Whether you like it or not — you are an investor.
You invest your attention.
You invest your time.
And of course you invest your money — anytime you’re buying something
One invests to get something in return
So the point is obviously to get that thing in return indeed,
And then it’s better still if you get more in return.
Investment is as good as much in return you get for it.
Then there’s also concept of risk.
Which is when there’s uncertainty involved in regards to what you’re getting in return.
You may hope to get a decent return of investment — yet get nothing in return. Or even MORE problems in return.
Now,
We thus go through life looking for the best INVESTMENTS to make — which are those investments which promise greatest RETURNS.
What concerns us in this text is:
How does on find those best investments?
How does one make the most out of his work?
How does one make the most out of his money?
How does one make the most out of his time?
How does one make the MOST out of this LIFE?
I believe there are two determining factors.
One is quite objective and well know.
Other is more esoteric.
The first determining factor is KNOWLEDGE/INSIGHT/JUDGEMENT
Good business investor finds great businesses to invest in, which grow his capital the quickest, with the least risk involved.
He finds those businesses because he KNOWS what they look like.
Knows what to look for.
Likewise a good WELLNESS-investor knows the secrets of well-being.
Likewise a good SELF-investor knows how to improve himself effectively.
Etc.
The second determining factor is SEEING (vs blind spots, limitations…).
This can actually be unrelated to the first.
One can actually have the necessary knowledge to INVEST prudently.
And yet one won’t.
One doesn’t see.
One knows the characteristics of that which to look for — and YET — when that thing is right in front of their eyes — they just don’t see.
Now why does this happen?
Attention is limited.
You learn to pay attention to that which is valuable.
Your theoretical understanding of what a good investment is, what the “right thing to do” is, what the “right thing for you” is — may be unrelated with your intuitive understanding
It’s because what you consciously believe can have very little to do with what you subconsciously KNOW.
And what is it that you KNOW?
It’s what can’t be fooled with empty words.
It’s what you SEEN with your own eyes — LEARNING in your own flesh
It happened to you, you WERE INVOLVED, you experienced the effort, you paid the price, you invested, and you experienced the returns, and you enjoyed the rewards and you suffered the consequences.
THAT’S what you actually believe, that’s what you know.
In essence:
You will see THOSE opportunities — which resemble opportunities you have had SUCCESS with in the past.
Likewise you will be BLIND to those opportunities — which remind you of your greatest FAILURES
Now,
Those blind-spots and biases fall into quite predictable patterns.
Let’s first outline a different categorisation of the types of investments:
-There’s the low investment low return
-There’s the high investment low return
-There’s the high investment low return
-There’s the high investment high return
ESSENTIALLY any iteration, where one axis is amount INVESTED — and other is the resulting RETURN
Now, obviously on average — the higher the investment — the greater the return.
And of course there’s some average return on investment ratio one can expect.
And of course the main determining factor for finding the truly BEST deals is indeed JUDGEMENT (previously discussed)
But we DO tend to tall into those schemas
Let me explain
“BUM” puts in low investment and gets low return.
“LOSER” puts in high investment and gets low return
“LUCKY” puts in low investment and gets quite high return
“HUSTLER” puts in high investment and gets very high return
Those could be the ARCHETYPES
Now of course, the ideal is to get MORE AND MORE RETURN for LESS AND LESS INVESTMENT.
But you can’t get the investment down to 0 — for RETURN is a multiple of investment — and 0 multiplied by million is still a fucking 0.
Furthermore if you can get great return on investment — it’s only logical to invest more.
Thus the ideal is typically a “hustler with magic touch”, let’s call it so
Someone who gives his absolute utter heart and soul and ENERGY to ANYTHING he set his mind to,
And then sees EXTRAORDINARY results.
That’s the ideal
The “LUCKY” is also a decent archetype to emulate
It’s because we make things too hard for ourselves.
We should always seek to make the same thing just easier
Still do it to the ABSOLUTE BEST OF OUR ABILITY
And yet make it easier.
And we shouldn’t tense up so much.
Furthermore the problem with “LUCKY” is that eventually he might have picked all the low-hanging fruits.
As we established: “LUCKY” wants to put little investment in. Little effort. Little risk.
RETURN is multiple of the investment.
Once “LUCKY” picked up all the EASY opportunities — he is left with nothing more to do.
He’s not equipped for the more challenging endeavours.
In truth — he may even relegate to being a fucking BUM.
It’s what can happen to those that didn’t have the blessing of bad fortune.
The other two archetypes are of course the purely “negative” ones.
“The BUM” is of course well understood to be an utter failure, a waste of life, and a drag on society.
However it’s less commonly acknowledged how most people are essentially useless BUMS themselves — for HALF of their LIVES.
Half the time they do something semi-useful out of compulsion.
The other half are but zombie-consumers of mindless entertainment and trash.
A waste of life.
The “LOSER” is quite a common archetype too.
We often masquerade our INERTIA as “perseverance”.
The loser works hard — doing the same old thing — and expecting different results.
He gets fuck-all in return but he doesn’t learn.
Perseverance relates to FIGHTING. Not to giving up.
The loser thinks he’s being perseverant — but actually he has giving up on TRYING HARDER, TRYING NEW THINGS (the ONLY DOING is the doing of NEW THINGS), on making a CHANGE, on ADAPTING
That’s why he’s a loser
“Losing” presupposes trying. To lose — one must first at least try to win.
Loser tried to win once — now he has given up — and he’s a loser.
There’s plenty losers — they just don’t know it.
Most man are losers
Though most man are the “BUM” kind of “LOSER”. I.e. his “fight” has gradually lost ALL the fire, besides having already lost all suppleness and adaptability.
The really scary, cautionary tale type of loser is the “UNLUCKY”,
The one who works so hard — and gets nothing but shit
It’s a sickness
It’s a sickness
BUM is sick
LOSER is sick
“LUCKY” has been spoiled
Only the HUSTLER learned to work hard and work smart
This was the second part of the equation of INVESTING: the SEEING-part.
Recognise yourself in those archetypes
You’re obviously not entirely either of that
Recognise where you’re a BUM — doing nothing, inert, having given up, waiting to be saved.
Recognise where you’re a LOSER — spinning fucking wheels, doing the same thing over and over, and getting nothing in return.
Recognise where you’re COMPLACENT — having gotten a little bit too lucky, a little bit too lazy. Humble the fuck up by doing something challenging
It’s a mindset thing
You see no opportunities when you’re looking through the eyes of the BUM
You only see difficulties when you’re looking through the eyes of the UNLUCKY LOSER
You only see low hanging fruits if you’re looking through the eyes of ENTITLED SNOWFLAKE.
You have became used to looking at certain problems through certain eyes.
This pattern must be consciously broken.
Then ENACTED. Consolidated, made real, through action.
And then the new mental model must be recorded.
Mental model of investing, committing boldly but thoughtfully into judicious ventures.
Not overextending oneself, not spreading one’s resources too thin.
Nor underselling one’s potential, foregoing all the lucrative opportunities.
And as for the JUDGEMENT part goes
DO MORE LEARN MORE THINK MORE
It’s that simple
Knowledge is only real if it can be tested (and it’s definitely only useful if it can be applied).
Thought is only real if it pertains to useful knowledge.
Judgement is an immensely important and vast subject, obviously
But BLINDNESS and MOMENTUM are even more important
For as we established: when you are blind — it doesn’t matter if you “know” how something looks
And if you can’t move — it doesn’t fucking matter that you know where to go