On the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, Part 5

Rule 101: Never do something you can make someone do for you. – Apple and Nike don’t make anything except money.

Rule 103: Sleep can interfere with opportunity. – So can lack of sleep.

Rule 104: Money is never made. It is merely won or lost. – Making money and keeping money are entirely different skill sets.

Rule 109: Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack. – Your empty words are worth less than the sack.  Keep quiet, the world is plenty noisy enough already.

Rule 119: Buy, sell, or get out of the way. – The only way to learn the game is to play the game.  Start small, but start.

Rule 148: Opportunity waits for no one. – If you aren’t prepared, someone else will be.  But you don’t have to swing at every pitch.  Wait for a fat pitch.

Rule 164: Never spend your own money when you can spend someone else’s. – CEOs call this capital allocation and it is by far their most important responsibility, although most are terrible at it.

Rule 180: Never offer a confession when a bribe will do. – Corporations pay huge fines all the time but they never admit wrongdoing.

Rule 188: Never bet on a race you haven’t fixed. – Never speculate if you don’t have an edge.

Rule 189: Borrow on a handshake; lend in writing. – And ask for good collateral to lend against.

Rule 194: It’s always good business to know about new customers before they walk in your door. – And new hires.

Rule 214: Never begin a business transaction on an empty stomach. – Never go shopping at Costco without hitting their food court first.

On Jack Ma

Tags

books, fantasy, fiction, short-story, writing

“If you’ve never tried, how will you ever know if there’s any chance?” ~ Jack Ma – Take that risk you’ve been thinking about for years.  You can’t win if you don’t bet and you’re surely not getting any younger.

“I believe in two principles: Your attitude is more important than your capabilities. Similarly, your decision is more important than your capabilities!” ~ Jack Ma – Attitude > Aptitude.  EQ > IQ.  Street smarts > Book smarts.  People skills > Tech skills.  Big ears > Big mouth.   To decide is to cut off all other options, like burning the ships on the beach so there is no chance of retreat.

“Today is cruel. Tomorrow is crueller. And the day after tomorrow is beautiful.” ~ Jack Ma – Keep grinding if you are on the right path.  If you don’t know what path you’re on, stop and figure that one out first.  No use in grinding hard in the wrong direction.

“No matter what your current condition, how or where you grew up, or what education or training you feel you lack, you can be successful in your chosen endeavor. It is spirit, fortitude, and hardiness that matter more than where you start.” ~ Jack Ma – Jack couldn’t even get hired by KFC in China in the late 80s.  He was short and ugly and had a mediocre degree in education.  Now he is a billionaire and business icon.  Quit making excuses and start taking baby steps if you want to get somewhere and you feel stuck.  However, if you are fine with just getting by and living in Mom’s proverbial basement into middle age, that’s also ok.  But you need to decide.

“Find the right people, not the best people.” ~ Jack Ma – The fancier the resume, the more expensive it will be to correct a poor hiring decision.  If you can hire people on a 90-day trial basis, do it.  Study poor hungry smart kids with heart.

“Never ever compete on prices, instead compete on services and innovation.” ~ Jack Ma – People (especially rich people) will spend serious money for high touch solutions to their problems, very little for shoddy solutions.

“The opportunities that everyone cannot see are the real opportunities.” ~ Jack Ma – If everyone can see the opportunity, everyone is about to lose their ass.  In other words, if Grandma calls you up asking if now is a good time to invest in Bitcoin, listen politely then hang up the phone and promptly sell your Bitcoin.  Study second order thinking.

“Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.” ~ Jack Ma – Turn enough small guys into big guys, and you will become a huge guy and feel pretty damn good about it.

“If there are nine rabbits on the ground and you want to catch one, just focus on one.” ~ Jack Ma – You probably aren’t that great at multi-tasking, especially if you are a dude.  One thing at a time, one deal at a time, one day at a time.  Compound interest applies to many more things than just money.

On Love

Tags

life, love, mental-health, relationships, writing

“To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, to love someone who loves you is everything.” ~ Bill Russell – If you are loved by the people you want to be loved by, you have won the game of life.

“Our culture says that feelings of love are the basis for actions of love. And of course that can be true. But it is truer to say that actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love.” ~ Timothy Keller – In love, as in business, actions speak louder than words, no matter how lovely the words.

“Find me now. Before someone else does.” ~ Haruki Murakami – Love, like time, waits for no one.  Stay alert and ready to pounce.

