1.
Why curiosity is important for being a superior investor
Idea generation, in the investment business, has always been something of a dark art. Some managers prefer stringent quantitative screens to generate ideas. Others keep a narrow band of expertise and choose only to invest in particular niches. Then there are the generalists, who simply hunt in open territory for the best ideas. Each specialization requires specific frameworks to be successful, but the point is this: idea generation has always been—and will always be—part art, and part science.
There is no formula for guaranteeing the generation of “good” ideas. But I do believe there is at least one framework that can unleash a consistent flow of creativity.
And that framework boils down to one simple idea.
Creative ideas flourish when there is permission to wander.
Good ideas require expertise, but the best ideas require a multidisciplinary understanding of the world.
investing, in particular, is the study and application of how the world is evolving. If you become too fixated on a singular worldview—or become too insular in your thinking—then you are destined to fail. Put another way, I’ve never met a successful investor who simply reads earnings calls, reads the Wall Street Journal, and analyzes financial documents. The best investors I know are deeply voracious readers who “wander” in all sorts of fields—from art to science to engineering.
2.
Busyness and the way out
Researchers have learned that well-being involves a “sweet spot” of busyness. As you surely know from experience, having too little discretionary time lowers happiness. But you can also have too much free time, which reduces life satisfaction due to idleness.
Many people seem to be inflicting greater busyness on themselves than is necessary because of a fear of idleness.
The solution starts with knowledge of this tendency and a willingness to confront it. One remedy is to create a list of discretionary tasks that are creative and attractive to you but do not involve a deadline.
Make a list of the 20 things I felt you have to get done the next day, in order of priority. Then take the top 10 items and list them according to how much you look forward to doing each one. Finally, with that order, take a pencil and cross out the bottom 15 items. The top five would be your actual to-do list.
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Thought of the Week
“Finance posits a linear conception of time. A day is a day is a day. One five-year period is precisely the same duration as another five-year period. Episodes of time are uniform and we experience them unidirectionally, from present to future.
Psychology disagrees: The human experience with time is non-linear and lumpy. The duration of those seconds and decades expand and contract. Time is elastic. It slows down during traumatic accidents and speeds up as we grow older. There’s an old line in the world of parenting that “the days are long but the years are short.”
That’s mind time at play and mind time is what matters in the pursuit of wealth and funded contentment.”
-Brian Portnoy
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