Holding Onto Stagnation or Growth

Victor Niederhoffer hung out with his Grandmother, Birdie, after she'd retired to Florida. In "The Education of a Speculator," he recounts a conversation with her in his "Everyone Retures to the South" short story/mini-section, where Birdie kept stagnating companies and let go of growing ones.

We reminisced about some of Martin's stock market coups: Air Reduction, Allis Chalmers, American Can. These stalwarts of the early 20th century had been bequethed to her and, like most elderly people in this situation, she had sold the ones that were above cost, only to see them quadruple in the next few years, and had retained the ones that were below cost, such as Famous Artists, Four Seasons Nursing, and Levin-Townsend, which eventually sank into bankruptcy. I asked Birdie of Wolfie's should stock up on pastrami or ham. The pastrami moves briskly. Taking that perspective, it's easy to see which stocks to unload and which to hold or buy more of (pp 57-58)

Clinging to past stagnations and abandoning promising growth areas is easy to do in many areas of life, not just stocks and investment. There may be some residual hope that past disappointments can be revived into greatness. Or, an inability to acknowledge that it was a failure. These phenomenon can keep us from moving on to activities with more potential.

Once Burned . . .

In the "Once Burned . . ." short story/mini-section of Victor Niederhoffer's The Education of a Speculator, the Depression's lasting effect on some of Niederhoffer's relatives is explained:

I realized now that men of Martin's generation, who lost everything in the Depression, were traumatized by the vivid memories of their losses. In addition to their focus on the wrong companies, these men suffered from psychological maladies that had even worse consequences for their bank balances. (pp 48)

He goes on to explain how Depression's one-time event detrimentally influenced investing decisions much later on, even though nothing the scale of the Depression's magnitude ever occurred again.

Sometimes, gay people who have been traumatized by bullying in their childhoods truly believe and are terrorized by thoughts of being attacked again as adults. This valid and understandable thinking leads to great obstacles and impairment in everyday living and striving for personal goals.

Hojoki 方丈記

Various books and magazines on small spaces and simplicity have referred to a 12th century essay--An Account of my Hut or The Ten Foot Square Hut. I was finally able to locate a translation to read! It is very short and readable in one sitting.

My question: is this really only ten square feet? That would mean dimensions of 5 feet by 2 feet--like a one person hiking tent! I think 100 square feet is more likely--a ten foot by ten foot square, as Kamo no Chomei describes space for a small Buddhist altar, and a writing table. My bedroom is 10' x 8' or 80 square feet--containing a twin sized bed and small desk and chair.

The hermit-crab chooses a small shell and that is because he well knows the needs of his own body. The fishing-eagle chooses a rough beach because he does not want man's competition. Just as am I. If one knows himself and knows what the world is he will merely wish for quiet and be pleased when he has nothing to grieve about, wanting nothing and caring for nobody.

"The Ten Foot Square Hut" Hojoki 方丈記, attributed to Kamo no ChomeiKamo no Chomei translated by A.L. Sadler.

Play and Records

I've only just started reading Victor Niederhoffer's The Education of a Speculator (New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.  1997), but he sure does seem to talk about sports a lot.  His parents played tennis during middle winter in a drained swimming pool, which his own young child insisted on practicing with a pan when a raquet wasn't available.  He believes characteristics essential for sports pros are also highly desirable for traders and speculators. 

But, in addition to play, keeping data notes can help one get ahead!

<blockquote>The whole purpose of childhood may be viewed as a window for play.  One beautiful thing about play is that if you have an inquiring mind and keep records, you can learn which techniques carry the day (p 25).</blockquote>

Similarly, here's an item google looks for in their recruiting process, taken from their recent blog entry at: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-googley-advice-to-students-major-in.html

<blockquote>. . . [Item 1] analytical reasoning. Google is a data-driven, analytic company. When an issue arises or a decision needs to be made, we start with data. That means we can talk about what we know, instead of what we think we know.</blockquote>

So, google thinks data notes are important as well!

How can I apply the data-mining and usage more/better in my own life?

Games

Kazu's thoughts sound just like Eric Berne and Claude Steiner's games! It's like Jane Austen too!

Kazu had the utmost respect for her husband's character, but it was hard for her to see wherein lay the difference between his politics and those she had seen and heard at [her restaurant] the Setsugoan. Her glimpses of Conservative Party politicians at the Setsugoan had inculcated in Kazu a splendid notion of the nature of their work. Politics meant pretending to step out to the men's room and then completely disappearing, forcing a man's back to the wall while cheerfully sharing the same fire, making a show of laughter when one is angry, or flying into a rage when one is not in the least upset, sitting for a long time without saying a word, quietly flicking specks of dust off one's corner sleeve . . . in short, acting very much like a geisha. The exaggerated odor of secrecy clinging to politics confirmed its resemblance to the business of romance; politics and love affairs were in fact as alike as peas in a pod . . . (p 102)

Yukio Mishima. After the Banquet.

