Capitalogix

Finding A Way – Just Do It!

It's hard to fight Mother Nature.

Willpower isn't always enough. 

The trick is recognizing that you can create conditions that make your success much more likely.

No matter how much internal resolve you have, changing the story you tell yourself, and the environment you create for yourself, are reliable ways to make meaningful and lasting change.

Is How You Do Something, How You Do Everything?

On some level, I think so.  To make the point, let me start with a brief story. 

I was at the gym and getting pretty close to the end of my workout.

Frankly, I was at a point where being done was way more attractive than the option of doing additional exercise.

Over time, I've developed many habits and beliefs that focus on finding the best next step - or a way to do just a little bit more. So this time, I used reverse-counting to help me finish that workout strong.

I started with 10 push-ups. I know I can do 10 push-ups, even at the end of a hard workout. Without putting my knees down, I can rest in plank position for a moment or two ... then I do nine more push-ups. That has to be easier than 10, right? Then eight more ... seven ... six. You get the point.

Each set is a little bit harder than the one before; but mentally I'm prepared for it, and can convince myself that I'm so much closer to the goal.

So I get to three, and sweat is dripping off my nose, my arms are shaking, and my hips want to sway. Somehow knowing that there are only two more sets, then only one more, allows me to finish.

That story could have been about creating profitable trading systems, developing a new database, or recovering from a setback.  It's about finding a way, regardless of external circumstances.

Finding a Way to Do Just a Little Bit More.

There are many times that it seems easier to do nothing, or to give up. That's just not my nature. It's not in my "nurture" either.

My father used to say that the secret to success was getting up. What he meant was that if someone knocked you down 10 times, then the secret to success was getting up 11 times. And if someone knocked you down another time, then the secret was to get up 12 times. There's a lot of truth in that.

I laugh when I think of all the little things I do that condition me to take the best next step. Here are a few examples of small things that help define that mindset.

• I never stop reading until I finish a chapter.
• Also, when I play a strategy game on my iPhone, I never stop until I win.
• And, when I play a strategy game that I'm good at, I never stop until I achieve a certain score. 

It doesn't matter if I'm frustrated or tired.  I find a way.  Each of these things, in its own small way, helps condition me to know that I can do anything I commit to do.  Ultimately, what that means is that regardless of what happens, my outcome depends most on what I choose to do.

Sometimes these habits seem silly, quirky, or even a little bit OCD to me. Yet, they serve me.

Many benefits come from knowing that the game's not over until you say it is ... or until you win.

Moreover, it's comforting to know that there's always a best next step, or at least a different perspective that will create new opportunities and possibilities.

I tend to take that perspective in business as well. We focus on the progress we're making, and what that makes possible, rather than how far we are from the ultimate goal. Why? Because, as we continue to make progress, the things we shoot for are bigger and farther away. Focusing there would always show a shortfall. Obstacles and setbacks become the raw material for new growth, ideas, and strategies.  The trick is getting back up, isn't it?

Sometimes the best advice is simple. Nike got it right in their ad ... Just Do It.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - August 9th, 2019

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• How to Prioritize When Everything Feels Important. (Zapier)
• DNA Data Storage is Closer Than You Think. (Scientific American)
• The Man Who Can Remember Every Day of His Life. (BBC)
• How the West Got China's Social Credit System Wrong. (Wired)
• Scientists are Making Human-Monkey Hybrids in China. (TechReview)

 

Trading Links:

• First Spotify, Now Slack: Wall Street May Be Losing Its Iron Grip on Silicon Valley. (Vox)
• The Tokenization of Securities is Happening Right Now and No One is Noticing. (VB)
• 5 Big Breakthroughs to Anticipate in 3D Printing. (SingularityHub)
• How the State Runs Business in China. (TheGuardian)
• Researchers Map Global Economy in Collaboration with LinkedIn. (Phys)

Arnold Schwarzenegger Still Has It

Recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger was dropkicked by a stranger at an event he was attending in South Africa. 

I'm just now seeing it. In case you haven't, I thought I'd share. 

For some of the most successful people I know ... It is less about what happens, and more about what they choose to focus on, what they make it mean, and what they do.

 

For context, he's 72 - and this is his response to the attack:

Crazy. 

Another Year, Another Lesson!

Yesterday was my 56th birthday - I know, I know, I don't look a day over 55.  Regardless, time marches on, and I become increasingly grateful for the friends and family who are journeying through time with me.

We didn't make it to the Jersey Shore this year or have genuine Philly Cheesesteaks, but we did eat amazing food, tell old stories, and spend quality time together. There is a lot to be said for family and tradition.

When I was a kid, I couldn't imagine being where I am today ... nor could I imagine the path that got me here. Looking back, it all seems to make sense (even though it felt pretty random while making my way through it).

I feel lucky to have been in the right place at the right time, so consistently, and to find the gift in most situations (even when it seemed so well hidden).

I'm grateful for a lot today, and as much as I love innovation, sometimes things are perfect just the way they are. 

