Capitalogix

Turning Trials Into Triumphs

Many of our best decisions, timeliest course corrections, or most significant innovations take place after a seemingly disastrous occurrence. That's why many psychologists and self-help gurus encourage people to focus on the hidden gift that many of these experiences provide.

It's there if you look for it. That painful event becomes the catalyst for either something new, a better way, or a level up. 

Of course, that's not the case for everyone or every event ... It takes the right mindset and the right actions to turn a trial into a triumph. 

As we experience massive real-world and market turmoil, I think back to 2008 and how a prior incarnation of algorithms fared against it (spoiler alert: not nearly as well as this time).  They say the things that don't kill you make you stronger. Here's my trial into triumph story about that. 

 

 

Too many people become a victim of their circumstances instead of choosing to be the master of their destiny. 

Life's harder for people that live a life of least resistance. Doing the hard things, and making the most of bad times, makes your life not only better ... but, ultimately, easier. 

Tony Robbins calls this Threshold of Control. If you push through the fear and the struggle ... as you persevere, eventually, what was scary becomes easy. You've increased your threshold, and that's often a permanent improvement.  

Examining several instances from my past, Here is a list of the seven steps I use to transform almost any situation.

Seven Best Practices for Uncertain Times.

1. Accept Reality: We are where we are. Focus on being complete with what happened before this, and think about this as a new beginning with an even bigger future.
2. Do Something Positive: Take action and build momentum and confidence. Big wins are great. Yet, in scary times, even small items are worth noting, building upon, and stacking. Let progress build positive momentum for you.
3. Take Care of Yourself: Increase your physical activity, meditation, and massage. Take time to eat and sleep well. Many studies show decision-making suffers when you're stressed. Taking care of yourself goes a long way to making a lot of other things better.
4. Communicate More: The natural tendency is to hide or to recuperate in private. Instead, be open and receptive to help and ideas from friends, partners, or wherever it may come.
5. Creative Destruction: The old game and the old ways of thinking are over.  Shift your energy to what is working. Commit to the result you want, rather than the process.
6. Increase Your Options: It often takes a different level of thinking to solve a problem than the level of thinking that got you there in the first place. So, be open to new opportunities, new possibilities, and more ways to win.
7. Choose a Bigger Future: Instead of resigning yourself to playing small and doing with less, recognize that a clearing creates space for something even better. Choose what you want and call it into existence through your thoughts and actions.

They say everything happens for a reason. The secret is that you get to choose the reason, what it means to you, and what you're going to do about it. Choose well, and someday you could look back on this time as one of the best things that ever happened to you.

7 Best Practices For Uncertain Times

Mastery isn't measured by the number of bad things you eliminate ...
but by the number of times you eliminate calling them bad.

Many of our biggest innovations or course corrections take place after a seemingly disastrous occurrence. That's why lots of psychologists and self-help gurus encourage people to focus on the hidden gift that many of these experiences provide.

It's there if you look for it. 

Examining several instances from my past, Here is a list of the seven steps I use to transform almost any situation.

Seven Best Practices for Uncertain Times.

1. Accept Reality: We are where we are. Focus on being complete with what happened before this, and think about this as a new beginning with an even bigger future.
2. Do Something Positive: Take action and build momentum and confidence. Big wins are great. Yet, in scary times, even small items are worth noting and building upon.
3. Take Care of Yourself: Increase your physical activity, meditation, and massage. This is the time to eat and sleep well. Many studies show decision-making suffers when you're stressed. Taking care of yourself goes a long way to making a lot of other things better.
4. Communicate More: The natural tendency is to hide or to recuperate in private. Instead, be open and receptive to help and ideas from friends, partners, or wherever it comes from. (Though you may want to do it digitally with the COVID-19 scares)
5. Creative Destruction: The old game and the old ways of thinking are over.  Shift your energy to what is working.
6. Increase Your Options: It often takes a different level of thinking to solve a problem than the level of thinking that got you into the problem. So, be open to new opportunities and new possibilities.
7. Choose a Bigger Future: Instead of resigning yourself to playing small and doing with less, recognize that the clearing creates space for something even better. Choose what you want, plan it and stick to your process.

