koolhead17
The book was with me for over a year, I have realized over time you cannot read things you buy at an instant. As the title suggests book talks about people who predict or hedge bets on future events.
Below are the excerpts from the book summarizing them.
One thing which differentiates us from Robots is Our emotion. Emotions play a key role in how we respond to challenges. Our emotions can make or break our relationship or formal alliance. We are not Socrates to remain logical or rational on all occasions.
Emotional outbursts lead to an argument and act as a sign of incompetence or weakness.
On a receiving end one should deal it with empathy and care. Understanding the core issue for the outburst can help. Listening others without arguing also clears things.
Having a clear picture and end goal of working together and navigating through emotional outburst can be comforting.
Carol S. Dweck, author of Mindset has given intellectuals a whistle. I had my share last night, I heard Growth Mindset over a dozen times on a call.
Mindset
Growth: Work hard, learn new things, and grow.
Fixed: Don’t work hard, stay as you are, and lose the competition.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote Outliers on the research paper of K. Anders Ericsson. It takes 1000 hours of hard work to master anything.
Angela Duckworth in her book Grit talks on the similar lines. If you want something: don’t give up and work hard.
Angela Duckworth, Malcolm Gladwell, and Carol S. Dweck are talking about the same thing. All 3 of them are psychologists and made millions selling their books.
The good old wisdom of Charlie Munger talks about Incentives. I feel without incentive, which can be internal or external reading these books won’t help. Hence focus on your incentive first and magic will happen in your life.
I am not saying leave your current job and switch to better pastures. I am definitely saying hedge and take chances.
Dislike relationship, move one.
Dislike job, switch.
Just don’t crib and sulk in your miseries. In the end, it is your short life, you are the master of your destiny. Also no one gives FUCK about you in the universe. Own it, hedge some bet. Crying, burning in anger will shorten your life.
What matters is now,
What matters is who we are,
What matters is who are with us,
What matters is who believes in us,
What matters is whose advice we can take.
Everything else is noise.
When we stop caring about the world for appreciation, liking, salutations, and love that is when we are free. Once we are free we are living in our dreamland carefree as a child working on self-creation.
Creativity requires complete freedom but the world we are living in, we are a slave to externality. We all like being loved, appreciated, and recognized. We end up creating for what others will like instead of being self.
We end up living in multiple selves. It creates confusion, stress, and makes us vulnerable.
In the end, you are all alone, everyone has got their own problems. Build a world of your own.
I know Covid19 has had the biggest impact on a shared economy. Companies like Uber, WeWork, OYO are struggling to stay afloat. Layoff stories are everyday things now.
Matayoshi Son, the visionary behind Softbank fund is in the midst of all these crises. His vision fund 1 had to right off many investments. Venture Capital investments model works on binary return, either you get it all or go bonkers. It does not guarantee home runs on all investments.
Son’s vision is with OYO, Uber, or WeWork has been changing the entire market dynamics. Son has bet high on the sharing economy and a big believer of singularity. No one is left unhurt from the result of covid19, some are suffering more.
Sitting on the other side of the fence and giving an expert opinion or writing boom/bust piece for page hits is very easy. What is difficult is building, believing, and taking huge bets.
Lastly, chances are the phone with which you are writing your angry tweets would be running ARM, backed by Softbank.
Why do we get distracted and move away from the core? Many organization tries to expand and enter into non-core and lose their focus. The one thing which defines them gets a blow.
Is it a growth mindset or greed? The quest for expansion is a double-edged sword. When it backfires, your existence comes crumbling.
We are living an era of creative destruction, moats are short-lived. Most innovation should be on doubling down the one thing which differentiates to rest.
Why do we crave recognition from outside?
Why should other’s judgment matter? Is it not our life?
Why are we living it on someone else’s terms and conditions?
How can you love or be committed to something or someone when from inside you are broken and defeated?
We miss others without taking a cue from ourselves. So much time we spend on externals that we are getting sick within. We are living a life defined by others.
Nothing is permanent: relationship, possessions, or achievement. Time flies and waits for no one. Every generation has its idols, taste & way of leading life. Yet we live in the world with century-old laws, education system, and superstitions.
The only thing which one has to live is now, not past or future. Our past is behind us, the future is unpredictable. Now is what we have with us. What is the point of gloating over our past or shouting about future plans? Why can’t we live now and make most of our life?