Life

6 Life Lessons from The Little Prince

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The Little Prince was written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a famous French writer and poet. It is one of the top translated books in the world and voted one of the best 20th century books in France. This book embodies many conceptual lessons regarding loss, love, friendship and “grown ups”. It was written for kids, but really for adults (you’ll understand when you read it). Here are some life concepts from this book:

1. “All grown ups were once children, but few of them remember it”

Our body may grow old, but our heart need not to: Lose the inner child and you may lose your creativity and without creativity innovation becomes very difficult.

2. Be honest, to yourself and others. If not, it might cost you dearly.

In this book, there’s a rose that The Little Prince cares for deeply. He waters her and protects her from predators. One day, the rose says that she does not need him to survive. Her pride causes The Little Prince, the only one person who loved her, to leave. Be true to yourself, don’t let your pride cloud reality.

3. The essential is invisible to the eyes.

One of the main messages of the book (The Fox’s secret):

“One sees clearly only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.” 

We see things too much on the exterior, we judge too fast and think too little. There are wonderful people in this world that cannot be discovered simply with the naked eye.

4. Don’t be a geographer, be an explorer.

During his journey, The Little Prince meets a geographer. The geographer states that he knows every place and everywhere but never actually been to any of them. He knows about some distant stars but has even never explored his own homeland. It is beneficial to know something; but to feel, that is something entirely different. We reach towards the stars, but forget the beauty that is underneath.

5. Enjoy the ride, you’ll only get this one.

In the Little prince’s journey, he encounters a worker whom follows his job orders on a planet that revolves every minute. He never gets a moment of rest. Some of us are the same, we work so much that we forget to enjoy the things some others don’t have the privilege to. Appreciation is key to happiness.

6. The person in the mirror.

On his journey, The Little Prince meets a King whom can only speak of others and only knows what he rules. It is easy to speak of others, but it is hardest to judge oneself. This theme is essential in investing. Judging yourself is what helps one grow. Knowing your own limitations may prevent disastrous investments.

*Here’s an exercise to improve your qualities, suggested by Warren Buffett: Take a notepad and write down the greats that you admire, and why you admire them. Then, list qualities of these greats that you find attractive or would like to have. If you think of it, most of those qualities aren’t special skills, and with practice, you can make them your own.

I discovered this book through my father, who has a passion for French literature and education. This book has been a huge influence in my life philosophy and creativity. I highly recommend reading it, it’s very short (you can read it within an hour). If it’s your first time reading this, don’t rush it, enjoy it. You can find The Little Prince here.

Of course, JMO (just my opinion).

 

 

 

 

Why Greatness?

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From Alexander the Conqueror, to Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, to Warren Buffett, all these legendary stars had one thing in common, greatness. They had certain characteristics that distinguished them head and shoulders above the rest.

Everyone works hard, so why aren’t we able to achieve greatness in what we do? Firstly, you’re probably not doing the work you love. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant didn’t become greats because they loved money, they succeeded because they were in a line of work they loved. They weren’t forced to practice everyday, they not only wanted to- they needed to. We often attribute success to the wrong things.

The way to achieving greatness begins in your line of work, particularly the work you love. I’m not talking about a casual interest, it needs to be something you go out of your way to do, and excel in. As Steve Jobs puts it “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on“. You need to find what you love to do, period.

But why strive for greatness? Why not just do good enough work and call it a day? If you’re satisfied with the latter then save yourself some time and read no further.

How To Start Your Journey Towards Greatness?

Jim Collins, author of the best-seller, Good to Great provides an exceptional answer to the whys and hows of greatness. To start on the hows of greatness, we go to an outstanding concept:”Level 5 Leadership”. To achieve greatness, you must become a Level 5 leader. To achieve this level, you must start with yourself. The characteristics of a great leader are honesty and modesty. In success, they always give credit, never take. When things go poorly, they look in the mirror, not around. Being this leader means that you are crazed about results and performance, you want the very best, no less and you will do absolutely any amount of work to reach it. You can start with improving yourself and climbing the ladder of leadership levels.

The End Game of Greatness

Why does achieving greatness matter? When it’s all said and done, it’s impossible to live a great life if you haven’t found meaning in it. It’s equally difficult to live a meaningful life without meaningful work, for your work will take up much of your time.

