Highlights 2020: Week 21
Mean reversion, sacrifice and eternal underperformance
Reversion to the mean is the iron rule of financial markets.
John C. Bogle
Mediocrity is scary. But the fact is, reversion to the mean is present in more than just financial markets. It shows up all throughout life.
Looking at my life, one of the biggest things that pulls me back to mediocrity is an unwillingness to say “no” to the things that don’t matter much, and yes to the things that do.
I'd be Millions of Dollars Richer if someone did one simple thing for me: A weekly check in where I must Show completion of my most important Project.
@garybasin via Twitter
Sometimes I wonder why I don’t do my most important work consistently.
It comes down to either a weakness of desire or a deeper longing that I want to fill quickly, in a shallow way.
In other words, either I seek after something short-term, like a new idea for using professional betters to use as investment vehicle (without knowing anything about betting, myself)…
OR I get the right long-term desire, but want to make it perfect now, like wanting my land property scraping tool to launch with five sources to scrape, rather than just one.
They’re very different problems, but most of the time, my mediocrity comes from chasing a lesser desire.
Lust is a poor, weak, whimpering, whispering thing compared with that richness and energy of desire which will arise when lust has been killed.
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
How easily duped I am! There is a richness of energy and desire by focusing on the most important thing in my life. But little desires pop up, and I almost willfully get derailed.
What kind of sacrifice am I willing to go through to be infinitely happy? What price am I willing to pay?
Love consists of a commitment which limits one’s freedom—it is a giving of the self, and to give oneself means just that: to limit one’s freedom on behalf of another. Limitation of one’s freedom might seem to be something negative and unpleasant, but love makes it a positive, joyful and creative thing. Freedom exists for the sake of love.
Edward Sri, Men Women and the Mystery of Love (emphasis mine)
A week ago, Saturday, I moved in with a family with six kids. Ages two to fourteen. My mornings are mass (a Catholic church service) and breakfast with the family. My afternoons are lunch and tag with the family. My evenings are a project or play time with the family.
What a schedule change!
My freedom to things done outside of work hours has been severely limited. But this limit has given such joy!
Where do I need to put more limits to be more free?