“One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.” ~ Khalil Gibran – If the only life you care about in the whole wide world is your own, you don’t have much of a life.

“We are most alive when we’re in love.” ~ John Updike – We are hardly alive when we’re not in love.

“A man is lucky if he is the first love of a woman. A woman is lucky if she is the last love of a man.” ~ Charles Dickens – I don’t mind if a woman had a few loves before me so long as it convinces her I was worth all the trouble.

“Not one word, not one gesture of yours shall I, could I, ever forget.” ~ Leo Tolstoy – Sweet and succinct words, indeed, from the guy who wrote War and Peace.

“In ancient China, the Taoists taught that a constant inner smile, a smile to oneself, insured health, happiness and longevity. Why? Smiling to yourself is like basking in love: you become your own best friend. Living with an inner smile is to live in harmony with yourself.” ~ Mantak Chia – If you can’t figure out how to be happy(ish) with yourself, you have little chance of attracting the love you want from others.

“Love and desire are the spirit’s wings to great deeds.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – If it weren’t for women (i.e. love), men would still be living in actual caves instead of man caves.

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” ~ Marilyn Monroe – Much pain is caused by others but that pales in comparison to self-inflicted wounds.  One major problem in life is we tend to get old before we learn how to stop getting in our own way.

“If she’s amazing, she won’t be easy. If she’s easy, she won’t be amazing. If she’s worth it, you wont give up. If you give up, you’re not worthy. … Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.” ~ Bob Marley – As an awkward young suitor not particularly blessed in the looks department, Warren Buffett cleverly won his (future) father-in-law’s love despite his beautiful and popular daughter, Susie, having zero initial interest in dating Buffett. The smitten father kept working on her until she reluctantly gave the future billionaire a chance.  Brilliant strategy.

On T.S. Eliot

Tags

books, fiction, literature, poetry, writing

“Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.” ~ T. S. Eliot – As soon as you stop trying to impress people, you will start to impress people.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” ~ T. S. Eliot – Greatness lies on the far edge of risk, but so does ruin.

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” ~ T. S. Eliot – The more you travel, the better you will understand your hometown.  Note:  a good book might take you further from home than any jumbo jetliner can.

“Everyone gets the experience. Some get the lesson.” ~ T. S. Eliot – Although I was a quick study in school, I am a slow learner in life.  Thus I need to repeat my mistakes a few times before I can hope to absorb the lesson.

“Turn things you’ve always wanted to do, into things you’ve done” ~ T. S. Eliot – Write down five things you have always wanted to do, pick the easiest item on your list and make it happen before 2026 arrives.

“If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks.” ~ T. S. Eliot – Active listening is not taught in school, along with all the other important things we have to learn the hard way after we graduate.

“The journey, Not the destination matters.” ~ T. S. Eliot – If you aren’t enjoying the ride, you’re not gonna enjoy where you’re going.

“If you do not push the boundaries, you will never know where they are.” ~ T. S. Eliot – I know people who have never seen the ocean, and they seem as happy as I am and I’ve seen beautiful beaches all over the world.  More is not always more.  Less is not always less.

“We should not confuse information with knowledge.” ~ T. S. Eliot – Most of us spend hours a day scrolling mindlessly on our phones, but painfully little of that ‘investment’ is converted into actionable knowledge.  Solving this dilemma is the challenge of our times.

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.” ~ T. S. Eliot – Not saying the wrong thing or the unnecessary thing can be comfortably added.  The world is noisy enough.

On Alexander Graham Bell

Tags

fiction, history, life, Travel, writing

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – Some regret that closed door for the rest of their miserable days.

“The day will come when the man at the telephone will be able to see the distant person to whom he is speaking.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – This dreadful day has arrived and we know it as the Zoom call.

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – Systems > Goals.

“The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – Not taking the wrong turn will likewise move you quite a ways down the road to success.

“The achievement of one goal should be the starting point of another.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – But it is perfectly ok to chill and enjoy the glorious feeling of victory and achievement for a while before you start up the next hill.

“Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – Either form the right team or get on the right team, it’s too tough to be a one-man band.  Note – I struggle with this one.

“Don’t keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone and following one after the other like a flock of sheep. Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – When we travel, my wife and I often leave the hotel in the morning and start walking, eating, and exploring randomly until the sun goes down.  Have ended up in some interesting neighborhoods and enjoyed some amazing street food this way.  Bourdain would be proud.

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – Focus is the new super power in our dystopian Age of Distraction.  I love drinking from the firehose as much as the next guy, but it is the enemy of productivity and creativity.

