Capitalogix

How Winners Are Made: A Little Inspiration To Start Your Week

What a great speech ...  short, simple, and to the point.  Hope you get something from it.

 

 

After you watch the video, here is the transcript.

 

Life is tough, that's a given.

When you stand up, you're gonna be shoved back down. When you're down, you're gonna be stepped on.

My advice to you doesn't come with a lot of bells and whistles. It's no secret, you'll fall down, you stumble, you get pushed, you land square on your face. And every time that happens, you get back on your feet. You get up just as fast as you can, no matter how many times you need to do it. Remember this, success has been and continues to be defined as getting up one more time than you've been knocked down.

If experience has taught me anything, it's that nothing is free and living ain't easy.

Life is hard, real hard, incredibly hard. You fail more often than you win, nobody is handing you anything. It's up to you to puff up your chest, stretch your neck and overcome all that is difficult, the nasty, the mean, the unfair.

You want more than what you've now, PROVE IT!

You want beat the very best out there that is, get out there and earn it!

Once you decide that, you'll know where it is you want to be, then you won't stop pushing forward until you get there! That's how winners are made.

At the end of the day, success is what we all want. We all want to win, and the race will be won. There is no question about that.

So come on, get out on top, run faster, dream bigger, live better than you ever have before. This is in you. You can do this. Do it for yourself. Prove it to yourself!

 

You can download this in MP3 format here.

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

When someone yells "Stop" ...  I don't know if it's in the name of love, it's 'Hammer Time,' or I should collaborate and listen?

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Ray Kurzweil Says We’re Going to Live Forever. But, how can he prove it? (NYTimes)
• Iran Fires Monkey Into Space. (TheVerge)
• Wait, Iran Might Have Faked Its Monkey Space-Launch. It was a different monkey? (Newser)
• Former Obama CyberSecurity Czar Warns Against Use of CyberWeapons. (Mashable)
• Hillary's Farewell Speech: Read the Transcript. On her last day as secretary of state, Clinton spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations about her tenure (TDB)

Trading Links:

• The Global Elite Are Getting Worried—Finally. Notes from Davos World Economic Forum (Newser)
• Japan Recorded Its Largest Ever Trade Deficit. (FinancialTimes)
• U.K. On the Road to Nowhere. Rumblings of a Recession. (WSJ)
• Anonymous Hacks U.S. Government Site, Threatens Supreme 'Warheads'. (Mashable)
• The Trade: An Asset So Toxic They Called It 'Nuclear Holocaust'. Financial Crisis Suit Suggests Bad Behavior at Morgan Stanley (Dealbook)

Putting One Foot In Front of the Other

Whether you think you can ... or you think you can't ... you're right.
        ~ Henry Ford

 

Slack-Lining is kind of like tight-rope walking (except the line isn't as taut ... so it moves and bounces around).  The image to the right is of me trying it less than six inches off the ground.

It was harder than you might guess ... Perhaps fear of falling contributed to the heart racing and muscle tension that went along with it.

Josh Beaudoin (the guy trying to steady me) claims that slack-lining is not an adrenaline sport.  It is about being composed in the moment.  It is about finding the confidence to face your fear and the power to manage your emotions.

Listen to some wisdom as you watch an awesome video by Josh. It was shot in Rock Canyon near Provo, UT. 

 

 

Imagine the experience of being up there ... and what we do down here doesn’t seem risky.

To see something else a little crazy.  Check out this link about Fire-Walking.

Related articles

Expect Extraordinary - Here's a Video of Something Not to Try at Home

Naked female climber enjoys stunning Thai paradise at sunrise¿ but refuses to wear protection or harness despite perilous drop

Daily Grind: Famed daredevil Dean Potter highlines under moonlight in breathtaking new video

How Can the U.S. Be Last in Such an Important Measure?

U.S. Health Worse than Nearly All Other Industrialized Nations.

Bloomberg recently reported that the last-place health ranking of the United States among 17 wealthy countries (based on a U.S. study of health outcomes).

Americans spend $2.7 trillion every year, more than any other nation, on healthcare costs.

Yet, America fares badly in a comparison of health measures in rich countries. Here is a chart from the Economist reporting similar results.

 

 

 
America is obviously doing something wrong. But what, exactly, is the question.

 

Related articles

US Health Worse Than Nearly All Other Industrialized Countries

NBC wonders: Are we better off than we were four years ago?

Why America Performs Poorly On Nearly Every Measure Of Health

Why U.S. Lags Other Wealthy Nations in Health Measures

Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Doomsday Planning?

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• The Five Cs of Opportunity Identification. (Harvard Business Review)
• SpaceX's Elon Musk: Your ticket to Mars? Half a million dollars. (LATimes)
• How IBM Is Watching How You Shop Online. (AllThingsD)
• Is Sleeping With a Partner Better For You Than Sleeping Alone? (WSJ)
• Why Do Children Think Covering Their Eyes Makes Them Invisible? (Popular Science)

 

Trading Links:

• Smart People Can Make Stupid Investing Decisions. (Forbes)
• Four Common Mistakes about the Fed. (OldProf)
• Fed Likely to Keep Buying Bonds. To combat threats of new turbulence & uncertainty. (WSJ)
• Raging Bulls. How Wall Street Got Addicted to Light-Speed Trading. (Wired)
• Two-Thirds of Millionaires Left Britain to Avoid 50% Tax Rate. (Telegraph)

Making the Best of What Is

I had the perfect holiday gift planned. We were going to go to Cirque du Soleil's 'Kooza' show. Jennifer and Zach both missed an earlier show because they were out of town. Cirque is magical enough that I didn't mind seeing it again. So, when I saw a daily deal touting "Kazoo La La' at the Cirque Theater, I jumped on it.

