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Old March 31st, 2014 #1
Alex Linder
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Default #1 Solid Thinking and Habits Thread

Life Hacks ‏@TipsForYouDaily 12m
We tend to believe others pay attention to our behavior and appearance much more than they actually do. This is called the spotlight effect

[this is a huge thing. most things are not about you or directed at you. it just seems like that from where you are standing. next time you ASSUME someone is doing something to hurt you, go over it very carefully to make sure that you are correct. more often than not the person is doing something for INTERNAL reasons that don't have a goddam thing to do with you - it just FEELS that way from where you are standing. other people, remember, are as self-absorbed in their problems and wants and needs as you are.]
 
Old April 1st, 2014 #2
M.N. Dalvez
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Natural talent, contrary to what 'some people' would have you believe, is a real phenomenon. Some people are naturally talented in certain areas.

But natural talent will only get you so far, and no further.

The best and brightest in any field are the ones who work the hardest and are the most obsessed with making progress.

To become a force to be reckoned with in your chosen field of enterprise, you have to work hard at it, every day.

Or no matter your level of natural talent, you'll always just be a second-stringer.

Which may or may not be good enough for you. But come on, White Man or White Woman, you can do better than that! Your birthright is nothing less than the best!

Last edited by M.N. Dalvez; April 1st, 2014 at 02:09 AM.
 
Old April 5th, 2014 #3
Alex Linder
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"Action this day" - don't put stuff off. Your reason for not doing something today - tomorrow you'll find another good one. If you need to get it done and can do it today, do it.

- don't be a perfectionist. Get it as good as you can, then let it go. Correct it later if others find flaws. Focus on getting stuff done, not being concerned their might be one tiny thing wrong with it.

habits

- i find, the older i get, sleeping before midnight is much more productive than after it, which is much lower quality sleep. for work, best thing is to go to bed early and get up well before dawn and (write) for hours, until noon. fewer interruptions, can think most clearly, can get the most done.

- don't mess with crap like email all the time. phones are other instruments of torture and devices for wasting time. facebook is a waste of time.

- get rid of stuff you don't actually use at least once every few months. if you dont use it even once a year, why are you allowing it to take up your physical and mind space? it's just an inanimate pet that brings you nothing. get rid of it.
 
Old April 11th, 2014 #4
robert burns
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"Action this day" - don't put stuff off. Your reason for not doing something today - tomorrow you'll find another good one. If you need to get it done and can do it today, do it.

One of my problems. Lately I have found actually writing down what I want done on certain days helps me. I'm not lazy and will bust ass if I can just start.
 
Old May 18th, 2014 #5
ericthered
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Simple concept, and effective. Just need to do it.

Another variation often quoted by a successful old woman I know is, "Plan your work and work your plan."
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Old September 8th, 2014 #6
Alex Linder
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[not saying everything in this is right, but it's more right than wrong - it goes contrary to much of what you hear. whatever you hear in the controlled media is likely to be wrong - ie, college is some great thing that pays off hugely - lie, grains are good for you, fat is the problem not carbs, diversity is good rather than bad, there are WMD in Iraq we need to worry about, and on and on...]

The Secrets of Personal Finance
By James Altucher
The Altucher Confidential
September 8, 2014

I managed to totally screw things up for myself at the ages of 20, 22, 24, 29, 33, 37, and 40 so I decided to write everything I know about so-called “personal finance”. The words personal finance are a total scam but I’ll save that for another time. Let’s just say, this is about how to build wealth and preserve your wealth.

The things you need to know.

The first answer is: nothing. You need to know absolutely nothing about personal finance. Buying a cheap beer versus buying an expensive beer will not help you get rich.

But, that seems cynical. So let me say congratulations first. You’re 20 years old! Yay!

I can’t even really remember 20 years old. I started my first business then. And failed at it. But that’s another story.
When I was 22 I was thrown out of graduate school and then fired from 3 jobs in a row at higher and higher salaries where I saved nothing.

When I was 24 I moved to NYC and began the first of about ten career changes. The first rule of personal finance is that it’s not personal and it’s not financial. It’s about your ability to make ten changes and not get too depressed over it.

During those career changes I made a lot of money. Then lost a lot. Then made a lot. Then lost a lot. Then made a lot more.

I did this so many times I made a study of what was working for me on the way up. And what wasn’t working on the way down.

So I’m not an expert on anything. I just know WHAT HAS WORKED FOR ME to create massive success. I’m admitting it right now. I’m not just a failure.

First off, don’t bother saving money. You get more money in the bank by making more money. That’s rule #1.

People might think this is flippant. What if they can’t make more money. Well, then, you’re going to run out of money. No personal finance rule will help.
Buying coffee on the street instead of in a Starbucks is the poor man’s way to get rich. In other words, you will never get rich by scratching out ten cents from your dollar.

People save 10 cents on a coffee and then….overpay $100,000 for a house and then do reconstruction on it.

Or they save 10 cents on a book and then…buy a college degree that they never use for $200,000.

Now your real education can begin:

A) Don’t save money. Make more. If you think this is not so easy then remember: whatever direction you are walking in, eventually you get there.

