April 22, 2024
Good morning!
Happy Day of the Earth; we’re thinking it should get more than just one day. 
Happy Feast of Passover.
Frolicking, fluttering finches flitting about with chickadees, juncos, chipmunks and rabbits… it’s as if they’re making an animated Disney film
The torch is lit… and it has considerably less distance to travel this year.
Like it or not, you now only have half as many BitCoins as you did a day or two ago.
How invested do you think Warren Buffet is in BitCoin?
- Fun fact: $250,000 annual compensation to manage a WalMart store in Waco, TX; not sure about other locations.
- There is always one more book, one more seminar, one more conference, one more distraction, five pens to straighten…
- But, just go to work. It all boils down to doing the fundamental things exceptionally well. Stay focused.
- A Flicker pecking in the dirt (unusual?) — and rambunctious Robins.
- I don’t think of Robins as aggressive or territorial, yet I’m apparently wrong.
- I watched as the male alpha among 20 or more equally-endowed birds used domineering posture and tactics to keep his competitors away from the bird bath.
- Not once or twice, but dozens of times this self-appointed King of Robins kept others at bay using an effective whack-a-mole technique.
- Younger and newer investors who have relied more on automated investment systems — so-called robo-advisers…
- … fared better during the COVIDs financial market crash than those relying on their own human skills or intuition. (Nelson)
- “Compared to humans, the automated systems traded more adaptively and with greater discipline to mitigate losses.
- The investors who actively used robo-advisers were able to de-risk their portfolios much more effectively during the financial market crisis.
- People who trusted their own expertise and didn’t use robo-advisers traded frequently, but they did not reduce the risk of their portfolios… they lost money.” (Ibid.)
- It’s unclear who invented it, but the phenomenon is growing by exponential proportions.
- It’s the ubiquitous conga-inspired amassing of vehicles queued for pupil pick-up at schools almost everywhere; it happens in the morning for drop-off, too, but it’s less chaotic.
- We won’t recall the days when students walked home from school — too much risk of being labeled old and out of touch.
- In some of these conga lines — gasp! — adult behaviour is known to deteriorate right in front of the kids… and sometimes in front of the principal.
- The analogy might be the Wells Fargo stagecoaches criss crossing the Western frontier in the post-war 1800s.
- They carried passengers, light cargo, and maybe gold.
- It wasn’t so much a question of IF they would get robbed, but WHEN.
- Cyberattacks will increase and cost ordinary people billions — trillions — of dollars… because there is money to be made (stolen) if you are a crook.
- By one estimate, the Paris Olympics is preparing to thwart billions of attempted cyberattacks… and plans to achieve 100% success at thwarting.
- If you care about finding the best talent, here are three principles to consider:
- Find highly talented people who continually improve; get them to work well together.
- Define specific values and attributes that are essential
- Coach team members to higher levels of excellence
- Evaluate, communicate, coach, repeat…
- Evaluate the gains before the gaps
- The brain — and human nature — is naturally wired to look for what’s wrong… but look at gains and strengths
- Recognize and celebrate
- Do not be paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection
- There is no perfect person or team — only the right one.
- You’re not perfect yourself, don’t expect it of others, nor as an unrealistic, unattainable goal. (Inspired by Eades)
- For the first time in five years, executives surveyed in the latest McKinsey Global Survey on Economic Conditions point to policy and regulatory changes as a top threat…
- … to their companies’ performance more often than any other risk. (March, 2024)
- CEOs in the United States are feeling optimistic about the U.S. economy, and many are predicting increased sales and capital investments…
- … for the first time since 2022 CEOs are projecting a steady pace of growth, with GDP expanding by 2.1% in 2024. (Business Roundtable survey, 2024)
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- Laurie Santos at Yale has done a ton of work on the subject of happiness, mental health, depression, and, Etc., especially among young people.
- As a society we have put a perverse and inverted value on being busy… who can win at being the most busy?!
- We hear more and more, there is a mental health crisis in the United States.
- True? False? Maybe? We don’t have lots of longitudinal data, but Laurie’s research provides a few answers for now.
- First, yes, happiness is important — and it can be learned, and practiced, and you can get better at it.
- Life circumstances don’t matter that much.
- Improving your own happiness takes practice, discipline, a plan, and the development of habits, really good habits.
- Analogy: You can read, think, and talk about exercise ’til the cows come home… it doesn’t do any good until you actually go do it.
- The things many people chase; e.g., money, work, status, stuff have almost nothing to do with happiness.
- Social connections are the #1 most important factor in happiness — face-to-face social connections, they don’t have to be primary relationships.
- Helping others is huge.
- We’ve heard this before: Develop and practice an attitude of gratitude.
- Live in the moment; let the now wash over you, breathe, look, listen, love, cherish.
- Become rich with time, fill your calendar with time to the extent possible, and then give yourself a little bit more.
- Worth a listen — and as you’ll discover, yes you have time:
Happiness