On the day of the show, we got dressed up and drove downtown. Our GPS told us to go one way; but I remembered where the show was ... only it wasn't there. Since it was approaching curtain time and we were feeling the time pressure, I followed the GPS to its destination and tried not to argue.

There was a huge line, and very little organization or process (which we thought was very unlike our prior experiences with Cirque du Soleil). Nonetheless, we get to our seats, the curtain rises, and we laugh that someone struggling to do a circus act. Then we start to look at each other, because it dawns on us that the person struggling is not a clown pretending to struggle, is truly someone who's not very good at what they're doing.

To make a long story short, we bought a ticket to see Kazoo La La, which in no shape or form is related to Cirque du Soleil's Kooza.

 

 

Yes, it was disappointing, and we left  at the intermission. However, we had a great time. We laughed at the show and ourselves. Then we took the extra time we had went to marble slab creamery for ice cream.

The point is, it's not what happens, it's what you do.

This is true in trading, in business, and in life. All you can control is how you show up, what you focus on, and what you make something mean. The quality of the experience is still up to you.

I wish you peace and happiness for the holiday season.

Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• The Science of Success. Interesting article. (TheAtlantic)
• Is Technology Making You More (or Less) of a Jerk? (Harvard Business Review)
• Why Things Fail. From Tires to Helicopter Blades, Everything Breaks Eventually. (Wired)
• Removing Earwax Isn't Good For You, Experts Say. (WSJ Video)
• Life Expectancy for Less Educated Whites in U.S. is Shrinking. (NYTimes)

 

Trading Links:

• Walmart Reports Its Best Black Friday Ever With 5,000 Items Sold Per Second. (TheNextWeb)
• Does Black Friday Correlate With Upcoming Stock Market Performance. (Bigtrends)
• Fiscal Cliff: The What, Why, When, and How - All In One Place. (Learnist)
• Reality Check: Does High-Frequency Trading Hurt the Little Guy?  (QZ)
• Anonymous Deletes The Bank of Jerusalem’s Web Database. (BetaBeat)

Perhaps it is Time for a Motivational Video - "I Am a Champion"

If you want a little extra motivation, this is a pretty good video to watch.

 

 

 

It was a little bit corny, but I found it surprisingly compelling and effective.  Worth watching, even if only to think about the techniques he used.

Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Some ancient Greek dude wrote this in about 400 BC ...  amazing how profound, relevant, and true it remains today.

 

Other Isocrates quotes.

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

 

Lighter Links:

• The Importance of Understanding "Why". (AONetwork)
• How Big Data Became So Big. (NYTimes)
• Finally, a Commercial Mocking Apple that Works! (Dvorak)
• Why India Wins So Few Olympic Medals. Neither the Will nor the Cash. (TheAtlantic)
• The World's First Vegetarian McDonald's. To capture more of India's $12 billion fast-food market, the burger chain will jettison meat entirely in favor of the McAloo Tikki burger and the McSpicy Paneer. (The Week)

 

Trading Links:

• Face It -- 2013 Is Going To Be a Bummer. (Businessweek)
• Wall Street Rolling Back Another Key Piece of Financial Reform | Matt Taibbi. (RollingStone)
• Apple's iPhone is Now Worth More Than All of Microsoft. (Forbes)
• When is Rapid Trading Too Fast? More Warnings About HFT. (Slashdot)
• U.S. Selling $18 Billion of AIG Stock. Slashing 50% + of the stake it took during the financial crisis. (Wall Street Journal)

Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Traders know risk control is important.   

 

Apparently, the Royals are learning new rules for the Internet Age.   

 

Perhaps Prince Harry assumed that "What Happens In Vegas, Stays in Vegas" ... unless TMZ gets it.

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Narcissism. The Difference Between High Achievers and Leaders. (HBR)
• Made Your 200-Year Plan Yet? Also, 3 other Majorly Long-Term Projects. (TED)
• Postal Service On Edge. What Would A World Without Mail Look Like? (HuffPost)
• Walk at Work: Treadmill Desk Could Make You Envy of the Office. (Mashable)
• Robot Ethics - Morals and the Machine. As robots grow more autonomous, society needs to develop rules to manage them (Economist)

 

Trading Links:

• The Rise of Innovative State Capitalism. (Businessweek)
• 16 Cities That Are Getting Crushed By Foreclosures. (BusinessInsider)
• Muddled Models. Buttonwood argues why economics fails as a science. (Economist)
• The Dumbest Idea in Finance - A Diversified Hedge Fund Portfolio? (SeekingAlpha)
• What's Old is New Again. LIBOR scandal is no match for its medieval precedent (FuturesMag)