A Learning a Day

Charlie Munger regularly shares a powerful story about Warren Buffet’s investment advice.

When Warren lectures at business schools, he says, “I could improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had 20 punches—representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime. And once you’d punched through the card, you couldn’t make any more investments at all.”

He says, “Under those rules, you’d really think carefully about what you did and you’d be forced to load up on what you’d really thought about. So you’d do so much better.”

“Fewer things done better” is one of those ideas that is 3 things at once – 1) broadly applicable, 2) nearly always great advice, and 3) so bloody hard to actually execute on.

“All ideas with merit are common property.” | Seneca on Epicurus

I am on a stoic book binge. It started with “The Socrates Express” – a beginner’s introduction to philosophy.

After a post with an excerpt from his chapter on stoicism that resonated, Juan recommended I read “The Guide to the Good life” (The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy) by William B Irvine. This book is a beginner’s introduction to stoicism.

As I read Irvine’s notes on stoicism, I realized that it is the philosophy I’ve been writing about all these years without knowing it. I’m still working on a simple synthesis of what stoicism is all about. For now, I think it is best described as a combination of extreme gratitude, perspective, and reflection.

After this beginner’s introduction, the natural next step was to go straight to the source. So, I’ve started with Seneca’s letters and have Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius on my queue. You now know expect plenty of notes from these philosophers in the coming weeks. :-)

All this brings us back to the quote I shared from Seneca. One of the fascinating theme in the first few letters to his friend Lucilius is the frequency with which he quotes Epicurus. This can strike you as odd because Epicurus was the founder of a rival school of philosophy.

Seneca realizes this and notes that we ought not to measure the merit of an idea based on who it is from.

All ideas with merit are, and should be, common property.

Every once a while, I’m guilty of attempting to fill every bit of space in our dishwasher.

Every time that happens, the dishes don’t get cleaned as well. The dishes inevitably get in the way of each other producing sub-par results.

Excess capacity is useful – in dishwashers and in life.

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” | Seneca

Many of us are poorer than we think. :-)

When we struggle to follow through on our hopes of building a new habit, our default reaction is to blame it on a lack of discipline.

While discipline is sometimes the culprit, I’ve found that we often fail to clarify why that new habit matters. Developing a new habit requires us to break old ones. And, it is hard to do that without clarity on why the juice will be worth the squeeze.

It takes thought and effort to develop that clarity – significantly more effort than it takes to make the commitment.

But, the presence of that clarity can help us summon the discipline we need.

Discipline problems are often clarity problems.

We were getting out of a parking lot on our bikes recently. Our 4 year old was having some difficulty maneuvering her bike. A man who was waiting for her to turn to get into his car gave me an exasperated look.

Once she managed to get out and cross the road, I noticed folks in one of the cars that was waiting give her and us a warm smile.

I’ve experienced this a few times as a parent over the years. A year or so ago, we saw this play out in the seats in front of us on a flight. Our then one and a half year old tapped on the seat in front of him just as we were getting seated. In response, the man in front of him told him off.

I tried reminding him that he’s just one and a half and is just getting seated. “My kids didn’t behave this way when they were small” – he shot back and continued to grumble for the next ten minutes about having to sit in front of misbehaving kids.

Another passenger in the same row tried reminding him that the offending kid was all of eighteen months. He also shared that he missed his kid while he was traveling and gave us kind smiles.

To no avail.

They finally moved seats a few minutes later.

Such experiences remind me that we perceive situations differently. This perception is a result of our mindset, our environment, and our previous experiences.

They also serve to remind me of the importance of an inner compass. The more dependent we are on the approval and perception of others, the more likely we’ll find joy and tranquility absent in our days.

“You can’t really decide to paint a masterpiece. You just have to think hard, work hard, and try to make a painting that you care about. Then, if you’re lucky, your work will find an audience for whom it’s meaningful.” | Susan Kare, designer of the original Mac interface.

Filed as a beautiful reminder of the idea that you never know if a good day is a good day. So, just keep swimming, keep swimming…

(H/T: The Practice by Seth Godin)

I posted about a proposal to improve government systems a few days ago. I received notes from a couple of folks in response either empathizing or reminding me that government systems are bad as a rule because we don’t have any options.

I also posted about the first rule of giving good advice yesterday – don’t give advice unless it is asked. Two moms wrote in wondering/suggesting if moms should be an exception. :-)

All of these notes are valid.

As a rule, government systems suck. But, there are plenty of exceptions. We’ve all experienced them. California DMVs, for example, are known for poor service. And, yet, there’s a DMV close by which is outstanding. Similarly, the government of Singapore could compete with any high performing corporation in its ability to manage processes.

As a rule, it is helpful to not give advice unless it is asked. A lot of time and energy is wasted in doing so. But, there are times when the rules don’t apply. People sometimes need to hear what they don’t want to hear.

Every rule has exceptions. Those exceptions often prove the rule.

And, perhaps most interestingly, the opposite of a good idea is often a good idea.

I haven’t synthesized what I’ve taken away/learnt from yesterday. But, I found myself reminded of a few notes I’ve thought about in the past:

(1) Ray Dalio’s powerful post about “archetypical cycle of internal order and disorder.” It is a long read but it points to his framework for the rise and decline of empires.

(2) The description of the internet as a giant machine that simply gives people what they want. That then led me to continue to think about the societal cost of algorithmic feeds and the resulting fracture of newspaper business model resulting in the drive to serve never-ending niches.

(3) And, related, Morgan Housel’s note – “Tell people what they want to hear and you can be wrong indefinitely without penalty” – is a beautiful articulation of a powerful and sometimes sad truth.

Don’t give advice unless it is asked.