Fear of Failure Example

Nathan is describing a self-segregated elite coterie of Hollywood stars gathering separately from the many others present at Coppola's San Francisco house party for Akira Kurosawa.  Nathan wasn't initially part of this group until he got an "in" from Kurosawa due to their earlier conversation in the evening and his Japanese language ability. 

"Nothing came of the time I spent that evening in easy badinage with that celebrated company.  More properly, I never turned it into an opportunity, as each of them might well have done.  Was I afraid of failing in spite of efforts to succeed?  Or was it success itself that caused me to withdraw whenever it was visibly close at hand?  I suspect the latter was, continues to be, closer to the truth."  (p 209)

Nathan is describing the production of Summer Soldiers and the deterioration of his relationship with director Hiroshi Teshigahara, in which they had conflicting visions for the film.  Going through his journal entries from the production period, he notes:

"If there is arrogance in my observations and complaints [about Teshigahara] there is also an abjectness that troubles me.  Striving, and failing, to feel superior, I tumble into despair about myself, which blinds me to what I have achieved and prevents me from finding any pleasure in it."  (p 147)

This is a perfect example of the perfectionism and "all or nothing" phenomenon described by Burka, Yuen, and Ben-Shahar. 

John and Mayumi in Long Island

John Nathan describes an epiphany experienced while chainsawing young trees in Hamptons son at publisher Barney Rosset's new property. I'm sure I've experienced something like this before, as one of the items "in orbit" around someone more powerful in some way. It can be thrilling to feel accepted into their crowd, but unnerving. There is a sense of inferiority--or that you are a plaything or novelty for them . . .

. . . I felt ashamed: Why was I pretending to enjoy his obsessive craziness? The thought led me to a shadowy place. There was a large cast of characters in orbit around Rosset who struck me as ordinary except for some eccentricity that qualified them as offbeat. What if I were the same genus, ingratiating and mediocre? I had experienced the same disquiet with Mishima, though Barney and I were surely closer than Mishima and I had ever been, and it would trouble me again.

(p 111)

Fear of Failure Example

Here's an example of fear of failure from John Nathan's autobiography/memoirs.  It's what Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen mention in their work on procrastination, and what Tal Ben-Shahar mentions in his work. 

Nathan is describing early classes as one of the first foreigners admitted after the war to Todai, Japan's most prestigious university:

"Bihari [from Hungary] regularly interrupted the class to ask for explanations in his heavily accented Japanese.  I envied his freedom from inhibition without understanding it was modesty.  I wanted to be admired for my fluency and spent my time in class in dread of being exposed."

From: Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere by John Nathan.  New York: Free Press. 2008.

Willie Suggs

This New York Magazine article on Harlem real estate broker Willie Suggs caputured my imagination.

She bought a house in the early 1980s for $50 000, but collected $1500 in rents every month! And her mortgage payment was cheaper than her own rent at the time! She really saw the value! Bill Greene and Robert Kiyosaki would've been proud of her =). I wonder if opportunities like this still exist . . .

Also, she grew up in Milwaukee, after her family moved up from the South. When I passed through, I thought Milwaukee was an absolutely beautiful town. It is right on the lake, and there is that stunning Santiago Calatrava waterfront art museum. Milwaukee is definitely a place I'd like to live for awhile, and I wonder how it influenced Ms. Suggs.

When queried by the New York magazine reporter "about the argument that blacks as a class have been economically discriminated against—and are therefore being disproportionately pushed out," this was Willie's response:

“Bull crap! That’s bull crap. Nobody stops you from paying 50 cents for the Post, 50 cents for the Daily News, $1.25 for the New York Times. Guess what they have? They have articles on real estate! They have a real-estate pullout section! If you simply read it, you say, ‘Oh, there’s a program. If I take four classes, a total of eight hours in this class, sponsored by Harlem congregational churches, right? I can get up to $70,000 free.’ It’s called a grant. Now, if you had $70,000, do you know what Willie could sell you? We sold a five-and-a-half-room co-op for $90,000. All he needed was $20,000. I’ve been privileged to speak to those classes in the last year, and there are black folks in there, there’s white folks in there, there’s foreign-born people in there. And I’m thinking, Well, why isn’t the class all black? Because a whole bunch of black folks, for whatever reason, just don’t bother to go. So what’s your excuse now? I just told you where you can get $70,000. You don’t need any money!”

Although I suspect I might be intimidated by her (her legal problems and community complaints are detailed in the article), Ms. Suggs is definitely someone I'd like to meet.

"Warning: Habits May Be Good for You"

Sunday's New York Times had an article on "marketers, the masters of creating habits" for things like washing hands and brushing teeth. The context was public handwashing campaigns in Ghana.

The Febreeze campaign for Proctor and Gamble is explained.

This made me think of Tal Ben-Shahar, author of "Happiness" and other publications on positive psychology. Ben-Shahar encourages use of "rituals" (or, habits), which can be created and developed, rather than "self-discipline," which can run out.

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