who shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher yield - JB Say french economist
- "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." Niels Bohr
- "Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid." - Heinrich Heine
- "Reality is merely an illusion albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
- "These individuals have riches just as we say that we might "have a fever" when the fever really has us." - Seneca
- "I also have in mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters." Henry David Thoreau
- The new rich can be separated from the crowd based on their goals, which reflect very distinct priorities and life philospohies.
- "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard P Feynman
- Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of w's you can control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. Called the freedom multiplier.
- 80 hr per week investment banker making $500K may be worth less when we look at lifestyle output of their money.
- Options: the ability to choose is real power
- "Civilization had too many rules for me so I did my best to rewrite them." Bill Crosby
- "Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life." JFK
- " I cant give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time." Herbert Bayard Swope
- "Everything popular is wrong." Oscar Wilde
- Kickboxing champ by exploiting the rules
- If everyone is defining a problem or solving it one way and results are sub par this is the time to ask what if I did the opposite? Don't follow a model that doesn't work. If recipe sucks it doesn't matter how good a cook you are.
- The basic rules for successful new rich are surprisingly uniform and predictably divergent from what the rest of the world is doing.
1. Retirement is worst case scenario insurance
a. Predicated that you don't like what you are doing now b. most cant maintain a good standard of living for 30 years c. if you cant maintain your ambitions you'll be so bored you'll be out of retirement anyways so why wait?
2. Interest and energy are cyclical
3. Less is not laziness
4. The timing is never right
5. Ask forgiveness not permission
6. Emphasize strengths don't fix weaknesses
7. Things in excess become their opposite
8. Money alone is not the solution
9. Relative income is more important than absolute income
10. Distress is bad eustress is good
- "Many false step was made by standing still." Fortune Cookie
- "Named must your fear be before banish it you can." Yoda
- "Action may not always bring happiness but there is no happiness without action." Benjamin Disraeli
- "Set aside a certain number of days during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with course and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: "Is this the condition that I feared?"" Seneca
- "Theres no difference between a pessimist who says, oh its hopeless so don't bother doing anything and an optimist who says don't bother doing anything its going to turn out fine anyway. Either way nothing happens." Yvon Chouinard
- Are you better off that a year, month, week ago? If not things wont be better by themselves. Fear is disguised as optimism
- What would seem like a disaster from the outside was the most life affirming epiphany he'd ever experienced: The worst really wasn't that bad. To enjoy life you don't need fancy nonsense but you do need to control your time and realise that most things just aren't as serious as you make them out to be.
- "I'm an old man and have known great many troubles, but most of them never happened." Mark Twain
1. Define your nightmare
2. What could you do to repair the damage?
3. What are the outcomes or benefits?
4. If you were fired today what would you do to get things under financial control?
5. What are you putting off out of fear?
6. What is it costing you financially and emotionally and physically to postpone the action?
7. What are you waiting for?
- Doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic
- If you are insecure guess what the rest of the world is too. Don't overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself.
- Dreamlining: 1. The goals shift from ambiguous wants to defined steps 2. The goals have to be unrealistic to be effective 3. It focuses on activities that will fill the vacuum when work is removed. Living like a millionaire requires doing interesting things and not just owning enviable things.
1. What would you do if there were no way you could fail? If you were 10 times smarter than the rest of the world? 6 Months and 12 months 5 things you dream of having being and doing
2. Drawing a blank?
3. What does "being" entail doing? Convert into actionable items great cook-make Xmas dinner without help
4. What are the four dreams that would change it all?
5. Determine the cost of these dreams and calculate your target monthly income
- Sample page 56
6. Determine three steps for each of your 4 dreams and take the first step now
- There is a direct correlation between an increased sphere of comfort and getting what you want
- Comfort Challenge: Learn to Eye gaze 1. Focus on one eye and blink so you don't look like a psycho or get your ass kicked 2. In conversation maintain eye contact when you re speaking easier when listening 3. Practice with bigger or more confident people
- "Once does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity." Bruce Lee
- "Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away." Antoine De Saint-Exupery
- "It is vain to do more with more what can be done with less." William of Occam
- A few words on time management: forget about it.
1. Doing something unimportant well doesn't make it important 2. Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important
