Hacks that could have been learned earlier for earlier success by MIT monk

Be better than before, than yesterday...

The author became a street boy (a runaway) monk, MIT student, later a CEO of tech company (even AI)

He lists down in this video hacks that should have been learned earlier.

Some of them:

1.  Differentiate between savings and investment.    Or you can have both.  Savings let you earn 1/4 of 1% while investment tied to S & P can get you more, Compounding plays out better.

2.  Stop believing in the American dream.  Limited opportunities now,  less jobs, heavy taxation.   

    Only 4% make it through and become successful, the 96% suffer. 

3   Practice practice practice in what you are good at.   (There is no inherent genius.  Only practice creates geniuses.    Some people who are determined are good in practice.  Athletes, musicians, actors practice this  Even doctors.  What are you good at?  Do you practice constantly

4.  Look at yourself as an investment portfolio.  Do you spend on your education and self improvement?   Are you gettting desired returns.  Wilkinson said that fortune are preceded by education and intelligence

5.  Move where the opportunites are:

     NY, Boston, SF, Chicago. Where the talented and fortunate are.  They are not in  the boondooks

6.  Equity and salary. 

    You become rich early.  You behave differently when you are the owner.    Salary is a trap is an addiction.  

7.  Humble yourself.  Get a mentor

     Not the coaches who are paid exorbitantly.  Be coached by someone who has made it.  Some will coach you free if he can get an action of your venture.  

8.  Have an emergency fund

       1.  For medical emergency

       2.  When you are laid off

       3.  Acts of God:   flood, typhoon, 

9.   Have your own FBI.   (Financial Bureau of Investigation) to find out where your money goes.  

     In this priority/order:

     1.  Emergency

     2   Equity

     3.  Essential

     4.  Enjoyment

     Allocate $ or PHP first in 1-3 before going to # 4

10.   American dream can become the American debt.  Avoid debt at all costs.   Buying homes early while young can be a catastrophe.           

11.  Be financial literate.   There are apps you get into or YT videos .    There is no excuse.  There are books:    Psychology of Money, and the Algebra of  Wealth Compounding.  These are precious guides. 

12  Automate personal finance.  There are apps that can do this for you.

13.  Go analog.  Read read read books.

14.  Failure as a teacher like as on the spot firing being jobless, being homeless.  Be prepared and develop resilience from that.  Find something positive in bad experiences to bring out the best in you.  Find the strength that you have missed.  It can let you see the road beyond the corner and find the best you

15.  Find the krypto in you (what destroys Superman)  find the antidotes and seek people who can support you and give your strrength.  

16.  Dont play victim

       Dont hold grudges.  Stay friendly even with those people who wronged you.  

17.  Find the right partner.  Who can give you support in the worst of conditions.

18.  Forgive yourself and live away from the past -   Abusive parents, bad employers, misfortunes.  Stay in the present find something positive and be a good person now.

19.  Think of yourself as someone living for others to be their best   Find out how can that happen  By finding love and service.  What impact can we have on others lives.   

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20.   Happiness =      Resources/need   Thus increase your resources and decrease need   If your need is 0 your happiness becomes infinite

Why smart people do not become rich?

Be better than before, than yesterday...

They are so analytical, sees more than 15 downsides in an opportunity, and prefers to be analytical.  The less educated, less analytical fail to see the risk breeze through the process, and gets the roi...

I saw this.  The educated PO dumped two multi billion projects which we passed on to other allies.

Mindset needed at the Board Room by MIT Monk

These are the things we need to be qualified for the Board Room

1.  Find the missing note  the ghost note  (the missing data)

    Ask for the data that you do not see.    E.g.  the bombers that made bank saw the bullet homes decided to provide armor for the 

   Upgrading your mind for data that do not show up.   

   Look behind the curtain and do nto look into things that are shown.  Be curious

   Look at the silent ghost.

   How the 1%  must think

2.  Optimize mistakes

     Learn from mistakes.  Mistakes and learning from them create new neural networks.    Those who do not make mistakes plateu

   1.  Define metric -  What does better  mean -   faster, better, more accurate, 

    2.  Define the outcome

    3.  Deliver

    4.  Find exact failure point

    5.  Change one thing iterate  

3.  Find the hard.  

     Explore difficult challenges and learn from this  Say difficult nego.

