I think about investments a lot ... that makes sense given my profession.
Yet, as my kids get older, there is an investment I made that paid-off in a big way ... and I want to share it with you.
Like many parents, I wanted to teach my children that, to a large extent, they control what happens to them. One of the first ways I did that was to set up a "compensation system" for them to earn video games.
Some parents try to limit the amount of time their kids spend watching TV or playing video games. I tried something different. Instead, my kids earned their games by reading books. Here is a photo from way back then.
Paid With Play.
Here's how it worked. When they were younger, 10 books was enough to earn a small game. When they finished a book, it was their right, and my obligation, to take them to the bookstore for us to pick up the next book together. Likewise, when they finished the requisite number of books, it was their right, and my obligation, to take them to the computer store or game store for them to choose any game they wanted.
When they finished a hundred books, they got a bonus of earning the next game system. That meant if they had a Nintendo, they could now also get a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
How Can You Encourage a Jump to the Next Level?
There came a point when I wanted one of my sons to start reading grown-up books. He was comfortable reading a certain type of book, and didn't want to read the kind of books that I read. So, I created a bonus system that counted a particular book as three books. I didn't force him; I just let the easier path to a reward "whisper" in his ear what to read. Once he finished that, he never went back to teen fiction.
It Is a Great Way to Learn About Your Kids.
I also used the bookstore visits to get a sense of how the boys were doing. For example, I might say "I notice that you read five books in that series, maybe you'd like this book". Or, "That sure is a lot of science fiction; what was the last biography you read?" For the most part, though, I didn't care what they read. The key was to get them to want to choose certain books for their own reasons. Ultimately, their preference meant they were learning to love reading.
It Puts Them In Control of Their Destiny and Rewards.
My younger son likes competition. He also broke or misplaced many things. So, in order to earn back the Game Boy unit that he lost, I challenged him to read five books in five days. These weren't easy books either. It was designed to stretch him, and also to teach him that he could read a book a night. The bet was that he either finished all the books in the allocated time, or none of them counted towards games or Game Boys. On the other hand, if he read a book a night for two weeks, not only would he get to have his Game Boy back, the books would count towards a game too. It worked like a charm, and we were both happy.
So, Who Got the Better Bargain?
As they started to get into their teenage years, I needed to up the ante a little. So, 500 books meant they got a laptop of their choice. Both boys cashed in ... and probably felt like they were taking advantage of their dad.
I got what I wanted, though; both my boys love reading. And know that they can accomplish anything they put their minds to … one step at a time.
That's an investment that pays dividends for a long time.
Fake news this ... phony sources that ...
It is harder than ever to know what to trust.
"Noise Reduction" is important in this volatile geo-political climate.
The chart, below, lists the least and most trusted news sources.
via RJI
As someone who reads a lot, this was interesting.
As a side note, I was a little surprised to see the "Internet" on the list as source itself. Darwin would be somewhat comforted to see that people don't trust everything they see on the internet.
The following chart is a bit outdated (it's from 2014), but it's a good study with diverse leanings. It presents the trust levels of various news sources by ideological group.
via Journalism
Which of your news sources do you follow? Were they as trusted as you expected?
Another question worth asking yourself is "Am I getting an idea of what the other side is thinking?" In trading, I always want to understand what the other side sees.
Finally, let me know if there are resources you think I should look at.
You are either growing or dying.
There are over 7,100 known languages actively spoken in the world today. Of those, just twenty-three of them act as a mother tongue for more than 50 million people. Collectively, those 23 languages make up the native tongue of more than half the world (4.1 billion people).
This infographic represent each language within black borders and then provide the numbers of native speakers (in millions) by country. The coloring shows how the languages have taken root in many different regions.
via Alberto Lucas López .
As you can see, Chinese is by far the most dominant language on the planet right now, with almost 1.2 billion people speaking dialects. Comparatively, pretty much every other language on Earth is an also-ran: Spanish (399 million speakers), English (335 million), Hindi (260 million), and Arabic (242 million) take up the next four positions. Only when you add them up do they come close to the reach Chinese has.