- What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency is still important but is useless unless applied to the right things.
- "What gets measured gets managed." Peter Drucker
- Pareto: 1. Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness? 2. Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?
- Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action
- How is it possible that all the people in the world need exactly 8 hours to accomplish their work? It isn't. 9-5 is arbitrary.
- Parkinson's law - a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion
1. Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time 2. Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important.
- At least thee times a day ask the following question: Am I being productive or just active? Or am I just inventing things to do to avoid the important?
- Define a short to do list and a not to do list
1. If you had a heart attack and had to work two hours per day what would you do?
2. If you had a second attack and worked two hours per month what would you do?
3. If you had a gun to your head and had to remove 4/5 of different time consuming activities what would you remove?
4. What are the 3 activities that I use to fill time to feel as though Ive been productive?
5. If this is the only thing I accomplish today will I be satisfied?
6. Put a post it or outlook calender reminder to alert you 3 times a day with the question "Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?"
7. Do not multitask
8. Use Parkinson's law on a macro and micro level
- Comfort Challenge: Learn to propose - stop asking for opinions and start proposing solutions. Both personally and professionally. "Can I make a suggestion?" "I propose" "Id like to propose" "I suggest that...what do you think?" "Lets try....and then something else if that doesn't work."
- "There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant." Ralph Waldo Emerson
- "Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace." Robert J Sawyer
- "Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player not the chess piece." Ralph Charell
- "Meetings are an addictive, highly self indulgent activity that corporations and other organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot actually masturbate." Dave Barry
- Bully example page 91
1. Time wasters 2. Time consumers 3. Empowerment Failures Principle Int eruptions
- limit email to 2 times a day noon and 4pm
- limit outgoing phone calls
- master the art of refusal and avoiding meetings
1. Most are non urgent so make order of communication email, phone, in person
2. Respond to voicemail via email when possible
3. Meetings are only to make decisions not to define a problem
4. Define an end time for a meeting
5. Don't permit casual visitors to office
6. Use the puppy dog close
- Create systems to limit your availability via email and phone and deflect inappropriate contact
- Batch activities to limit setup cost and provide more dreamline time
- Set or request autonomous rules and guidelines with occasional review of results
- Comfort challenge: revisit the terrible twos - say no to all requests
- "The future is here. Its just not widely distributed yet." William Gibson coined term cyberspace in 1984
- "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." Malcom X
- getting a remote personal assistant is a huge departure point and marks the moment you learn how to give orders and be commander instead of commanded. Training for critical NR skills remote management and communication
- "The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency." Bill Gates
1. Each delegated task must be time consuming and well defined
2. Have fun with it
1. Accepted the first VA at the firm and made no special requests
2. Gave imprecise directions - needed one possible interpretation at a 2nd grade level
3. Gave a license to waste time
4. Set deadline a week in advance - no more than 72 hours Parkinson's law
5. Gave too many tasks and no order of importance
- Example email to VA on page 134
- Questions and actions: 1. Get an assistant even if you don't need one 2. Start small but think big 3. Identify your top 5 time consuming non work tasks and 5 personal tasks you could assign for fun
- Comfort challenge - use the criticism sandwich: Praise, deliver the criticism, close with topic shifting praise to exit sensitive topic
- "Just set it and forget it" Ron Popeil
- "As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble." Ralph Waldo Emerson
- What would you do if you didn't have to think about money? Its time to find your muse.
- "When I was younger....I didn't want to be pigeonholed....Basically now you want to be pigeonholed. Its your niche. - Joan Chen actress in Last Emperor and Twin Peaks
1. What social, industry, and professional groups do you or have you longed to or do you understand?
2. Which of those groups have their own magazines?
- "Genius is only a superior power of seeing." John Ruskin
1. Pick an affordably reachable niche market 2. Brainstorm products a) resell b) license "I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow." Woodrow Wilson c) product creation "creation is a better means of self expression than possession; it is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed." - Vida D Scudder
-Comfort challenge: Find Yoda - call at least one superstar mentor per day for 3 days, email only after calling
- Bluehost.com
1. Market selection 2. product brainstorm 3. Micro testing 4. Roll out and automation
- Comfort Challenge: rejecting first offers and working away
- Websites on page 180
- Most entrepreneurs don't start out with automation as the goal