B) That said, don’t spend money on the BIGGEST expenses in life. House and college (and kids and marriage but, of course, there are exceptions there). Just saving on these two things alone is worth over a million dollars in your bank account.

C) But doesn’t renting flush money down the toilet? No, it doesn’t. Do the math. You can argue all you want but the math is very clear as long as you are not lying to yourself.

D) Haven’t studies shown that college graduates make more money 20 years later?

No, studies have not shown that. They show correlation but not causation and they don’t take into account multi-collinearity (it could be that the children of middle class families have higher paying jobs later and, oh by the way, these children also go to college).

E) Don’t invest in anything that you can’t directly control every aspect of. In other words…yourself.

In other words:

You can’t make or save money from a salary.And salaries have been going down versus inflation for 40 years. So don’t count on a salary. You’re 20, please take this advice alone if you take any advice at all.
Investing is a tax on the middle class. There are at least 5 levels of fees stripped out of your hard-earned cash before your money touches an investment.
F) If you want to make money you have to learn the following skills. None of these skills are taught in college.

I’m not saying college is awful or about money, etc. I’m just saying that the only skills needed to make money will never be learned in college:

- how to sell (both in a presentation and via copywriting)
- how to negotiate (which means win-win, not war)
- creativity (take out a pad, write down a list of ideas, every day)
- leadership (give more to others than you expect back for yourself)
- networking (a corollary of leadership)
- how to live by themes instead of goals (goals will break your heart)
- reinvention (which will happen repeatedly throughout a life)
i- dea sex (get good at coming up with ideas. Then combine them. Master the intersection)
- the 1% rule (every week try to get better 1% physically, emotionally, mentally)
- “the google rule” – always send people to the best resource, even if it’s a competitor. The benefit to you comes back tenfold
give constantly to the people in your network. The value of your network increase linearly if you get to know more people but EXPONENTIALLY if the people you know, get to know and help each other.
- how to fail so that a failure turns into a beginning
- simple tools to increase productivity
- how to master a field. You can’t learn this in school with each “field” being regimented into equal 50 minute periods. Mastery begins when formal education ends. Find the topic that sets your heart on fire. Then combust.
- stopping the noise: news, advice books, fees upon fees in almost every area of life. Create your own noise instead of falling in life with the others.

If you do all this you will gradually make more and more money and help more and more people. At least, I’ve seen it happen for me and for others.

I hope this doesn’t sound arrogant. I’ve messed up too much by not following the above advice.

Don’t plagiarize the lives of your parents, your peers, your teachers, your colleagues, your bosses.

Create your own life.

Be the criminal of their rules.

I wish I were you because if you follow the above, then you will most likely end up doing what you love and getting massively rich and helping many others.

I didn’t do that when I was 20. But now, at 46, I’m really grateful I have the chance every day to wake up and improve 1%.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/09/j...to-doing-well/
 
Old April 5th, 2014 #7
ericthered
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M.N. Dalvez View Post
Natural talent, contrary to what 'some people' would have you believe, is a real phenomenon. Some people are naturally talented in certain areas.

But natural talent will only get you so far, and no further.

The best and brightest in any field are the ones who work the hardest and are the most obsessed with making progress.

To become a force to be reckoned with in your chosen field of enterprise, you have to work hard at it, every day.

Or no matter your level of natural talent, you'll always just be a second-stringer.

Which may or may not be good enough for you. But come on, White Man or White Woman, you can do better than that! Your birthright is nothing less than the best!
Talent is NOT the Answer

By Douglas Niedt

New research shows that becoming an exceptional performer has little to do with any innate
talent or skill. Exceptional people are not gifted. They are not born geniuses. Exceptional
performers are a product of:

1. Deliberate practice
2. Enthusiastic family support or support by a mentor throughout their developing years
3. Study with devoted teachers or coaches

The amount and quality of practice are key factors that determine the level of mastery a person
achieves. Consistently and overwhelmingly, the evidence shows that exceptional performers
are always made, not born....

http://douglasniedt.com/Tech_Tip_Tal...he_Answer.html
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Old April 9th, 2014 #8
Alex Linder
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I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become. Carl Jung

That's not wholly true, you are what has happened to you. But you live going forward, and psychiatrists have prepared a trap, profitable to them, unprofitable to you, in telling you that you need to go back and rehash all the wrongs done you to find the way forward. You don't. Reflect on what's happened, draw the best lessons you can, move forward.

"Yesterday's....got nothing for me." --Axl Rose
 
Old April 9th, 2014 #9
SUNOFSPARTA
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The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

Leonardo da Vinci
 
Old April 10th, 2014 #10
Donnie in Ohio
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Don't ever loan money to people without sufficient collateral. I mean anyone. If you want to give monies to them, with absolutely no expectation of repayment, that's cool. Like that J.G. Wentworth mummy says: It's your money.

The problem is when you loan someone money, they immediately, if only subconsciously, begin to harbor a small amount (or a large amount, depending on the talking monkey in question) of resentment towards you.

Same with borrowing money from people. Don't do it. They'll never look at you the same.
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