14 Mar, 2017 / Lessons from Warren Buffet, Naval Ravikant and Sheldon Cooper

Hello!

Hope this finds you well. I am adding a few more people in this mailing list.

If this is the first time you are getting this, I make a short summary of the best things I’ve read all week and try to share with select friends and acquaintances. Why? Hoping its useful and helps you go to bed a tad smarter.

So this week, there are three things.

A. Warren Buffet

You have to see this documentary on Warren Buffett’s life. Its about 90 minutes but worth its weight in Gold. These are the best 90 minutes you’d spend this whole week. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VlojxrCp9Q. The key takeaways for me from the talk are:

1. Health. WEB gives an analogy that if you could get just one car for the rest of your life, how will you take care of it? Your body is that car. Will you not take care of it?
2. Focus. Though I am not sure I best exemplify this. So I am going to leave it at that.
3. Compounding. If there is one thing that you could take away from his life, it would be compounding. Not just in terms of money but other things. You write everyday. You workout everyday. The key is everyday. Build on top of other work.
4. Reputation. He says that it takes 20 years to build a reputation and about 5 mins to lose it. So there.
5. Purpose. WEB made all the money in the world that he could. And then he gave it all away. Why was he doing it? What made him tick? I think the answer is that he was super competitive. More than anyone else. And he enjoyed it. And thats what made him do what he did. And when he gave it all away, he would have thought of no other, better way to use that money. The best part? Rather than he getting into things, he gave it to people he thought were best suited to use it! (circle of competence).

Think about these things as you recuperate from the Holi madness. And please try and see the documentary. 90 minutes only.

B. Naval Ravikant

I recently consumed this podcast where Naval Ravikant (of Angel.co fame) talks to Shane Parish (of Farnam Street fame) about books, reading, life and all that. Its about 2 hours long. You may want to skip if multi-disciplinary learning is not your thing. But in case you are, the link is https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2017/02/naval-ravikant-reading-decision-making.

The 7 key things that I am taking away from the podcast are:

• Reading vs Skimming. Naval says that when he was young he would read lots of book. Now he just skims. His perspective is that most books these days “use” hundreds of pages to explain just one or two ideas. No, we are not talking about fiction or biographies here. Even for biographies, you could use summaries to understand the lessons from the lives of people in less than 20 minutes, unless you are reading for the pleasure of reading. So, you save on time. And thus, he skims, reads blogs and summaries rather than reading long texts.
• The daily practise. The way WEB talks about compounding, Naval talks about doing one thing daily and doing it without a compromise. Something that builds on top of each other each day.
• He talks about a circle of priority. Make concentric circles. Innermost is your number 1 priority. As you go outward, things take less precedence. And no, your family is NOT in the innermost circle. I mean it could be, depending on you. But you are better off with just you in there. The point is, be more selfish. More on this later in the email.
• Happiness. The default state, rather than something that you achieve once you reach a milestone. Pretty deep thought if you ask me. He gives examples about trees not feeling any happiness or sadness (we dont know yet) and says that is a construct unique to humans — happiness and sadness. Think about it.
• Schools, education and learning. He says that with Internet, its possible to learn whatever we wish to, at a pace we wish to. He says that schools teach you things that you probably will never use in life. Rather, they ought to teach you basics and then let you choose where you want to spend time. Love his thoughts on education. As someone who wants to do something about education, I know who I would go and talk to when I know what I want to do.
• Evaluating potential partners. Look at how people behave with strangers. Are they fair? Do they try to squeeze others? Do they push people to the wall? Are they fair? If yes and they will, at some point, do the same to you! So its a simple metric and all your need is your silence and observation.
• Coherence in actions and thoughts. The last takeaway from his podcast that I wish to share is that how I think and how I act must be in coherence. Once I master the practise, I will not have to think too much before I talk, I will sleep better and I will function better.

He touched a lot of varied and deep subjects like fundamental values, Buddhism (he is a “rational Buddhist”), Habits (making and breaking), Singularity, Irrelevance of schools, Mental Models (mentioned Charlie Munger, Taleb and Ben Franklin), his vision of doing a OLOC “2.0” if you will, learning (he says, read things that you may not agree with), and eventually, purpose of life. And so much more. He also talks about a systems approach (remember lessons from Scott Adams?)!

I am not sure if they are relevant to us, so I’ve chosen to not write about those. In case you guys have the time, you must listen to the podcast. And if reading is your thing, thanks to Shane at Farnam Street, Here is the complete transcript of the podcast. Runs 45 pages but fascinating ideas and thoughts. Do read it if you have the time. May be take a printout and consume it on the next long flight?

I have to say that amount and width of things that this conversation made me think on, were more than everything else in the last one week!

C. Sheldon Cooper

Yeah, from the Big Bang Theory. Here’s my attempt at it (attached).

He talks about creating a circle of intimacy where as you move closer to the centre, you start “caring” more for the people in it. Similar to Naval’s priority circle.

So for example, people on the outermost circle, the strangers, you shouldn’t worry about them. That explains Sheldon’s disdain for socially acceptable behaviour. And then on the other extreme is the innermost circle — thats just Sheldon himself and no one else. Where he cares about no one but himself. His spot, his routine, his bowel movements. Everything in the show, his life moves as per his whims.

As go from in to out, you include people that are important to you. Starting with your spouse (and kids), parents, friends, etc.

Just like Sheldon, WEB and Naval say that they are their respective “centres of the universe”. Even Scott Adams talks about how you ought to take care of yourself first. Funny that last four pieces of “lessons” that I learnt [from other people’s lives] are kinda similar. Coincidence? May be. But if its worked for them, there is no reason it wont work for me!

Also, this is very counter-intuitive to how we are brought up in India. We routinely do things for friends, family, neighbours, society. We compromise. Especially if you are woman in India. How about, for a change, you made a circle of intimacy, priority, whatever you call it and live by that? Selfish? Yes! But we as a society is better off if each of us could be selfish!

And thats’ it for the week. Do make those circles. Do see the documentary. Think about what Naval is talking about. Share with me, if you will. Its great to read comments — each comment, response helps me think deeper and grow more!

And in the end, here’s a small survey. Please tell me if this weekly letter is of any help to you? How do I make this better? Do you think this deserves to reach a larger audience? Is there something specific you would want me to read and then get back to you with?