— (x)
toni morisson is the master of skinning white supremacy so elegantly and artfully wit tha scalpel like precision.
I thought about this .
They dead ass don’t have a leg to stand on when you take that away .
The Warren Buffett formula on how to get smarter
“The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.”
— Charlie Munger
“Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.”
— Charlie Munger
Most people go through life not really getting any smarter. Why? They simply won’t do the work required.
It’s easy to come home, sit on the couch, watch TV and zone out until bed time rolls around. But that’s not really going to help you get smarter.
Sure you can go into the office the next day and discuss the details of last night’s episode of Mad Men or Game of Thrones. And, yes, you know what happened on Survivor. But that’s not knowledge accumulation, it’s a mind-numbing sedative.
But you can acquire knowledge if you want it.
In fact there is a simple formula, which if followed is almost certain to make you smarter over time. Simple but not easy.
It involves a lot of hard work.
We’ll call it the Buffett formula, named after Warren Buffett and his longtime business partner at Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger. These two are an extraordinary combination of minds. They are also learning machines.
“I can see, he can hear. We make a great combination.” —
Warren Buffett, speaking of his partner and friend, Charlie Munger.
We can learn a lot from them. They didn’t get smart because they are both billionaires. No, in fact they became billionaires, in part, because they are smart. More importantly, they keep getting smarter. And it turns out that they have a lot to say on the subject.
How to get smarter
Read. A lot.
Warren Buffett says, “I just sit in my office and read all day.”
What does that mean? He estimates that he spends 80% of his working day reading and thinking.
“You could hardly find a partnership in which two people settle on reading more hours of the day than in ours,” Charlie Munger commented.
When asked how to get smarter, Buffett once held up stacks of paper and said “read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge builds up, like compound interest.”
All of us can build our knowledge but most of us won’t put in the effort.
One person who took Buffett’s advice, Todd Combs, now works for the legendary investor. After hearing Buffett talk he started keeping track of what he read and how many pages he was reading.
The Omaha World-Herald writes:
Eventually finding and reading productive material became second nature, a habit. As he began his investing career, he would read even more, hitting 600, 750, even 1,000 pages a day.
Combs discovered that Buffett’s formula worked, giving him more knowledge that helped him with what became his primary job — seeking the truth about potential investments.
But how you read matters too.
You need to be critical and always thinking. You need to do the mental work required to hold an opinion.
In Working tougher: Why Great Partnerships Succeed Buffett comments to author Michael Eisner:
Look, my job is essentially just corralling more and more and more facts and information, and occasionally seeing whether that leads to some action. And Charlie—his children call him a book with legs.
Continuous learning
Eisner continues:
Maybe that’s why both men agree it’s better that they never lived in the same city, or worked in the same office. They would have wanted to talk all the time, leaving no time for the reading, which Munger describes as part of an essential continuing education program for the men who run one of the largest conglomerates in the world.
“I don’t think any other twosome in business was better at continuous learning than we were,” he says, talking in the past tense but not really meaning it. “And if we hadn’t been continuous learners, the record wouldn’t have been as good. And we were so extreme about it that we both spent the better part of our days reading, so we could learn more, which is not a common pattern in business.”
It doesn’t work how you think it works.
If you’re thinking they sit in front of a computer all day obsessing over numbers and figures? You’d be dead wrong.
““No,” says Warren. “We don’t read other people’s opinions. We want to get the facts, and then think.” And when it gets to the thinking part, for Buffett and Munger, there’s no one better to think with than their partners. “Charlie can’t encounter a problem without thinking of an answer,” posits Warren. “He has the best thirty-second mind I’ve ever seen. I’ll call him up, and within thirty seconds, he’ll grasp it. He just sees things immediately.”
Munger sees his knowledge accumulation as an acquired, rather than natural, genius. And he’d give all the credit to the studying he does.
“Neither Warren nor I is smart enough to make the decisions with no time to think,” Munger once told a reporter. “We make actual decisions very rapidly, but that’s because we’ve spent so much time preparing ourselves by quietly sitting and reading and thinking.”
How can you find time to read?
Finding the time to read is easier than you think. One way to help make that happen is to carve an hour out of your day just for yourself.
In an interview he gave for his authorized biography The Snowball, Buffett told the story:
Charlie, as a very young lawyer, was probably getting $20 an hour. He thought to himself, ‘Who’s my most valuable client?’ And he decided it was himself. So he decided to sell himself an hour each day. He did it early in the morning, working on these construction projects and real estate deals. Everybody should do this, be the client, and then work for other people, too, and sell yourself an hour a day.
It’s important to think about the opportunity cost of this hour. On one hand you can check twitter, read some online news, and reply to a few emails while pretending to finish the memo that is supposed to be the focus of your attention. On the other hand, you can dedicate the time to improving yourself. In the short term, you’re better off with the dopamine laced rush of email and twitter while multitasking. In the long term, the investment in learning something new and improving yourself goes further.
“I have always wanted to improve what I do,“ Munger comments “even if it reduces my income in any given year. And I always set aside time so I can play my own self-amusement and improvement game.”
Reading is only part of the equation.
But reading isn’t enough. Charlie Munger offers:
We read a lot. I don’t know anyone who’s wise who doesn’t read a lot. But that’s not enough: You have to have a temperament to grab ideas and do sensible things. Most people don’t grab the right ideas or don’t know what to do with them
Commenting on what it means to have knowledge, in How To Read A Book, Mortimer Adler writes: “The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”
Can you explain what you know to someone else? Try it. Pick an idea you think you have a grasp of and write it out on a sheet of paper as if you were explaining it to someone else.
Nature or Nurture?
Another way to get smarter, outside of reading, is to surround yourself with people who are not afraid to challenge your ideas.
“Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.” — Charlie Munger
From Business Wolf
I spend nearly all my free time reading and want to increase it. Reading is really one of my most treasured pastimes. Now, with a little baby, I carry a tote bag always, to house all the essentials at all times; this, gives me incentive now to carry more - specifically - books, and as I live near my local library, tomorrow, I’m gonna check out a few books from my Goodreads and aim to read them in a week. Then repeat….
Tea Facts
Black tea
Think black tea makes you feel good? You’re right. It’s been proven to help you de-stress fast. It also helps eliminate bad breath. Plus medical research indicates that it lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and reduces bad cholesterol.
Green tea
Want to stay slim, trim and beautiful? The antioxidants in green tea just might slow signs of aging, prevent the flu and raise your metabolism. More dramatically, it’s being shown to prevent and slow cancer, and help with arthritis and bad cholesterol too.
Oolong tea
This one’s known as a fat-buster in China, and science is indicating that it does indeed speed up your metabolism, burn fat and block fat absorption! Use it to fight expanding waistlines, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
White tea
Science is saying that white tea might be more effective than even green tea at preventing cell damage, shrinking cancerous tumours and stopping the growth of cancer cells. Plus it’s becoming the new cosmetic fix for aging skin. Beautiful!
Pu’erh tea
Traditional Chinese medicine prizes Pu’erh as a wonder tea. It’s said to aid digestion, cleanse the blood and help with weight loss. Studies in Europe are also saying it busts cholesterol as effectively as some medications.
Rooibos tea
It’s said that rooibos helps you recover from hangovers, and that it could slow dementia. Plus there’s evidence that it fights skin cancer and boosts the immune system. And it’s supposed to help with insomnia!
Maté tea
Yerba maté is a fabulous stimulant, without the jitters. It’s also full of antioxidants, so there’s scientific speculation that it could have anti-cancer properties, help stimulate the immune system and protect against disease.
Herbal tea
Herbs, spices, fruits and flowers have long been used in traditional medicine to cure everything from headaches, stomach bugs and colds to stress and insomnia. The power of the tea depends on its ingredients.
BEYONCE - Formation
I will reblog this EVEEERREYY TIME I see my lord and savior on my dashboard 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
The Full Potential Challenge
Ever wonder what your life would be like if you lived up to your full potential? Would your body be healthier? Your skin clearer? Bank account bigger? I think about these things all the time, and, judging my a previous post, you guys do to. Below is a chart designed to help all of us live up to our full potential. I’ve broken it down into time frames to help keep you from getting overwhelmed. Write the chart down and hang it someplace where you can see it all the time. I will be starting this challenge tomorrow, 9/8. I’ll check in with you guys every Sunday to track my progress. I have specific goals in mind for myself, and you guys should make some too! I really want to know how you guys are doing. Tag your progress posts with #sbfpc so I can track it and take a look. Let’s get to it!
EVERY MORNING
- Stretch. First thing. Really give your body enough time to wake up. Touch your toes. Roll out your shoulders. Do not hit snooze!
- Do your full skincare routine. I have mine detailed here, but do whatever works for you and your complexion. Be gentle and consistent.
- Brush your teeth and floss. I used to be a big floss-skipper too, but you’d be amazed at how dig of a difference it makes. Rinse with a whitening mouthwash. I use one by Crest, and I notice a major difference in my teeth’s overall whiteness in just a few days.
- Give yourself enough time to get ready. Whether you’re a wash-and-go kind of girl, or someone who spends an hour doing a full contouring routine before class (and either one is fine!), make sure you aren’t rushing. If you need to wake up a few minutes earlier than normal, so be it. Rushing sets an awful, stressed-out tone for the rest of the day. Allow yourself to be relaxed before taking on the day.
- Eat something. I’m not going to say eat a big breakfast, because some people (myself included) just can’t eat in the morning. But you should eat, or at least bring a little something with you to work or school. If you can’t eat a full breakfast, grab a fruit! You won’t be as hungry come lunch time, making you less likely to gorge yourself.
- Shower. You can do this at night, in the morning, whatever. Again, this is something you should allow some time for. I don’t wash my hair every day, but I do condition it every day (from the ears down). Scrub yourself with a delicious-smelling body wash. If you shave, make yourself as smooth as a dolphin, dude. If you don’t, then don’t and don’t ever ever ever let anyone make you feel bad or weird about it. When you get out of the shower, wrap yourself in a fluffy towel and totally slather your sexy self with lotion. Top to bottom. Do it as soon as you can post-shower so it can really sink in.
- Put leave-in condition throughout your damp hair and comb it through.
- Put on an outfit that makes you feel good! So important!
- Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!
- Take a look at your daily to-do list. Knock out the most pressing stuff first. Take pride when you cross things off your list.
- Make your bed! Oh my god, make your bed. Do it. Do it. Do it.
EVERY AFTERNOON
- Follow the “touch it once” approach. This is a truly life-changing thing. When a task is in front of you, no matter how big or small, just do it right then and there. How many times have you gotten a work email or homework assignment and thought, “Eh, I’ll do it later”? And then later never comes? Once something pops up, do it once. Squash it and be done. Cross things off your list and feel like a badass.
- Try to go for a walk at lunch. Even one little lap around the block or campus will reenergize you like nobody’s business.
- Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!
- Be present. This is so hard for me too, but you have to make a major effort to be present in whatever you’re doing. Be engaged and plugged-in and just exist in the moment. Give 100 percent.
- Be friendly to friends and strangers. A smile goes a long way.
- Eat something. Eat what you packed for lunch (see below) and take a break from working while you do it. You need “you time”!
EVERY EVENING
- Take your makeup off as soon as you’re in for the night. Wash your face with your full routine and let your skin have a break.
- Workout. You can also do this in the morning. Whatever works for you. Make a great playlist and go hard af. Get your cardio in. Get your strength training in. Earn every freaking sweat bead forming on your forehead. Earn your shower!
- Knock out your homework. Life is infinitely better you don’t have anything hanging over your head. Half the time, the energy and emotion you spent dreading/putting off your work is ten times worse than the work itself.
- Make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow. It’ll set you up for success the next day, and you won’t forget anything!
- Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!
- Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. This will save you SO MUCH TIME in the morning omg I can’t even tell you how important this is.
- Eat something great. And once you’ve decided to be done eating for the night, be done. Brush your teeth so you can’t eat again.
- After brushing, do a whitening treatment. Whether it’s classic baking soda, a Crest white strip, or a laser. Do something. And floss! Retainers in too, ladies 0:)
- Relax! Take a few hours to do what YOU want to do. Scroll through Tumblr, binge on some Netflix, FaceTime gossip with your friends, anything. Do whatever makes you happiest.
- Shut the electronics off an hour before you want to go to bed. Put your phone on sleep mode. If you stare at the screen, it will keep you awake and alert and you won’t be able to fall asleep. A good night’s sleep is crucial for weightless and general happiness lol
- Do a quick sweep of your room and see if there’s anything you can put away real quick. A clean space is a happy space.
- Crawl into your bed (aren’t you happy you took the time to make it?!) and read a book by lamplight for a while. When you start to feel sleepy, go to sleep. Don’t push it. You kicked ass today and you deserve rest.
EVERY WEEKEND
- Do something with your friends. It just has to be one thing. Even if you’re just hanging out at the coffee shop, spending time with your squad will make you a better, happier person.
- Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!
- Do something just for you. Set your laptop up in the bathroom and watch a Netflix marathon while you take a bubble bath. Buy an old school bottle of Mr. Bubbles ($3 at Target!) and really just soak. Relax. Light a candle.
- Do something creative. You can read a book, write, blog, draw, code, anything. It just has to be something that speaks to your passion.
- Track your progress. Just do this once a week so it doesn’t become all-consuming. And remember that non-scale victories are just as important as shedding pounds.
- Take the time to be grateful. Tell your friend how much you admire her taste in music. Mention to your mom how much you love her cooking and how happy you are that she takes care of you. Thank your teaching after an especially interesting lecture. When you do something awesome, take a moment to admire yourself. Be grateful for even the little things.
Anything I missed? Reblog + add yours! Don’t forget to tag your progress!