Critical Thinking

“Most men would rather die, than think. Many do.” – Bertrand Russell.

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It is as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell

Ackman, Rubenstein on Markets, Money and More

Ackman’s approach to investment:

  1. Simple and predictable
  2. Free cash flow generative
  3. Dominant market position
  4. Large barriers to entry
  5. High return on capital
  6. Limited exposure to extrinsic risks we can’t control
  7. Strong balance sheet and don’t need access to outside capital to survive
  8. Excellent management and good governance

George Orwell

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”

George Orwell, 1984, Page: 332

You got to be resilient

Life is hard but you can make it. You got to sort yourself out and get your shit together and be resilient.

Resilient people possess three characteristics — a staunch acceptance of reality; a deep belief, often buttressed by strongly held values, that life is meaningful; and an uncanny ability to improvise. You can bounce back from hardship with just one or two of these qualities, but you will only be truly resilient with all three.

https://hbr.org/2015/01/what-resilience-means-and-why-it-matters?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social

America Will Struggle After Coronavirus. These Charts Show Why.

  1. G.D.P. measures a country’s total output. In the U.S., it has risen 79 percent since 1980, after adjusting for inflation and population growth.
  2. Over the same 40 years, the after-tax income of the bottom half of earners has risen only 20 percent …
  3. The after-tax income of earners near the middle has also badly trailed G.D.P., rising only 50 percent…
  4. But for the very wealthy, the story is completely different. Their after-tax incomes have risen much faster than G.D.P. — up 420 percent since 1980.
  5. Since Jan. 1, 2011, a family in the bottom 90 percent has effectively given the rich …
    $110,367.18

    America Will Struggle After Coronavirus. These Charts Show Why.

How Managers Become Leaders

“The skills that got you where you are may not be the requisite skills to get you to where you need to go. This doesn’t discount the accomplishments of your past, but they will not be everything you need for the next leg of the journey.”

https://hbr.org/2012/06/how-managers-become-leaders?utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&utm_campaign=hbr

Carpe Diem

“Carpe diem, seize the day and gather ye rosebuds while ye may.”

“Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, ‘Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!”

Robin Williams – Carpe Diem – Seize the day