“The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves”
Edward Gibbon “The decline and fall of the Roman Empire”
Prize in others the good qualities you’d like to have but you are struggling to achieve. It is not only paramount to find the right mentors and models in life. It is also critical to spot immediately what doesn’t work for you. If you think independently chances are that most people will not agree with you. And some other times you will find a lot of people supporting you in something that can be clearly a mistake. To fail “conventionally” seems to be more acceptable than to fail “unconventionally”. And in the investment world to succeed unconventionally would be almost considered outrageous or at least an anomaly by many of those that didn’t succeed at all. That’s why most business schools considered Buffett and Munger (and probably they still consider them) a statistical anomaly. Outliers its what they say! Warren would say that human nature has such a perverse tendency sometimes to complicated things to the point that to apply too much of a simple thing like Rationality can be considered an exception. I would only add that Rationality has in many of us a big enemy: emotions. That’s why our journey starts from there in the investment world and investing in common stocks especially. It starts from Temperament. It starts from Patience. Observe yourself and the others. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Be ready to criticize yourself and learn from the others. One of the best advice I got from Buffett it’s to write down the qualities of your heroes and write down also all the traits of the persons you really don’t like. The ones that make your stomach to churn. Write down who you really don’t want to be. It ‘ s hard to change but it’s doable. Yes you can lose, but only if you don’t try.
marco@blikebuffett.com