- This intentional absence has enabled him to create a process driven instead of founder driven business. Limiting contact with managers forces the entrepreneur to develop operational rules that enable others to deal with problems themselves instead of calling for help.
- Begin with the end in mind pg 185 chart
- "The system is the solution." AT&T
1. Contract outsourcing companies who specialize in one function with numerous people to replace each other as needed
2. Ensure outsourcers are willing to communicate amongst themselves to solve problems
- "Companies go out of business when they make the wrong decisions or just as important make too many decisions. The latter creates complexity. Mike Maples
1. Offer one or two purchase options 2. Do not offer multiple shipping options 3. Do not offer overnight or expedited delivery 4. Eliminate phone orders 5. Don't offer international shipping
- Use lose win guarantees
- Comfort challenge: relax in public - lie on the ground in public
- "It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains." Thomas H. Huxley
- "By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day." Robert Frost
- "On this path it is only the first step that counts." St Jean Baptise Marie Vianney
1. Increased investment - company to invest as much as possible in you so the loss is greater if you quit
2. Prove increased output offsite
3. Prepare the quantifiable business benefit - show benefit of working outside the office
4. Propose a revocable trial period
5. Expand remote time
- "Recently I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. Thomas J Watson founder of IBM
- Questions and actions:
1. If you had a heart attack how could you work remotely for four weeks?
2. Put yourself in your boss' shoes. Based on history would you trust you to work outside the office
3. Practice environment free productivity
4. Quantify current productivity
5. Create an opportunity and demonstrate remote work productivity before asking for it as a policy
6. Practice the art of getting past no before proposing
7. Put your employer on remote training wheels - Propose Monday or Friday at home
8. Extend each successful trial period until you reach full time or desired level of mobility
- "Would you like me to give you a formula for success? Its quite simple really. Double your rate of failure." Thomas J Watson founder of IBM
- Mexican fishing story pg 232
- "There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mohandas Gandhi
- "This is the very imperfection of man, to find out his own imperfection." Saint Augustine
- mini retirements: 1. take an asset and cash flow snapshot 2. fear set a one year mini retirement in a dream location 3. choose a location for your actual mini retirement a)choose starting point and wander b) scout a region and settle on your favorite 4. prepare for your trip - eliminate and automate
- Websites pg 256
- "To be engrossed by something outside ourselves is a powerful antidote for the rational mind, the mind that so frequently has its head up its own ass." Anne Lamott
- "There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do." Bill Watterson
- "Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another." Anatole France
- "People say that what we are seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think this is what were really seeking. I think what were seeking is an experience of being alive." Joseph Campbell
- "What man actually needs is not a tension less state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task." Viktor E Frankl
- Life exists to be enjoyed and that the most important thing is to feel good about yourself
1. Continual learning 2. Service
- Service is an attitude
- "Adults are always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up because they are looking for ideas." Paula Poundstone
- "The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive." Thich Nhat Hanh
1. Revisit ground zero: Do nothing 2. Make an anonymous donation 3. Take a learning mini retirement in combination with local volunteering 4. Revisit and reset dream lines 5. Based on 1-4 consider new or part time vocations
- "If you don't make mistakes your not working on hard problems. And that's a big mistake." Frank Wilczek
- " Ho imparato che niente e impossibile e anche che quasi niente e facile (ive learned that nothing is impossible and that almost nothing is easy...) Articolo 31 Italian rap group
- Mistakes of the new rich: 1. losing sight of dreams and falling into work for works sake 2. Micromanaging and emailing to fill time 3. Handling problems your outsourcers or co workers can handle 4. Helping outsourcers or coworkers with the same problem more than once or non crisis problems 5. Chasing customers 6. Answering email that will not result in a sale or could be answered by FAQ auto responder 7. Working where you live, sleep or should relax 8. Not performing a thorough 80/20 analysis every two to four weeks 9. Striving for endless perfection instead of good enough 10. Blowing minutiae and small problems out of proportion as excuse to work 11. Making non time sensitive issues urgent to justify work 12. Viewing one product job project as end all be all of your existence 13. Ignoring the social rewards of life.
- "There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living there is nothing harder to learn." Seneca
- "For the past 33 years I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been NO for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something - all external expectations all pride all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Rememberin that you are going to die is the best way I know to aboid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." - Steve Jobs
- Books page 288