Hope you took time this weekend to let someone know they're important to you. If not, now is a good time for that too!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - July 14th, 2019

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

 

Lighter Links:

• How Did NASA Put Men on the Moon? One Harrowing Step at a Time. (Washington Post)
• 55 Dr. Seuss Quotes for the Places You'll Go. (DevelopGoodHabits)
• Nick Saban on the 5 Choices We Have in Life. (LeadershipNow)
• How to Turn on Fall Detection on Your Apple Watch Series 4. (Mactrast)
• When Charlie Chaplin Entered a Chaplin Look-Alike Contest & Came in 20th Place. (OpenCulture)

Trading Links:

• Electric Vehicles are Outperforming the Traditional S-Curve Dynamics. (SeekingAlpha)
• Are Drones Really the Future of Delivery? [Infographic]. (B2C)
• The World's Biggest Potential IPO May Be on Again. (Economist)
• Moody's Economist: We'll See the Markets 'Tank' If the Fed Doesn't Cut Rates. (Finance)
• Trump Picks Another Fed Member Who Believes in the Gold Standard. this One Really Means It. (CNN)

 

 

Biohacking Gone Wild

Dave Asprey is perhaps the most well-known biohacker (he's even referenced in Merriam-Webster's definition of biohacker) and the founder of Bulletproof. For those that don't know, a biohacker is someone who uses drugs and technology to make their body/mind function better. 

Dave and I shot a video where he discusses life and provides an interesting take on algorithms. 

 

 

It's not surprising that biohacking has become as popular as it has. In a society that encourages (maybe even necessitates) an impossible balance between work, responsibilities, and self-care - it makes sense to want to increase efficiency. 

Biohacking helps you do more with less. Biohacking is popular because you're trying to get peak performance via the path of less resistance.

Having trouble with sleep, but don't want to stop using your phone before bed? Wear blue-light blocking glasses. 

Not getting enough results at the gym? Work out "smarter" not harder, by using cryotechnology and intelligent lifting machines. 

While biohacking started as tricks like that - nootropics to help your mind, light and sound machines to decrease stress - it's becoming increasingly tech-centric and augmentation based. 

Several months ago, I shared Gartner's hype cycle for 2018. Do-It-Yourself Biohacking was one of 5 encompassing trends for the year. 

The future is bringing implants to extend humans past their perceived limits and increase our understanding of our bodies; biochips with the potential to detect diseases, synthetic muscles, and neural implants. - Howard Getson

It's estimated that over 100,000 people already have various types of implants. In Sweden, thousands of Swedes are inserting chips under their skin to speed up their daily routines. They use chips to open locked doors, to store contact information, and to get on to the train. Currently, chips are limited to simple tasks like unlocking doors, holding personal data, and tracking simple to record data.

Longterm, it's likely you'll see it moving toward exoskeletons, AR/XR experiences, and unsurprisingly to sex toys. It's also being used to create artificial organs and counteract memory loss.  The two companies that are leading this movement are Neuralink,  Biohax International and Digiwell. While it's currently being adopted primarily by fast-movers and technocrats, it's pragmatic to think there will be more widely-adopted versions of this as technology gets standardized and protections are put in place. 

For all the excitement, it's necessary to remain skeptical and patient. DIY biohacking raises various ethical issues, especially around data protection and cybersecurity. As a reminder, when it comes to cybersecurity, you "the user" are the biggest weakness.

There's no stopping this train, but there is time to make sure it stays on tracks!

Onwards!

by the way, I highly recommend the Bulletproof product line!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - July 7th, 2019

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

 

Lighter Links:

• These are the Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2019.(WEForum)
• Inside an Amazon Warehouse, Robots' Ways Rub off on Humans. (New York Times)
• Beetles and Flies are Becoming Part of the Agricultural Food Chain. (Economist)
• China and the World: inside the Dynamics of a Changing Relationship. (McKinsey)
• How Many of the "Top 100 Books of All Time" Have You Actually Read? (BuzzFeed)

 

 

Trading Links:

• So How's the Economy Really Doing?: Theme of the Week. (Bloomberg)
• Jony Ive's Shock Departure from Apple: What Does It Really Mean? (Forbes)
• The End of FinTech. (TheFinanser)
• Is a Netflix Subscription Model the Future of Financial Services? (TheFinancialBrand)
• A Looming Disconnect between the Economy and Financial Markets. (SeekingAlpha)

 

 

 

Committing To A Bigger Future

I'm a big fan of picking a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (sometimes called a "BHAG") and taking actions that move you in that direction. 

I'm also a big fan of Strategic Coach's Bigger Future exercise.  It is a 20-year planning exercise where you plan out your commitments and goals to yourself, your family, your career, and your legacy. 

While doing this, I realized that my ideal next 20 years involves taking Capitalogix to the next level (and beyond). 

As a result, I recently held a two-hour town hall session with everybody in Capitalogix.  You'll find a 5-minute compilation of highlights at the end of this article. 

Before I share with you, I want to take time to bring you up to speed on Capitalogix's history. Some may know the story, but many of you are new.  It's important context for the video and for Capitalogix's future. 

