Soul in the Game
Vitaliy Katsenelson
Summary
Lessons from a great value investor on investing, family, relationships, history and stoicisim
Rating: 4/5
Notes
Stoic philosophers practice negative visualization where you imagine you are going to lose someone or somebody to make the loss less painful and appreciate the person much more
Soul in the game: when your creation is indistinguishable from your identity
For an autism, the love of his craft is his primary motivation - financial considerations are always secondary
Maintaining the attitude of a perpetual learner, being open minded to new knowledge is paramount to preventing your ego and success from hindering your learning and self improvement
Single focus and constant improvement and student of life = incredibly powerful force
‘Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see’ - JFK
Ego stifles growth - it stops learning
‘As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it’ - Einstein
Abundance often devalues thing we enjoy
We damage our brain while we’re awake and it gets healed and regained while we sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, your health will pay a big price
Systems are what you do, outcomes are what you get and identity is what you believe in
We are a guest at the party of thoughts that is happening non stop in our brain
People who don’t meditate experience unnecessary suffering
‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery and today is a gift - that’s why they call it the present’ - Kung Fu Panda
When budgeting with your spouse, think of future expenses and add those as a line item so you can start saving today
‘Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but having few wants’ - Epictetus
Pain often unlocks creativity
‘Time discovers truth’ - Seneca
‘The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have’ - Epictetus
Understand that everyone (and everything) around you is transitory so you value people and things a lot more
Practice the last time negative visualization as everything we do will have a last time
Life will throw adversity at us. If we behave like victims, we will be destined to have a miserable life. If we decided to choose adversity and reframe it, the colour of life will change
The venom generated by anger, especially towards others, is always followed by regret
‘The best answer to anger is silence’ - Marcus Aurelius
Disarm anger with kindness
‘Count each separate day as a separate life’ - Seneca
When you are 70 and look back at your life, if a lot of people would hide you during the holocaust, you’ve lived a successful life - Buffet
The most alluring bad value - material success
‘It is not the man who has too little but the man who craves more, that is poor’ - Seneca
Pleasure comes from the journey (which is often a struggle) towards a goal, not from actually achieving the goal
No matter how intense the pain is now, it is temporary. It will pass
Don’t wait on inspiration. Create the time and space for inspiration to come
Allow others’ greatness to inspire us, not put us down
The greats in any field have big shadows. Don’t step in them, create your own
Separate the art of the final product from the craft of the process to create it
‘Learn all the rules like a pro so you can break them as an artist’ - Picasso
***
Free E-book download here
Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
***
Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