“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Perhaps in doing great work, you’ll gain that rare feeling of a job well completed, that feeling in creating something of value, something worth more than the sum of its parts. Or maybe even better, as Collin puts it:

“…you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.”

-Jim Collins, Good to Great

Good to Great was exceptionally written. Collins shows that greatness is indeed attainable, and illustrates what distinguishes the best from the rest. Indeed he does outline the qualities of great leaders and provides guidelines for theses traits while analyzing a list of companies. My mentor recommended this book to me, and as he passed on his recommendation to me, I will pass it onto you. I hope you enjoy this read as much as I did, and that the knowledge you gain will better you in your business life and personal. You can start your journey towards greatness here.

Golden Life Lessons From Investing

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What are some life lessons that we can learn from investing?

TIME IS MONEY, BUT MONEY IS ALSO TIME

They say time is money. The equation goes the other way to: Money = Time. Now, other things equal, the point of money is to have financial freedom, more financial freedom derived is really just more time.

Time is on the side of a continuously improving company. Time is also on the side of a person who’s consistently improving. Make every moment count.

DON’T PREDICT YOUR FUTURE, MAKE IT

 

A great company can’t predict the future, but it can make it. You might not be able to know what happens in a few years, but you can control what you do today, keep your long term goals in the crosshair and day by day, struggle by struggle, you’ll get there, sooner or later.

SEEK VALUE: DON’T BE TOO QUICK TO JUDGE OTHERS

Behind every stock is a company. Most people just look at the ticker price and judge whether or not it will go up or down. Instead, read the balance sheet, look for intrinsic value, margin of safety,learn about the company. Don’t be too quick to judge a stock based on just it’s price; don’t be too quick to judge people upon first sight.

Sometimes great companies will experience turmoil, unforeseen events can shake up even the greatest companies. Just like some individuals can be shaken by events, sometimes it just takes time to see the value in someone.

 In the early 1990s, aerospace company General Dynamics was in bad condition. To be precise, $600 million in debt, negative cash flow and on the verge of bankruptcy. To the surprise of many investors, it made the impossible turnaround and long story short, is one of the leading aerospace companies today.

Sometimes people are in these rough times in life, perhaps they went on a bad breakup, lost their job or are just having a bad week at work, they may seem mad or irritated at first glance, but there can always be more to the story. We’ve all experienced bad times and made mistakes and through those mistakes we learned something or two.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH WINNERS

 

Ideally, in our investment portfolio, we want to hold winning positions (great companies); ride your winners and let go of your losers. In life, surround yourself with people whom you value and admire, they will better your self-development. Toxic individuals may weigh you down and slow personal growth; thats the last thing we want.   

SORRY ISN’T ENOUGH

 

The greatest investors have made billion dollar investment mistakes; but they adjusted and learned from it. Sometimes you’re greatest stock picks will turn out to be a mistake. Don’t just be sorry. Learn from it. In life, when you make a mistake, be quick to admit it, learn from it and work on ways to improve from it. The importance here is the actions taken to correct the mistake and to prevent it from happening again.

“There’s no shame in losing money on a stock. Everyone does it. What is shameful is to hold onto a stock, or even worse, to buy more when the fundamentals are deteriorating”.

– Peter Lynch 

 EMOTIONS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS INTELLIGENCE

 

Regarding long-term investing, Peter Lynch says: “Everyone has brainpower. But not everyone has the stomach for it”. The stock market is a wild animal, and Mr. Market is often moody, euphoric and irrational. Some days he’s very optimistic, others, he’s incredibly pessimistic. Intelligence may help you detect a great stock, but emotional intelligence and disciplined temperament will give you the gut to ride the rollercoaster that is the stock market.

Intelligence will no doubt allow you to strive in learning, applying and information processing, but emotional discipline will allow you to keep your head in when everyone else is losing theirs. It can help you control your anger and save you from irrational actions. Pair these two together, you have a winning combination, in investing and in life.

Quick summary:

All in all, time is the greatest asset of a great person, a great company, but for a human life, time is limited. Making money will allow you to have financial freedom, but the goal of financial freedom is ultimately to have more time. Time to spend with your loved ones, your friends, to travel and explore the essential part of life that isn’t investing. Of course, do continue to pursue your financial goals and knowledge, but don’t forget the endgame.

As always, JMO (just my opinion). Cheers.