A Brief History of Capitalogix

Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future. - Walt Disney

In the 90's, I left a corporate securities law practice to start a company that was an early pioneer in automation, intelligent agents, and rule-based processing.(it is almost embarrassing to compare that to AI today).  Nonetheless, we ended up on the Inc. 500 list, won lots of awards and had a great time.  Little did I know how important that would be to what we are doing now.

Life intervened ... and 1999 was a rough year for me.  My dad died of cancer, I got divorced, and I sold my company. That year inspired my TED Talk on the Time Value of A Life Worth Living, and has inspired the past 20 years of my life. 

I threw myself into trading. At first, I was a fundamental trader.  But I quickly threw myself into Elliott Wave theory, technical analysis, quantitative analysis, and everything else I could get my hands on. I spent hours on end marking up charts and creating early algorithmic trading systems - predecessors to how we trade today. 

I also hired my first two employees - Gabriel and Sean. My dining room became their office. I started to view trading as a business, rather than a hobby. The thought forms that would become our framework for understanding markets were starting to gel. 

 

 

By 2015, we had 20+ employees working out of my house, and I realized we'd outgrown my home. Here is a picture from the dining room before the move.

 

 

After a brief time with employees in three different offices (including one of our partner's offices) we found our current office. 

Moving in to our new office represented a positive shift in culture and focus - and another step toward our goals. 

 

Where We Are Today

The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present. - Eckhart Tolle

We are committed to revolutionizing decision science (making better decisions faster). We're creating the future we've envisioned.

Yet, for all we've accomplished, we're driven every day to be better than we were yesterday. That drive comes from that big hairy audacious goal and that 20-year vision.

It comes from knowing who we want to be tomorrow. 

 

 

Committing To The Future

 

It means that we're going to have to have new people and new ways of doing things because the recipe for getting here isn't the recipe for getting there. As much as I respect and love you for "here." I respect and love you enough to hold you accountable for "there." - Howard Getson

 

It hasn't always been easy - but building Capitalogix has been an intensely rewarding passion.

Over the next 20 years, there are a ton of people I want to impact and a lot of goals I want to accomplish. Capitalogix is the way I intend to do that.

I look forward to you all being a part of it as well. 

Onwards!

Remembering My Father

This year, I spent some extra time thinking about my father - and his influence on me and countless others. It's been 20 years since my last Father's Day with him. 

 

 

My Dad was incredibly loving and demanding.  I recognize how much his vision of what I could become helped shape me. 

For example, after winning the State Championship in the shot put, my dad came down from the stands onto the field.  He hugged me and told me that he knew I could do it. Then, he looked deeply into my eyes and asked whether I was a little disappointed?  "Disappointed?" I asked. "But, Dad, I won."  He looked at me and said, "Yeah, winning is great ... but you didn't throw a personal best."   He was proud and he loved me.   He recognized that winning was important ... but he wanted to remind me that the other throwers weren't my real competition. 

In life, to be and do your best, the competition is really with yourself; and we both knew I could do better.

My Dad believed in setting high standards.  He taught me that most people's lives are defined by their minimum standards.  Why?  Because once those standards get met, it is easy to get distracted and complacent.

One of his favorite sayings was "The difference between good and great is infinitesimal."  This applies to many things. For example, people who are good take advantage of opportunities; people who are great create them.  The point is that setting higher standards is one of the best ways to ensure a better life.

As time goes on, I recognize how much of him is inside me. 

 

Nick Offerman via My Tales of Whisky

Many of the lessons he taught me became the lessons I taught my children - and my company. It's easy to focus on the big stories and the big lessons – but as I look back and consider what had the biggest impact, it was what happened in between ... It was his incredibly consistent and unconditional love and his focus on what was possible.

The standards I hold people to are high, and it can be tough for them to meet those standards.  Hopefully, they understand that it's because I love them (as my dad loved me) and that I see the greatness in them and available to them. 

Happy Father's Day weekend!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - June 9th, 2019

Tuesday was the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests. Here's a video of Chinese college students being asked about the event. It is a pretty interesting look at censorship and fear of government consequences for lack of free speech. 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• China's Big AI Advantage: Humans. (News)
• The Natural Genius of Ants is Helping Us Build Better Algorithms. (Wired)
• 5 Myths about Strategy. (HBR)
• Percentage of Americans Who Never Traveled beyond the State Where They Were Born? A Surprise? (Forbes)
• At Disneyland's New Star Wars' Attraction – Brace Yourself for $200 Lightsabers, $42 Cocktails and 4 A.M. Lines. (MarketWatch)

 

Trading Links:

• Billionaire Mike Bloomberg Tells Harvard Graduates that Money Isn't Important. (TheLadders)
• The Radical Plan to Change How Harvard Teaches Economics. (Vox)
• Apple Patents the Foldable iPhone Display; Here's What It Looks Like. (ValueWalk)
• Quantum Computing Will Change the Digital World beyond Recognition. (Metro)
• Atlanta Fed President Bostic Does Not See a Rate Cut this Year like the Market is Telegraphing. (CNBC)