Do something
+ Isiah Thomas, Michael Mauboussin, Ken Langone, Morgan Housel & More
“You can’t control what the deck gives you, but you can control how you play the hand. That distinction is the difference between a gambler and a professional.” — Maria Konnikova
Hey Coaches,
Here you go!
2 random tips before the usual email:
Speechify: Speechify reads anything aloud to you. Listen to books, PDFs, or web pages anytime with natural voices. I use this a lot for longer articles (like the first one linked below) or research.
Wispr Flow: This an AI-powered speech-to-text application available on macOS, Windows and iOS. Regular phone and computer talk-to-text is terrible, but this is incredible. I use it for most of what I do for work now.
I think both links above are affiliate links and get you a free month, but I highly suggest you try them.
✍️ Articles
Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You: Linda Bain touches on stepping outside your comfort zone, making decisions amid uncertainty, and doing hard things with a team.
“It sounds overly simple, but over time pattern recognition sets in and allows us to take the right risks, at the right time, for the right reasons. We have all heard some variation of the phrase “luck favors the prepared mind,” and it has been attributed to esteemed luck-makers including Seneca, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Jefferson, and most recently Ina Garten.”
The Paradox of Skill: Why Greater Skill Leads to More Luck: When Michael Mauboussin publishes research, I drop what I’m doing and read it (and don’t just say that because his latest tweet is promoting the podcast I produce). He also writes a lot about non-investing topics that still relate to finance and this audience - luck, skill, decision-making, bias, finding an edge.
His book The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing is great, and if you want to read a condensed summary/essay he wrote to go along with the book, this is that.
“As time goes on, the ability of the athletes marches inexorably toward the limit of human performance. That last bit of performance improvement is hard fought because there’s only so much a body can do. It’s also why some athletes turn to chemicals to enhance their performance. But even if it is not perfectly linear, improvement over time occurs. Efficiency grinds upward.”
🎙️ Podcast
Book of Basketball 2.0: The Secret Is Now Rented (Prologue): I shared this years ago but talked about it with someone recently and wanted to share it again. It is one of the best episodes I’ve ever heard. Bill Simmons shares lessons from Isiah Thomas on what goes into winning as a team. [11/5/19—29 minutes] Apple | Spotify
💭 Miscellaneous
Home Depot Founder Ken Langone on Loyalty (source):
“I love loyalty. if I would like to be remembered for one thing, only one thing. I’d like to be remembered that I was a loyal friend, a loyal husband, a loyal father. Whatever you want. Loyalty is in short supply, and I miss it. The world has become very transactional.”
Morgan Housel on Circumstance (source):
“The same people with the same intelligence have wildly different potential under different circumstances. And the circumstances that tend to produce the biggest innovations are those that cause people to be worried, scared, and eager to move quickly because their future depends on it.”