[The Weekend Bulletin] #81: How To Get Rich and Become a Good Role Model
+ Map vs Territory, Reading More.
A digest of some interesting reading material from around the world-wide-web. Your weekly dose of multi-disciplinary reading.
Section 1: Investing Wisdom
This talk is a wonderful exploration of prosperity - not at an individual level but at a country and industry level. It draws interesting observations behind the success of some industries, regions, and nations over time. It provides an interesting framework with which investors can appreciate competitive landscapes, collaboration within an industry, as well as organisation structure. (h/t to @chetanshahrare for sharing this talk)
Complimenting the above long narrative that draws from history is this short thread of a person's journey to financial freedom (the ultimate measure of richness in my view). What's inspiring about this narrative is how little it relies on timing or fancy investment ideas, and how much it benefits from the ultimate leverages in investing - discipline and time. A simple read that demonstrates that a little bit of discipline and a decadal horizon are probably the only tools needed to achieve financial freedom.
On a related note:
One of the other ways to get rich investing is to emulate those that have already done it. The latest instalment of Kalani Scarott's newsletter (that I read every week without fail) is the guide that you need to do this. It puts together some common attributes of great investors from a number of sources (articles, research papers, talks, and books). Each week Kalani picks one topic and provides multiple perspectives on it. His newsletter is definitely worth subscribing.
(While you are at it, also do check some interesting conversations shared below it - titled Bonus Quirky Content).
Equally important to doing a few things right is not doing some others. Here are some of the common mistakes made by investors that serve as obstacles in the journey of wealth creation.
Section 2: Mental Models & Behavioral Biases
We consume a lot of information, but storing that information is a problem due to our limited memories. Additionally, the brain consumes a lot of energy and therefore defaults to saving energy when it can. The outcome of this is that the brain uses shortcuts and models in order to compress information as well as to reduce the need to process it. But this is what leads to biases, since do not operate with full information. This is akin to studying a map of a place, rather than visiting it - efficient but not very effective. This important distinction is a simple yet important mental model called 'The Map Is Not The Territory'. This thread provides a quick introduction to the concept while this article provides a detailed explanation.
Section 3: Personal Development
We all have someone that looks up to us - a partner, a subordinate, a child, a mentee, a student, etc. How do we ensure that we become the right role model for the person/s looking up to us? More broadly, what are the set of principles that make us a good person? This article provides a list of such principles drawn from the ancient Romans. These principles are not surface level advice like be kind, smile more often, pay a compliment, listen well. These are important things to bear in mind. However, the principles discussed in this article connect at a more deeper, philosophical level. They provide a set of guidelines for who to be, rather than how to be. What's most interesting is how little these principles have changed over time.
I know it'd be vain to highlight the importance of reading in this bulletin. The fact that we share this virtual space once a week is because we all appreciate the importance of reading. However, while we all appreciate it, we all struggle to make time for it. Here's Ryan Holiday (author of the above article) on how he reads 100-200 books a year:
Section 4: Blast From The Past
We consume a lot interesting text in our quest for knowledge. However, with each new byte of data that we feed into our memory, we lose some bit of old information that was held. Even without the addition of new information, our memory regularly cleans our information that is held deep and not often retrieved. If is for this reason that re-reading old texts (books/articles/notes) is highly recommended.
There are other advantages to re-reading. Spaced repetition for one - when we revisit some old material, it is etched better into our long term memory. More importantly, as we gain more experiences in life, re-reading an old text can provide some fresh perspectives that we may have missed while reading earlier.
It is to reap these benefits that this section revisits article/s from an earlier issue. Below is an article shared in the nineth issue of TWB:
As much as we love to quantify risk, in reality, risk is uncertainty. It is a variable that is unknown and unknowable in advance. Since you can’t prepare for what you don’t know, that is where the real risk emanates from. This article narrates a very interesting true story to make this point.
Quotable Quotes
On embracing hardships:
To the Stoics, a life without adversity was a life without virtue. Virtue needs the struggle. It wants the challenge, it rises to it.
So yeah, things have been rough. Yeah, you have been hit hard.
But good!
This is making you better, making you into something stronger, wiser, more resilient.
Which is why you’re not complaining. No, you’re grateful.
Source: The Daily Stoic
On being poor:
(Seems I can't have enough of Ryan Holiday this week)
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That's it for this weekend folks.
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If you have any feedback/interesting articles that you’d like to share → simply reply to this email/leave a comment below.
Have a wonderful week ahead!!
- Tejas Gutka
[June 26, 2021]
Just one word: mesmerising!
Thank you so much Tejas. I'm waiting for your weekend reads as my pleasure time on weekend onwards. I appreciate a lot what you have done to the community for sharing & learning together.