Although Chinese is the most popular language on Earth, it's worth noting that its influence wanes greatly outside of Asia.
If you take the geographic diversity of where a language is spoken into account, English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese are the most influential languages on Earth, because of colonialism.
For more, here is a link to the Washington Post's article: The world’s languages, in 7 maps and charts.
To use an athletic analogy, a normal speech and a TED Talk are totally different events (like a sprint vs the decathlon). It takes a surprisingly different set of skills and type of preparation to perform well.
I've given hundreds of presentations, and don't normally stress about them. I did for this one.
In most of my talks, there is very little "set in stone" to memorize. I tend to have a main topic (or theme), and each slide serves like a module ... and I think, talk, interact, and improvise throughout the framework.
This works well for me because I tend to think in anecdotes that branch out from the main theme. That may be a great skill to have, but it's not one that helps you write a good TED Talk.
Why? Because, in contrast, a TED Talk is really about "one idea worth sharing".
In many respects, it's much harder to write and deliver a good 10 minutes about one idea, than it is to prepare to talk about a much broader topic for one hour.
The TEDx committee created a sense of formality with stringent standards and deadlines. My guess is that, during the planning and rehearsal process, they wanted uncomfortable speakers to provoke better speeches.
As a result, I prepared (and threw away) four separate talks before coming up with something that felt right and flowed properly.
Here are some bullet points that highlight lessons learned.
I didn't realize how hard it was to make something simple.
The video should be ready next week.
EDIT: Here it is:
If you hate writing personalized holiday cards, you'll love this tool. It does what it is supposed to, it's easy to use, and it's going to save you a ton of time and effort.
The Task I Put-Off Every Year.
Even though composing a message and signing cards is a relatively simple task, some part of me resents and resists it.
Call me Ebenezer Scrooge, but I don’t enjoy writing thank you notes and holiday cards.
On one hand that embarrasses me a little, because I recognize that both are expressions of appreciation and being grateful for relationships and nice things. On the other hand, it's the thought that counts. I can be grateful and appreciative without suffering. How much time and effort I spend is irrelevant to how much goodwill I feel or express.
EMail Merge Pro.
That's why I recommend you try this e-mail merge software. It allows you to send personalized holiday cards, invitations or other messages, in a fraction of the time it used to take.
This easy-to-learn, easy-to-use Outlook mail merge solution has a helpful Wizard interface that gets you up and running in minutes. It takes you through a step-by-step process that makes it very easy to select who you want to send to, and how you want to personalize the message (for example, adding a first name or some other information from the contact record).
Now that I have a "Holiday Card" category in Microsoft Outlook, the hardest part of the process is tagging the new people who I want to get a holiday card.
It is the Right Tool for the Job.
If you need to tap a nail into the wall, a chain-saw is not the right tool. Likewise, most people don't need commercial e-mail services. Still, it is a great convenience having a tool that you can use, from time to time, when you want to send personalized messages to a bunch of people.
EmailMerge is a one-time purchase that allows you to send unlimited emails to unlimited contacts no additional fees or costs.
I tend to use this program two or three times a year; and every time I use it I'm happy it's there and thrilled with how it performed. Here is a link to a video demonstration.
I've used this software for many years. It is stable, mature, and continuing to improve. I highly recommend that you download a trial from their website.
They also make a number of other add-ins for Outlook worth checking-out and have a blog worth reading.
A Look Back at "The Crazy Ones"
I remember being mesmerized the first time I saw Apple Computers iconic "Crazy Ones" video as part of their Think Different campaign.
Steve Jobs originally recorded a version of "The Crazy Ones" himself, but chose to release the Richard Dreyfuss narrated version.
via YouTube
Here is the text version of the script.
I think it has held up pretty well, and I had this piece of art commissioned for my office.
There's a lot to be said for carving your own path, for pushing past perceived limits and accomplishing something hard to ignore.
Posted at 04:24 PM in Art, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Ideas, Market Commentary, Personal Development, Trading, Web/Tech, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)
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