“You cannot force ideas. Successful ideas are the result of slow growth. Ideas do not reach perfection in a day, no matter how much study is put upon them.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell – Building and investing work the same way.  As Warren Buffett humorously put it, “you can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”

on the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, Part 4

Tags

business, finance, investing, marketing, personal-finance

Rule 46: Labor camps are full of people who trusted the wrong person – So are divorce courts and prisons.

Rule 47: Never trust a man wearing a better suit than your own – Especially if they work for an investment bank.

Rule 48: The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife – Some are greedily smiling at the thought of making easy money from your hard-earned money.

Rule 53: Sell first; ask questions later – Not the worst advice if you are attempting to trade stocks.  Bad news tends to get worse before it gets better.

Rule 54: Never buy anything you can’t sell – A good refund policy makes buying stuff you don’t need too easy.  In the world of investments, the less liquid an investment, the more carefully you should think before proceeding.

Rule 56: Pursue profit; women come later – Succeed in business while you are still young(ish) and reasonably fit and you won’t have any trouble with the ladies.

Rule 57: Good customers are almost as rare as Latinum – treasure them – The 80/20 rule applies here.   20% of your customers will generate 80% of your profits.  Make sure you know who those people are and treat them like royalty.  Inversely, 20% of your customers will create 80% of your losses and headaches.  Try to offload these clowns onto your competitors.

Rule 58: Friendship is seldom cheap – Real friendship takes time, energy, and money to develop.  Choose friends worth investing in and make them glad they were chosen by you.

Rule 63: Power without profit is like a ship without an engine – This is why economics dominates geopolitics.  If there was no oil in the desert, there would be no war in the desert.

Rule 67: Enough is never enough – This (and compound interest) is why billionaires become multi-billionaires.  This also explains why plenty of rich people remain miserable even though they have more money than they could unreasonably spend in three lifetimes.

On Carl Jung

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carl-jung, jung, mental-health, psychology, spirituality

“The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.” ~ Carl Jung – One reason why you should keep trying different things is you never know when you are going to stumble on something that will reveal both who you are and why you are here.  Most go to the grave without ever answering either of these existential questions.

“We are not what happened to us, we are what we wish to become.” ~ Carl Jung – Many suffer from rough childhoods, yet some aspire to a better run as an adult and set about taking steps, and avoiding missteps, to convert that hope into reality.

“Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.” ~ Carl Jung – Or simply ignore.

“Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is like yours. All other ways deceive and tempt you. You must fulfill the way that is in you.” ~ Carl Jung – This is easier said than done in our dystopian Age of Social Media.  Since we are condemned to compare, I suggest evaluating yourself with others less fortunate than you as often as you can.  To make this more real, consider devoting a few hours a month to volunteer work that involves face to face interaction with the needy instead of just donating money to some faceless charity.  Extra points if you can get your boss to agree to let you do the volunteer gig during normal office hours.

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ~ Carl Jung – I want to keep traveling the world, my wife wants us to buy a piece of land in the mountains of Yunnan and grow our own food.  She is probably closer to the answer than I am.

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. – I’m a loud talker who hates loud talkers, funny how that works.

“Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research.” ~ Carl Jung – I’m planning to start my life when I turn 60 in a couple more years.  Still finishing up my research.

“The foundation of all mental illness is the unwillingness to experience legitimate suffering.” ~ Carl Jung – And to sit quietly alone in a room without your phone or the TV turned on.

“We don’t really heal anything; we simply let it go.” ~ Carl Jung – Or, more likely, we keep adding regrets, failures, and hurts to our ever-growing pile of pain.

“To ask the right question is already half the solution of a problem.” ~ Carl Jung – Often it is the whole solution.

“Solitude is for me a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often a torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words.” ~ Carl Jung – Introverts can totally relate to Jung here.  My advice to my fellow extroverts is to learn from the introverts and talk less, way less.

On the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, Part 3

Tags

mental-health, politics, relationships, rules, writing

Rule 33) It never hurts to suck up to the boss. – Always be respectful, loyal, useful and deferential to your boss.  You have to learn how to follow before you can hope to learn how to lead.  Likewise, be kind and useful to anyone who might call you boss now.  In my career, I have seen ‘lowly’ assistants go on to own successful companies.

Rule 35) You could afford your ship without your government–if it weren’t for your government. – Many government programs are designed to keep you down, not pull you up.

