the temperament.....................

 

Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with the 130 IQ.  Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.

-Warren Buffett

In praise of Tim Cook......................

 

....................................and restraint:

   While there are many who compare Tim Cook to Steve Jobs and find him wanting on vision and flair, I am grateful, as an investor in Apple, for the restraint and discipline that he brought to the job. That gratitude will stay intact even if Apple's caution on AI turns out to be a mistake, since the restraint and rectitude that Cook brought to his job are management qualities that significantly undervalued. I don't teach from or write cases, but I would love to see more business school cases about CEOs like Cook who are not easily swayed by the temptation of more growth and ego-driven acquisitions. I loved the Steve Jobs movie, but I don't expect to see a Tim Cook movie anytime soon, and while that is understandable, it also explains why we will continue to have too many CEOs at companies viewing themselves as saviors, gambling shareholder money on turnarounds and rescues, when the better pathway would be acceptance and shrinkage. I believe that investors lose more money from companies trying to do too much rather than from them doing too little, and from overreaching than from underachieving.

-Aswarth Damodaran, from this essay

It's not discipline...................

 

................................it's enjoyment with boundaries.

thanks Kurt

mastery...........................

     Self-discipline begins with the mastery of one's thoughts.  Without control over thoughts there can be no control over deeds!  Let us say, therefore, that self-discipline inspires one to think first and act afterward.  The usual procedure is just the reverse.  Most people act first and think afterward (if and when they think at all).

-Andrew Carnegie, as he answers questions from Napoleon Hill

reformation....................

 

As Tolstoy put it: “Everyone thinks of changing the world. But no one thinks of changing himself.” Kierkegaard said it more sharply: “It has often been said that a reformation should begin with each man reforming himself.”

-from today's edition of the Daily Stoic

the secret sauce..............

 

It doesn’t matter if you are trying to pick a new skill, or get fit. Discipline is the secret sauce. Do it long enough and it becomes a part of who you are. Then rewards compound. Every seed of talent, when watered with consistent input grows to bear multiple fruits.

-Tanmay Vora, from here

Winning....................

 

Sometimes, the only qualification you need is the willingness to figure it out.

-Shane Parrish, as extracted from here

Pretty good teammates..................

 

Inspiration is great.  Discipline is better.  

-Joe Rogan

freedom.........................

Instant gratification will kill your dreams.   You have to sacrifice short-term freedom in order to earn long-term freedom.

-Sahil Bloom

talent............................

 

choices.......................

 

'I don’t have enough time' is not a useful phrase when it comes to anything related to your dream. It’s okay to actively choose to do something or not, but don’t blame time.

-Alexi Pappas, as quoted here

discipline........................

 

Discipline turns intentions into action.
Discipline means no procrastination.
Discipline means now.
Choose the pain of discipline, not the pain of regret.

An undisciplined moment seems harmless, but they add up to disaster.

Without discipline, the tiny things will be your downfall.

Self-control is always rewarding.

-Derek Sivers, How To Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

On the importance of having................

 

..................................the most leverage.

-Seth Godin

The value of..........................

 

....................................smarts, discipline, and compounding interest (since 1965):

Berkshire’s total returns work out to a cumulative gain of more than 4,000,000%. The S&P 500 returned more than 31,000% in the same span

The really good news........................

 What’s the average college GPA of an American millionaire? 2.9 out of 4.0.

The truth is, becoming wealthy isn’t about having a brain the size of a planet. It’s about doing  the boring, sensible things, consistently, over time. 

-Eric Barker, from here

Ed. Note:  Just coincidentally, I graduated with a 2.9.

On not being mercurial....................

 Investing is hard, but it doesn’t need to be as hard as people make it. As John Rahm and Scottie Scheffler illustrate, success can come in very different forms, so long as you consistently adhere to your process.

Risk-seeking and risk-mitigating can both be successful strategies, so long as you are disciplined enough to stick to them.

-Ted Lamade, as excerpted from here

a certain kind of temperament........

 A lot of people with high IQs aren’t great investors because they have terrible temperaments. That is why having a certain kind of temperament is more important than brains. You need to keep raw irrational emotion under control. You need patience and discipline and an ability to take losses and adversity without going crazy. You need an ability to not be driven crazy by extreme success.

-Charlie Munger, as cut-and-pasted from here

Entropy...........................

 Entropy applies to every part of our lives. It is inescapable, and even if we try to ignore it, the result is a collapse of some sort. Understanding entropy leads to a radical change in the way we see the world. Ignorance of it is responsible for many of our biggest mistakes and failures. We cannot expect anything to stay the way we leave it. To maintain our health, relationships, careers, skills, knowledge, societies, and possessions requires never-ending effort and vigilance. Disorder is not a mistake; it is our default. Order is always artificial and temporary.

-Farnam Street, from here

A different definition of discipline......

 In the spiritual life, the word 'discipline' means 'the effort to create some space in which God can act'. Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you're not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied … to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn't planned or counted on.

-attributed to Henri Nouwen

The virtue of poker playing.............

"Playing poker in the Army and as a young lawyer honed my business skills," said Charlie.  "What you have to learn is to fold early when the odds are against you, or if you have a big edge, back it heavily because you don't get a big edge very often.  Opportunity comes, but it doesn't come often, so seize it when it does come."

-Janet Lowe, Damn Right!  Behind the Scenes With Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger