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Episode 6 – Habits 1 of 4

Book: Making Habits, Breaking Habits By: Jeremy Dean

  • Habits are repeated behaviors with little to no conscious intention.
  • A minimum of ⅓ of our waking life is powered by our unconscious, where we operate on auto-pilot
  • A survey conducted in the 80s, at the University of Scranton, found 60% of  213 people surveyed, 

weren’t able to stick to their New Year’s resolutions.

  • Habits are strongly influenced by our environment
  • Training new habits requires patience
  • Most of our behavior is influenced by our unconscious mind
  • We register a number of clues, often without noticing it
  • Having certain routines makes us feel safer
  • Change a habit by replacing it with a different one
  • Performing actions unconsciously can lead to slips
  • Habits related to the Internet can turn into addictions
  • Use the WOOP method to form a new habit
    1. Wish – State what you wish to change
    2. Outcome – what do you wish to happen
    3. Obstacle – What will stop you
    4. Plan-  how are you going to overcome your obstacle
  • Adopt good habits and become happier
  • You can manipulate your habits
  • Determine your motivation.
  • Next, remember to repeat your actions, as repetition leads to automation. 
  • The Habit Loop
  1. Trigger
  2. Routine
  3. Reward 
  • The more you do a habit the more ingrained it becomes in your mind.
  • You can’t ever break an old habit.
  • You can manipulate the habit
  •  Hebb’s law and: Neurons that fire together, wire together.
  •  Quantum zeno effect. – a system can be frozen in its state, if continuously observed.

Episode 5 – Stoicism

The Mensch and the Machine – Episode 5 outline: Stoicism

Books

  • A guide to the good life
  • Meditations
  • Daily Stoic
  • Ego is the enemy
  • Letters from a stoic

What is stoicism?

Why is it having a resurgence now?

What you can control

  • A short list

Meditation

  • The observer/watcher

How to practice it?

  • Detachment
  • Emotions versus thoughts
    • Becoming a cyborg
  • Finances
  • Insults
  • Death

Episode 4 – Financial tactics

The Mensch and the Machine – Episode 4 outline: Financial tactics

Books

  • I will teach you to be rich
  • Richest man in babylon
  • Rich dad, poor dad
  • Total money makeover

Where did you learn about finances

  • Parental influence
  • School?
  • Books/blogs/etc.

Getting your house in order

  • Where is your money going
  • Budgeting tools that work
  • Envelope system
  • Basic money script
    • If you get an extra $100 how do you allocate it

Debt

  • Good debt/bad debt
  • Credit cards
  • Loans
  • Snowball method vs Higher APR target

Savings

  • Cash
  • Rate of return
  • Save for specific things

Investments

  • Retirement
    • Employer match
  • Assets

Next Week’s topic: Stoicism

Episode 3 – Naval Ravikant

Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status
Make Abundance for the World
Making Money Isn’t About Luck
Making money isn’t about luck

4 types of luck

Blind luck

Luck from hustling

Luck from preparation

Luck from your unique character

In 1,000 parallel universes, you want to be wealthy in 999 of them
Wealth stacks up one chip at a time, not all at once
Make Luck Your Destiny
Build your character so opportunity finds you
You Won’t Get Rich Renting Out Your Time
Live Below Your Means for Freedom
Give Society What It Doesn’t Know How to Get
The Internet Has Massively Broadened Career Possibilities
Play Long-Term Games With Long-Term People
Pick Partners With Intelligence, Energy and Integrity
Arm Yourself With Specific Knowledge
Specific Knowledge Is Highly Creative or Technical
Learn to Sell, Learn to Build
Read What You Love Until You Love to Read
There’s No Actual Skill Called ‘Business’
Embrace Accountability to Get Leverage
Take Accountability to Earn Equity
Labor and Capital Are Old Leverage
Product and Media Are New Leverage
Pick a Business Model with Leverage
Example: From Laborer to Entrepreneur
From low to high specific knowledge, accountability and leverage
Laborers get paid hourly and have low accountability
General contractors get equity, but they’re also taking risk
Property developers pocket the profit by applying capital leverage
Architects, large developers and REITs are even higher in the stack
Real estate tech companies apply the maximum leverage
Judgment Is the Decisive Skill
Set an Aspirational Hourly Rate
Work As Hard As You Can
Be Too Busy to ‘Do Coffee’
Ruthlessly decline meetings
Be too busy to ‘do coffee’ while keeping an uncluttered calendar
First, I keep a very clean calendar. I have almost no meetings on it. When some people see my calendar, they almost weep.
Ruthlessly cut meetings
People will meet with you when you have proof of work
Free your time and mind
Keep Redefining What You Do
Escape Competition Through Authenticity
Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes
Eventually, You Will Get What You Deserve
Reject Most Advice
Most advice is people giving you their winning lottery ticket numbers
A Calm Mind, a Fit Body, a House Full of Love
There Are No Get Rich Quick Schemes
Productize Yourself
We Should Eventually Be Working for Ourselves
Kelly Criterion: Avoid Ruin
Don’t ruin your reputation or get wiped to zero
Turn Short-Term Games Into Long-Term Games
Compounding Relationships Make Life Easier
Price Discrimination: Charge Some People More
Price discrimination is a technique for charging certain people more
Rich people and large enterprises are willing to pay more
Consumer Surplus: Getting More Than You Paid For
Externalities: Calculating the Hidden Costs of Products
Bonus: Finding Time to Invest in Yourself

Episode 2 – Napolean Hill

the guys talk about Napolean Hill and his 13 Principals

Show Notes:

Think and grow rich – the big picture, 13 principles to beat the devil

  1. Desire
    1. How bad do you want it?
    2. Ways to summon the willpower
  2. Faith
    1. Believe 100% that you can do it
    2. Removing negative influence
  3. Self Suggestion
    1. Clean up your self talk
    2. Listen to the little voice, shut up the big annoying voice
  4. Knowledge
    1. Specialized versus general
  5. Imagination
    1. Dream big, then make it real
  6. Planning
    1. To a ship without a destination any port is favorable
  7. Decision
    1. Pick a target and aim at it 100%
  8. Persistence
    1. Get gritty with it
  9. Mastermind
    1. Sum of 5 people you spend the most time with
    2. Find hobbies with a barrier to entry
  10. Transmutation
    1. Transform negative thoughts
  11. Subconscious mind
    1. What you think about when you’re not thinking
    2. Couch naps
  12. The brain
    1. Tune in to tokyo
    2. Like attracts like
  13. Sixth sense
    1. You already know what to do
    2. Little voice

Next Week’s Topic Naval Ravikant

Episode 0

Eugene and Joel explain what they are trying to accomplish with The Mensch and the Machine