Write down on paper your goal in life. With that down in black and white, we really can get somewhere. Few can define their goal, much less write it. You cannot find happiness until your goal is clear and in view. — Ross Byron
Do you like reading quotes? Personally, one of my hobbies these days; besides Aikido and reading, is to collect quotes. One of the reasons why I started collecting quotes is because it can help me learn.
We all go through the learning process of (1) unconscious incompetence, (2) conscious incompetence, (3) conscious competence, and (4) unconscious competence.
How quotes help me learn is because due to the manner in which I was 'conditioned', I may respond to a given situation in a predicted way. For instance, when we hear about investments, many of us will think about risk and about the possibility of losing money. As such, whenever we are introduced to any investment opportunities, one of the first questions many of us ask is, "will we lose our money".
That is the reason why, I think, many investment products these days are labeled, "capital guaranteed", or in other words, you will not lose your initial capital. The flip side of that is, well, your upside can also be limited.
And the reason why many of us will ask that question is either because we have had previous experiences of losing our initial capital when we made an investment or we have heard of others who lost their initial capital investing in some products. And because we have been 'conditioned' to this way of thinking, we have developed an unconscious competence towards investments. Every time someone says "investment", we go "will lose money or not".
One of the best minds in investment, according to my perception, is Donald Trump. I recalled reading in "Why We Want You To Be Rich" is on the topic of investment. He introduced the concept of "investing to win" vs "investing so not to lose" in one of the chapters. And that got me THINKING.
Wow! What a great concept! If I choose to THINK "invest to win", then of course with that mindset, I will be looking out for investment vehicles that allow me to do just that! So that is when I RETHINK about the various investment avenues that will allow me to "invest to win". Subsequently, that led me to the concept of Value Investing, whereby you invest in companies that are able to add value for their shareholders, which according to Buffett, there are 9 rules to follow.
And once I have identified the various investment vehicles that allow me to "invest to win", I will put all my money where my mouth is. Right? Well, not really. Because now, with this new mindset, I could possibly narrow my options to just companies' equity! As such, I may miss out on other possibilities! Therefore, even with the new mindset, there is a need to UNTHINK.
And the amazing thing is, when I UNTHINK, the number of other opportunities appear right before me. Many of which have always been there but I just didn't see it.
So in order to help me RETHINK and UNTHINK, I rely on quotes from inspirational leaders in their own field to broaden my perspectives, see things from a different angle, explore other paths, seek out different solutions.
Of course, one of my favourite quotes (or more like a tagline, though it is grammatically wrong) is that of Apple's.
THINK DIFFERENT.
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