Thinking Zag – Page 2 – Books | Philosophy | Investing

The Psychology of Money – Life Lessons Learnt

January 28, 2021 No Comments

Morgan Housel – the author of the book – The Psyschology of Money starts with a story of two investors. I’d like to start with a story of my own

Mr L is a well read finance professional, armed with an accounting degree, balanced emotional behaviour and with a decade long track record of identifying stocks several of which have turned out to multibaggers.

Mr V is a humble school teacher – with absolutely no financial background and very little understanding of how markets work.

If I asked you which individual is more likely to generated 100 bagger returns in the market – my guess is that you would lean towards the former.

However by now you would have got the drift of where I am going with this. Mr V beat Mr L by a huge margin. The best Mr L has ever done is a 10X – while Mr V did manage a 100 bagger.

Mr V by the way is my father.

The moral of the story is doing well with investing is not about how much you know but about how you behave.

Personal Development

KMF – Keep Moving Forward

January 25, 2021 No Comments

Over the course of my lifetime, I have picked up many small hacks to get over my innumerable pockets of procrastination. Everybody procrastinates in some form or another. Having a mental tool to get you out of your inertia is so life affirming.

I learnt this phrase from one of my mentors- Robin Sharma

KEEP MOVING FORWARD (KMF)
Robin Sharma

Its a very simple affirmation that I keep repeating to myself whenever I seem to get stuck on a project, in the middle of the day or just about any other time where I can’t figure out what to do.

Keep moving forward reminds me of a very simple thing to do. Just move forward. Just do the next small baby step that you can imagine. Find something small in the direction of your goals and go ahead and do it. Somethings I would write down that small little item and check it off.

Journaling, Philosophy

Journaling – Traversing the Pathway inside your head from Anxious to Awesome

January 22, 2021 No Comments

As I was struggling about what next to write about on the blog, I turned to my tried and tested method of sorting through my thinking – which is journaling. Putting pen to paper – the old fashioned way – real pen on a moleskine notebook gives me the the clarity of thought I crave for. Everytime I do end up journaling – I chastise myself for not doing it so often despite the fact that the feeling is so therapeutic. There is something absolute pure and unfiltered about getting all the chatter in your head down on a peace of paper. I cant really call it meditation – but I guess that’s what the experience feels like.

So in a nutshell – what I suggest today for folks who just cant seem to get out of their head and feel increasing bouts of anxiety – get it all out in a journal.

Not an original idea – but It works -so you have to try it yourself. A lot of creative folks try to get stuck in this whole paradigm of having something original to say. But repeating and doing what the wordly wise have done for ages to come and passing on that worldly wisdom to perhaps 1 tender soul who’s never heard it before is worth it in my view. If you have heard it before, consider this a reaffirmation of its benefits.

Philosophy

3 Life Lessons from the India Australia Test Series

January 19, 2021 No Comments

A bunch of youngsters took on the mighty full strength Australian team and beat them to win the Test series in Australia. I was fortunate enough to catch the last few overs of this test match. It still gives me goosebumps thinking about the match and the unbelievable victory. I am sure most Indians like me perhaps woke up praying that it would rain for half a day atleast and we would be able to draw out the match. Far too often have we seen past teams crumble under pressure. It wasn’t meant to be however. This was after all a Terrific Tuesday.

It is definitely a moment to cherish. As I sit back late at night going over umpteen articles and forwards trying to relive those moments, several parallels to day to day life came to the fore. These are 3 important life lessons that were reaffirmed for me and i would like to remember from this historic cricketing victory

Philosophy

Contentment, Complacency and Ambition

January 18, 2021 No Comments

Being on the wrong side of 40, what I struggle with on a daily basis is the fine line between being content versus being in a comfort zone. I have been accused more than once as not seeming to have enough ambition. While the Zen gurus will ask you to aim for the former, the go getters will perhaps chide you for being less ambitious.

But is this really an all or nothing statement. My thought experiments on this subject have been the fuel of many daydreams.

2020 ofcourse did give me plenty of time to introspect in broad daylight in the comfort of my own home. If nothing else, the pandemic did give me and perhaps a lot of people a very clear picture on how little it took to survive on a day to day basis and therefore what true contentment would really seemlike.

The time to introspect did remind me of this poem- “Leisure” by William Henry Davies that I read in school. The true meaning of which is only sinking in after decades. The open line of the poem reads as below

“What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”
Leisure- by William Henry Davies

General

Merely Do It! From Bad to Good – Listen to what Seth says

January 18, 2021 No Comments

I listened to a recent podcast by Tim Ferriss where he interviewed Seth Godin. Seth made a very interesting comment where he asked Tim to show his bad writing. The point was once you had enough bad writing on your portfolio, sooner or later if you have the basic skills, the good writing will come through. But you have to put in the work.

The other phrase that immediately caught my attention – was to shift to a mindset of “Merely Do it”. Change your focus from the outcome to the process.

Process orientation vs Outcome orientation is another theme that i have come across so very often from diverse authors and personalities.

With this background , once again I would like to begin my journey from bad writing to hopefully better and eventually good writing and oh yes – as I can hear Seth in my head saying – Merely Do it!