To those that subscribed in the last week: thank you. I take your time and attention seriously. Love this email? Share it with your friends.
Let’s get into it.
Get Smarter
Mental models are all the rage, but they needn’t be. Everything you need to be a good investor is already available to you. Most lessons are learned in simple games and in interacting with the world around us, and then thinking deeply about those things. That means some form of meditation. Meditation can be in the car for 5 minutes here and there, one hour on a fancy cushion at 5am, while walking, or anytime. Either is fine. Sometimes I’ll say “meditate on it” or “think on it”. They are the same in this instance. This is where many investors go wrong. They read all the right books, follow all the right people, and subscribe to all the right newsletters, only to suffer. Why? They do not sit and think on how one business can change the world. That’s why I am not publishing any of my personal stock picks. How we think determines the kind of life we live.
White-belt mentality. I learned this from a friend that ran a dojo for many years. A white belt is passionate and will soak up everything they can get their hands on. The problem is when that new practitioner gets a little salty (gets their black belt) that they stop soaking up everything. They get complacent in their knowledge unless they keep that white-belt mentality of always learning from everyone and everything, everyday. Now, I am very new to this game of investing, as I have only been in it for approximately 2 years, but my passion is unmatched, and my work ethic is unparalleled. That will not change. Your signing up with me on this newsletter is joining me on this journey. I’ll be failing (a lot) with learning everything I can about investing, but there is no doubt that we will together build something great. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”
Don’t tangle with problem, punch through them. I wrote a post about problems. I find it to be a good way to think about things that have been holding you up. https://www.theirreverentinvestor.com/blog/Punch-through
Invest Wiser
My main investing philosophy is to
Wait for the fattest of fat pitches (One or two pitches per year)
Know thyself. (Well, at least know thyself as well as any human can. We all have biases. A very large part of this is watching out for hope, fear, greed, and ignorance. Consistently asking myself “What am I missing?”)
The rest is details for another time. The above two points are enough to keep most people busy for years.
The main point in my investing is #1, which mainly consists of sitting on my butt, reading, paying attention, and thinking.
Live Better
Most of living better is saying ‘no’ to all the unnecessary fluff that plagues our lives.
Email lists
Social media
Goals that are not ours
Books we don’t like
Opinions evolving into dogma
Want to challenge yourself? Track your time on social media and see how much time you’re wasting away. Now multiply by 365.
Journal this week, every day, on what you can cut out.
You should be left with this:
Health (Yes, health first. Or else you don’t get to enjoy the rest)
Family/Loved ones
_______
NOTE: Choose ONE thing outside of the first two. This is one of the biggest secrets to living better, living more fully. If you have a 4th, then you did it wrong. Live a focused, deliberate life.
When I made my list, this email was on it. Right now I’d rather do nothing than write to you all, and build something great with you. It will require your input over time.
Go to https://theirreverentinvestor.com
We’re Done
For those of you that made it this far, I’d love it if you could reply to this email and let me know what you think, what you’d like to see, and how MIKE can help YOU.
Thanks again, and have a great Tuesday!