They say everything happens for a reason. The secret is that you get to choose the reason, what it means to you, and what you're going to do about it. Choose well, and someday you could look back on this time as one of the best things that ever happened to you.

Coronavirus Tracker

Fears around the Coronavirus continue to mount. Quarantine of the superbug has been tough ... the disease shows up in more countries every week, and the death toll is likely being underreported in China. 

That being said, the death toll compared to the "recovered" toll should give you hope that if you're relatively healthy and get proper treatment, your survivability rate is very high.

Here is an interactive tracker if you're curious to see a visual representation of it's spread.

 

1hakr via Visualist.io

Keeping yourself at a low risk of contraction is pretty simple. You know what you need to do to avoid it, but, as a reminder: wash your hands, don't share food/drinks with strangers, avoid touching your face, and don't go to China till you believe the "all clear."

How do you believe this will affect the markets and economy?

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading, February 23rd, 2020

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• What It Means to Be Human in the Age of AI. (CNet)
• Mommy Can't Talk Right Now She's Dopamine Fasting. (TheCut)
• I Went to a High-End Psychedelic Retreat to Address My Anxiety. (Vice)
• Inside the World of High-End Coffee | Annals of Obsession | the New Yorker. (YouTube)
• Most Dietary Supplements Don't Do Anything. Why Do We Spend $35 Billion a Year on Them? (WashPost)

 

Trading Links:

• Why Cryptocurrency Markets Defy the Laws of Economics. (BU)
• Michael Bloomberg Has Taken Andrew Yang's Place as the Cryptocurrency Candidate. (TechReview)
• It Has Never Been Easier to Launch a New Brand. (Economist)
• Elon Musk's SpaceX to Raise $250 Million, Valuing It at $36 Billion. (Uk)
• Elon Musk Says He'll Put a Million People on Mars by 2050. (Futurism)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - February 16th, 2020

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset: Which One Do You Have? (Addicted2Success)
• 5 Soon-to-Be Trends in Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning. (Forbes)
• How Many Hours of Sleep is Enough? Age Chart Shows What You Need to Feel Rested. (Inverse)
• The Way the World Ends: Not with a Bang But a Paperclip. (Wired)
• Drinking Alcohol Every Day Can Speed up Brain Aging by One Week Per Session, According to a Study of More Than 17,000 People. (Insider)

 

 

 

Trading Links:

• Tesla Stock is Soaring. Madness or Visionary Investing? (APNews)
• The Decade That Completely Transformed Venture Capital. (Quartz)
• The 13 Hottest IPOs to Watch for in 2020. (Kiplinger)
• The Edison of the Slot Machines. (TheParisReview)
• Elon Musk's Mind-reading Technology Could Be about to Take a Big Leap Forward. (ZDNet)

Spicing Up Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is coming up. 

Does it matter?  Could it? 

Are you at least planning on having a little fun?

 

 

Love is an interesting concept. It can be a noun (a "thing") or a verb (an "action").  Perhaps it can be both ...  an emotion that you act on? 

Likewise, the words "I love you" can be a declaration of how you feel to someone ... or a command to yourself to treat a person with love.

On a practical note, I found a gift that really worked for me.  It's called "Lovebox" ... and, no, it's not a sex toy. 

via GIPHY

Lovebox is a tool to deepen emotional connections.  It consists of a lidded wooden box with a heart attached to the front and a phone app for you to use to compose your messages.  Inside the Lovebox is a screen, a wifi connection, and a little motor.  When you send the box a message, the heart spins to notify the recipient that they have a message.

 

The Lovebox gives me an opportunity to send special messages to my wife whether I'm home or away. I know that she loves seeing the heart spinning (and I believe that it makes us a bit closer each time she lifts the lid to see her message).  Lovebox creates anticipation.

I was unsure how my wife would respond  ... But she LOVES it ... and looks forward to receiving messages (and reminds me if I forget or seem to be running late with them). 

