So, I am going to do this post Jack Kerouac style. I just finished reading Bene Brown's book "Daring Greatly" its about being vulnerable and its motivated me to write some blog posts that for some reason I have been reluctant to get out there.
You don't need to read marcus aurelius or senaca to learn about Stocisim. You NEED to read Ryan Holiday. I learned about Ryan from Tim Ferris (4 hour workweek) and jumped right into his first 2 books on the subject. The Ego is the Enemy and The Obstacle is the Way. He has a third book called The Daily Stoic which is brilliant, its laid out into whats called on the title "365 meditations on Wisdom, perseverance and the art of living" I leave it by my nightstand and read 1 page each day. You can also google "Daily Stoic" and have a daily email sent to you.
Moving on to example #1
Stoicism as I see it boils down to the fact that you have zero control over what people do, say think, act. You have total control how you react. So when there is a storm and a tree falls into your building causing thousands of dollars in damage, you cannot control this. (True story) But you can control how you will act. Calm and collected while calling up on insurance and getting the process started to rebuild. Then the tenant files you with a lawsuit because her "property" is damage and you now have to spend the day in a lawyers office giving a deposition. Can't control that, but I can control how I will act in the lawyers office... Unfortunately in this story I acted like an *******. In retrospect not very stoic, but a learning experience.
Going back, Ryan's book the Obstacle is the Way really helped me identify a crucial moment in my life. (I wrote about this in a previous post) but the obstacle was a substantial back injury where for 8 months it seemed like all I was doing was trying to get back to the start line. While in fact, the process taught me how to delagate, how to trust my employees, trust my systems, build plans, etc... Amazing how the adversity lead to such a positive.
Example #2
Ego is enemy. The story that comes to mind is pretty much every contractor or repair guy I have had. For a frozen pipe, I had a plumber come out and charge me $800 to make the simple repair. I was livid. But, he did come out in short notice and the repair was made. Rather than fight and think about the moral wrongdoings of this individual for the rest of my week, I paid him. I never used him again. Another example is when it comes to partners in Real Estate. Recently, I found a deal and I brought it to my investor. We typically go 60/40 on the money for 40/60 equity. However, on this deal of which a minority will be used from current cash flows he wanted to go 50/50 on the money side. Totally removing my finders fee, work, etc.. from the equation. The total monetary amount is $6500 more that I need to pay. But the building is turn key and cash flow positive from day 1. I removed my ego and we made the deal. We will both make money
Example #3
A smart man learns from his mistakes a wise man learns from others.
I wish, I could say this is true for me but its not. I have made so many stupid mistakes its insane. However, the mistake I see a lot of investors make and one that I am trying to avoid is the mistake of confusing investing with gambling. pigs get fat hogs get slaughtered type stuff. I have a formula and plan for each building that we put under contract with cash flow always being the king. I have seen way too many investors have a few good runs only to loose it all on deal #5. For further reading check out How I lost $1 million dollars, another book on the Tim Ferris library
Example #4
Yes, I said 3 examples but I just thought of another. I have my daily stoic book open here and stoicism talks a lot about death. As I understand it in the simplest terms. Whats the point of all this crap that we do, we are all going to die. Everyone dies. So the quote from Dec 17th is "Death lies heavy upon one who, known exceedingly well by all, dies unknown to himself" Seneca, Thyesyes, 400. Once again, I once tried reading Seneca - I have no idea what they are saying. Ryan Holiday so elequintally puts it in what Zig Ziglar calls 7th grade comprehension so that I may understand. For investors here is how I read this quote. Stick to what you are good at, be self awareness of your weakness and your strengths. I am VERY good at starting projects, VERY good at finding deals, negotiating, running numbers and creating systems. I am VERY bad at construction- Dealing with people, doing any kind of "work" So I got a partner. My partner is VERY good at construction, VERY bad at finding deals. Works out great. We both have our roles and know our limitations. So when looking for a partner find your yin to your yang. Good book on the subject- Fee the Idea Monkey my Michael Maddock. Basically for Walt Disney the dreamer there was his brother Roy the executor. For Steve Jobs it was Steve Wasniak.
Well, thats about it. Also, I would recommend Mark Manson's book on the subject "The Subtle Art of not giving a F***""
I will also note that I have severe ADD so I will not be proofreading what I just wrote- This is not college. Second Note, I did a quick spell check so thats all you get. Hope it makes sense.
Nick
