Category: Life
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Serious possibilism
People often call me an optimist, because I show them the enormous progress they didn’t know about. That makes me angry. I’m not an optimist. That makes me sound naïve. I’m a very serious “possibilist.” That’s something I made up. It means someone who neither hopes without reason, nor fears without reason, someone who constantly…
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Ronald Read
One of my favorite recent discoveries is Ronald Read. Wikipedia describes him as an “American philanthropist, investor, janitor, and gas station attendant,” which you certainly don’t see very often. He amassed a small fortune simply by buying stocks, reinvesting the dividends, and sticking with his picks for many years. As the Wall Street Journal reports:…
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Getting ahead of it
When it’s possible, the best time to meet somebody is when you don’t need to meet them. In The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins writes: Remember: you don’t want to be meeting your neighbors for the first time in the middle of the night when your house is burning down. There’s also a big difference…
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Three appointments, please
A co-worker told me his secret to keeping a streak of haircut appointments: Because his barber is busy, he books three appointments in advance.
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Losing 101
You might’ve been born and bred to win. As a kid, you might’ve won awards, made the most friends, or been recognized as an excellent athlete. Many of us grow up like this, children of parents who were taught to do the same. We mostly learn to do this as individuals. In situations like this,…
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“This is not important”
This is how procrastination outsmarts you. It tells you, “[This] is not important.” So you may hear statements like, “This isn’t the right time for me to be doing this.” It may sound like, “I shouldn’t be doing my administrative work right now, because planning for the upcoming quarter is more important.” That’s fine, and…
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When emotions limit earnings
When I ran an editorial studio, I was often approached by clients to join their companies full-time. I declined these opportunities and conversations, because I enjoyed entrepreneurship and thought it was the best way to learn, until one client approached me with a salary that I found difficult to say no to. While money was…
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Advice for high performers
If you’ve been recognized as a high performer by someone, you’ll probably need to learn different things than everyone else. For example, while other people can let go of their work very easily, you may have trouble doing that; you can’t stop thinking about it when you get home. This might be fine in your…
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Free lunch
If you’re eating a lunch you didn’t pay for, you’ve exchanged something for it. Your time. Your energy. Your presence. Your compliance. Your opinions. Etc. Was it worth it?
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Paper happy
A paper gain is an, “Unrealized capital gain (loss) on securities held in a portfolio based on a comparison of current market price to original cost.” For example, if you bought a share of stock for $20 and it rose to $25, you’ll have $5 in paper gains. If you sell your share of stock…