Driven - Myron Rolle

“You’re not talking about somebody who is just driven. You’re talking about somebody who is truly special, the kind of person who becomes a president or a world leader … he’s different.”

I think this quote sums up what this article is all about. Myron Rolle is a student athlete that needs to be talked about. He is an athlete that is going about things the 'right way.' He is a guy that young kids need to be exposed to. If you read this article I am pretty sure you will be impressed. Its not often that you come across a potential NFL draft pick that is simultaneously trying to become a neurosurgeon. Then throw in the fact that he is a motivational speaker and works on multinational healthcare programs and you really do have someone who is special.

But where Holmes will eventually head back to Pittsburgh to resume his football career, Rolle is putting that part of his life on hold. He’s heading to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in September as he takes a year away from the game to chase the neurosurgeon gig. Even as Rolle keeps himself in shape these days, hoping to maintain his status as a first- or second-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft, he has made the medical gig a high priority as well. After a day of training, Rolle has spent afternoons shadowing orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brad Homan at nearby Celebration Hospital. He has gone on rounds and even observed Homan in the operating room.

“I didn’t set that up for Myron,” said Shaw, one of the best-known trainers with a client list featuring the likes of Deion Sanders and Michael Vick(notes). “He did that on his own because he wanted to. Most of the guys I have here, they want to go test drive a car at Richard Petty’s track or go fishing or get on the golf course when they’re done working out. Myron spends his afternoon thinking about what he’s going to do next with his life.

I think that Rolle possesses a quality that we can all learn from. He taking advantage of the time he has on this earth. Although he may be at the extreme end of the spectrum, we all look back at times and think that we could have made better use of the time we had during a given chapter of our lives. Not many people look back and wish they did less with their life. Its good to read a feel good story like this once in a while.

Real Estate Investing: A Dialogue Amongst Friends

Here is another interesting back and forth (mostly forth on my part) between a friend and I. This friend is extremely smart, an awesome dude, and a very entrepreneurial person. Throughout the existence of BadskiBlog I have preached that there is no one set investment advice. That is why it is so important to know your goals and your strategy for achieving those goals. Because it is those goals that will dictate which investing advice you will take, and which you will leave for the next guy. Just because my friend and I do not have the same world view on this topic does not mean that I am right and he is wrong or vice versa. I would argue that we are both right given our goals and investing strategies. I have included my friends contributions in italics

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107122/Is-Your-Home-a-Good-Investment?

Guys,

See above link. Part of this discussion is why I am not big on buying homes unless you plan to live there for a long time....

Love Forever,

BK

Reese,
I just posted a blog post on the index yesterday. I think what the article fails to address is that the majority of the benefits of
being a property owner aren't Annual Return. And that return is skewed by not taking into account Cash on Cash return. If you buy $10K worth of stock, how much is that stock worth at that moment? $10K.....not a trick question. If you buy $10K worth of property how much is that property worth? It could be worth $100K or even $200K depending on financing. So if the price of that $100K property appreciates by the 1.5% the article claims after factoring the CPI then it would be worth $101,500.00. Not a great return. But you have to look at cash on cash return. You only put in $10K of your own money. $1,500 is a much more significant portion of $10K than $100,000; it's actually a 15% cash on cash return.

Leverage can work the opposite way as well but how many houses go out of business? Not many. And as I always say with both stocks and property, you only lock in losses if you sell.

After you look at the income potential from renting out a property, the tax advantages, and the control you have over the present value of your investment I think that property is a really good investment.

I do however agree completely with Reese that some people shouldn't own homes unless you live there for a while. The situation I am in getting moved to Boston has put me in a tough spot with my condo. However, I feel that I have the business sense and the stamina to become a landlord and continue building equity in my property. Each person's situation is different. Good read.

What Do You Want?

I read this post by Ben Casnocha yesterday and found it interesting. He is reviewing a book, which I haven't read, and eventually gets to talking about being consumed with start-up or business success. Read the full post here. Ben argues that this is one of the drawbacks with the start-up life and admits that he doesn't know whether or not it is necessary to success in that area.

Most ambitious companies -- certainly start-ups -- require of their employees single-mindedness. They demand all-consuming focus, and to "give thought to the critical personal and political issues that affect one's emotional present" is seen a distraction. Some of the successful business executives I've met are absolutely immersed in their professional micro-universe. The politics of the world, their personal relationships, their personal philosophies: who cares? Whether they realize they're wearing blinders, I don't know. Whether blinders are necessary to achieve massive professional success, I also don't know.

I would take it a step further and say that this is a drawback to the pursuit of anything in life. When you want something and pursue it you risk becoming consumed by it. I did this with hockey for the majority of my life. I don't regret my personal pursuit of excellence in hockey, and I attribute much of my success to that desire and passion.

People struggle with being consumed by something they love and desire when they aren't honest with themselves about what they truly want out of life and/or by having a narrowed scope of a small portion of their overall life journey. You must know what you want out of life, and just because you want the one thing that is consuming you doesn't mean that there aren't other things in you life you wish to pursue and enjoy as well. So you want business success. What happens when you achieve it? What is the end state? One of my personal mantra's is "always content, never satisfied." This is my personal reminder to always enjoy where you are at and what you are doing, but to always be wanting and driving for more. To always want a better life for myself. I remind myself of this to put into perspective the things I enjoy in life as well; family, friends, experiences, learning, achievement, etc. You can see how focusing on meeting that sales quota for example can drown out those other things. Be honest with yourself and keep the totality of how you want your life to play out in mind.