With that said, she made it clear she didn't want me pre-writing messages and having the app drip them to her like a marketing campaign.  So, of course, my next message was "A robot wrote this."

We've been using Lovebox for over six months and it still seems fresh and fun.  Another example of how technology can improve human lives.

Hope you  (and your special someone) have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - January 19th, 2020

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Artificial Intelligence: How to Measure the I' in AI. (TheNextWeb)
• Samsung Sheds Light on Its 'Artificial Human' Project. (EnGadget)
• Secrets from a Former FBI Negotiator on How to Get What You Want. (TheLadders)
• Here's the Advice Mark Cuban Would Give His 20-Year-old Self. (CNBC)
• Want to Grow 10X? Here are 17 Books about Business and Life You Should Read in 2020. (TheLadders)

 

Trading Links:

• The Decade of the "Young Old" Begins. (WorldIn)
• 2019 A Year to Forget for Hedge Funds. (Benzinga)
• Fortnite Made $1.8 Billion in 2019. (CNN)
• Amazon Partners with Lamborghini, Rivian to Offer Alexa Voice Assistant in Vehicles. (CNBC)
• Apple Made Investors Half a Trillion Dollars Last Year. Time to Hedge Your Bets. (Barrons)

Law of Diminishing Returns

At some point, more of the same stops paying off ...

 

via Sketchplanations

Nature (and common sense) reminds us that equilibrium is important. For example, when you exercise too much you get injured, when you drink too much water you get poisoned, etc. 

This concept applies almost everywhere.

• It's why diversification is so important in portfolio construction theory. 
• Or, why you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket (concentrating your risk).
• And, my favorite, it's also why you shouldn't only eat vegetables.

 

A related nugget of wisdom from the extreme ... too much of a good thing is a bad thing. 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - January 12th, 2020

As the Australian wildfires rage on - an inestimable number of animals have died.

If you wish to donate to help relief efforts, you can do so with any of these trusted sources. 

• The Australian Red Cross
• GIVIT - Donating Essential items to Victims
• St. Vincent De Paul Society
• The Nature Conservancy Australia

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• 20-year-old McDonald's Burger Still Looks Brand New, Smells like Cardboard. (FoxNews)
• Japanese Woman Turns 117 Years Old, Extends Record as World's Oldest Person. (Reuters)
• China Quietly Confirms a Third CRISPR-Edited Baby Has Been Born. (ScienceAlert)
• Pope Francis Apologizes for Losing His Patience after Slapping Woman's Hand. (FoxNews)
• Fresh Cambridge Analytica Leak Shows Global Manipulation is Out of Control'. (TheGuardian)

 

Trading Links:

• Jeff Bezos is Still the Richest Person in the World. (CNN)
• 4 High-Potential Sectors for AI and ML Startup Success. (Readwrite)
• Tesla Delivered 367,500 Cars Last Year. (CNN)
• The Market Surged Last Year. Don't Expect the Same in 2020. (New York Times)
• It Was a Dismal Year for Hedge Funds: Here Are 2019'S Fund Closures and Family-Office Conversions. (ZeroHedge)

 

Is WiFi Becoming Part of Our Hierarchy of Needs?

My wife's mother and sister were staying with us last week.  We also had two other house guests.  And our Internet service went out.  Not just momentarily, but for days.  Catastrophe!

Is Internet access becoming one of our basic human needs?

In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow published his famous “Hierarchy of Needs”. The idea was simple: the essential survival needs in the lowest level of the pyramid must be satisfied before the individual can turn his or her attention to the next level, and so on. Maslow’s “essential needs” are physiological; food, water, shelter, and physical safety.

Today, as we approach the 2020s, perhaps we need to add one more layer to Maslow’s pyramid: WiFi.

 

 

OK, humans probably don’t really need WiFi more than food, but without it, we feel frustrated and "twitchy". 

My solution: dual providers and a fail-over router.  

On a higher level, is Internet access a "basic human right" that should be handled like the New Deal treated electricity at the beginning of the 20th Century?

Expect to hear more about this (and not just because Bernie Sanders made it a campaign issue).