     Stay with it.  

     High tension conversation:  how to navigate hard conversation nego later

     1  From people to facts ;  where do we suggest  we change 

     2  Lesson the tension   are we with you or against us

     3.  No poinitng fingers   -  we want to work together

     4.  Acknowledge their presence;   appreciate what you are doing.  We care about the outcome and you

      Later you will be known as the person 

 4.  Time horizon - say  7 years.   Your action differs if you think long term

      Beams from dining room;  started to rot  The original architect all ready grew the oak so that the beams can be made in the future.  Cathedral thinking. 

     Hedge funds investors invest in long term.  Warren Buffett focussed on the long term.    40 years that passed is very fast

               90 day timeline -   be visible

              12 - 18 months -   decision that willl contribute to the company

              5 years be visionary

             ARE YOU PLANTING FLOWERS OR TREES.  ?

 5.  Your identity  -  you can architect  what yourself 

     Getting more than you deserve

      Deserving more than you get

     When you make a decision?    

     1  What will I be if I make decision?

     2  Is it a decision that is safe but will not make your better.

     You do not see around the corner.  You were made to make the world better.

     You will be better You will be for the world that will be better

     You will be better if someone believe you and sponsor you

Important learnings at MIT that makes their alumni entrepreneurs and CEOS

Be better than before, than yesterday...

The author became a MULTIMILLIONAIRE.  Do you want to be one.  Just like him ?  (He became CEO of his company.)

I worked under one such grad when I became an EVP of Savings and Loan Assocation.   I used to hate him, but adjusted him and we became a friend in Land Rover club where we now show our own vehicles and as equals.  Learned a lot from him on leadership and management

Learning from MIT (an Ivy League School)

1.  Understand and love the system

 There were many hacks committed at the top of dome of MIT:   cars assembled on top, flags, and many more done by the students.  They beat the system and they had fun.

    You must love the system and then have fun.  You cant beat and hate the system.

(We have people who say we dont have system.

    Be even able to hack the system.  (Many do cross the line and become criminals.or our competitor)

2.  Firehose test.

    Students were exposed to loads of work that they cant seem to finish.   This develops ingenuity of what should          be finished.   You ask the question, how can I cope?

    It develops ingenuity.  

    1.  Time management

    2.  Prioritization

    3.  Cooperation and collaboration

    Effort  is NOT EQUAL TO  PURPOSE.

     Purpose is:

                 1  Impacful

                 2  Important

                 3.  Irreversible

   We have recruits who complain at slightest hint of hard work, and complexity

3.  Find the first principles

     Problems, challenges can be daunting.  Especially innovation.  Find the first principle.   Break down everything into basic parts.    And then it becomes easier.

     Steps:   Find   1.  Facts

                            2.  Aspiration (your goals)

                            3.  Do tests (experiments)

      Elon Musk used this in changing the business/rocket science.   He found out that

      single use rocket launches are very complex and expensive (NASA made it so)  and found out that rocket                  launchis only 2% of what NASA spends.  And from therEM built a multi million Space ex business

 4. Mind and hand approach

     Being practical.  Leave the academic and book part.  Do something practical

     FInd the MVP (Minimum Viable Product and improve on this)  An MVP is better 

     than no product at all.  You can improve a prototype but not on nothing.  Do it now 60% is better than doing it

     105% tomorrow

     Practice

     1    Building the product

     2.   Test

     3.  Go to the first principle

      At MIT they have a one month period where students do this to present to the VC.  And they end up owning new venures, financed by Venture Capital

  5.  You do not graduate alone even if you are the smartest guy in the room.  

      You need a team, you need collaboration. you need a mastermind.  though

     how smart you are.  John Maxmell term it as the Law of the Lid.  All of major

     discoveries and invention now are results of team effort.

     This idea makes you humble  and become less of pain in the ass. of others.    Your group becomes better

     and successful.