Rule 36) Too many Ferengi can’t laugh at themselves anymore. – Nor can the Americans, the Chinese, and especially the Russians.  Seriously, nothing wrong with a little self-deprecating humor sprinkled here and there.  Believe or not, the universe does not actually revolve around little old you.

Rule 37) You can always buy back a lost reputation. – Joe Kennedy made his money as a bootlegger (equivalent to running cocaine in modern times) in the 1920’s, his son, John F. Kennedy, was President of the United States by the 1960’s.

Rule 38) Free advertising is cheap. – If you can build a product or service that people can’t shut up about when talking to their friends and co-workers, you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

Rule 39) Praise is cheap. Heap it generously on all customers. – Praise, especially if it is deserved, is one commodity that people simply can’t get enough of.  Apply liberally to your wife, your friends, your family, your employees, your colleagues, I think you’re getting the general idea, old sport.

Rule 42) Only negotiate when you are certain to profit. – Everyone thinks they deserve a raise, but not everyone actually does.

Rule 43) Caressing an ear is often more forceful than pointing a weapon. – This rule seems to have worked out well for Jeff Bezos’s curvy fiancee.

Rule 44) Never argue with a loaded phaser. – Or a loaded relative.

Rule 45) Profit has limits. Loss has none. – Learning how to cut losses in trading, in relationships, in business, in life is key.  You can’t make a profit if you get kicked out of the game prematurely.

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, Part 2

Rule 13) Anything worth doing is worth doing for money. – If you can get paid to do things you would gladly do for free, you have won the game of life.  If not, the goal is to work yourself in this direction, with a minimum target of not utterly hating the job you go to everyday.

Rule 15) Acting stupid is often smart. – Hopefully, this is what Trump is doing with his current tariff trauma.

Rule 17) A bargain usually isn’t. – Marketing professionals earn fat salaries by making you believe you are getting a deal, when you likely aren’t.

Rule 18) Beware of relatives bearing gifts. – Also beware of lovers, strangers and governments bearing gifts.  Always ask why me?  Note – the answer is rarely because you deserve special treatment, or even decent treatment.

Rule 22) Wise men can hear profit in the wind. – Opportunity is a universal constant, recognizing and seizing the opportunity, not so much.  Observation, preparation, and idle bags of cash go a long ways towards putting you in a position to ‘capital’ize on attractive gambles.

Rule 23) Never take the last coin, but be sure to get all the rest. – Any fool can jump into a speculation, but few can get out with most of the profit.  Many lose millions trying to squeeze out a few extra thousands.

Rule 29) When someone says “It’s not the money,” they’re lying. – Everything, and I mean everything, is either about the money or about impressing people (usually higher up the socioeconomic ladder) who can help you get more money, power, and sex in the future.

Rule 30) Talk is cheap; synthehol costs money. – So does action.  Ideas are dime a dozen, execution is more valuable than gold-pressed latinum.

On Walt Whitman

Tags

life, poem, poetry, walt-whitman, writing

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” ~ Walt Whitman – Good advice, literally and figuratively.

“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.” ~ Walt Whitman – To be (happy) or not to be (happy)?  That is, and always will be, the question.

“The truth is simple. If it was complicated, everyone would understand it.” ~ Walt Whitman – Apple earns billions making complicated things simple.

“When one reaches out to help another he touches the face of God.” ~ Walt Whitman – Do your good deeds face to face, one messy human to another.  Focus on helping others help themselves instead of one-off handouts.  Be grateful you are in the helper position.  Don’t keep score.

“We were together. I forget the rest.” ~ Walt Whitman – I am grateful I met May way back in 2015, it’s been a wonderful 10 years.  Looking forward to many more.

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” ~ Walt Whitman – The deeper you look into anything, the more of the universe you can see.

“Forsake all inhibitions, Pursue thy dreams.” ~ Walt Whitman – I can’t dance, you can’t dance, want to dance?

“There will never be any more perfection than there is now.” ~ Walt Whitman – Beauty is all around you, but you can’t see it, can you?  Slow down with your rush, rush, rush routine and make someone smile, you will begin to see.

“Do anything, but let it produce joy.” ~ Walt Whitman – Joy today is great, but let it never be at the expense of misery tomorrow.

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” ~ Walt Whitman – Understanding yourself is the hardest subject you will ever study, and most never show up for the first lesson.

“I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.” ~ Walt Whitman – I have learned that to not be with those I don’t like is enough.  Arranging your life with these two principles in mind will put the wind in your sails.