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Top 30 Quotes on Decision Making

September 27, 2020 In Quotes 5 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Not making a decision is a decision itself; the choices you make today have long-term consequences in the future. How far we go in life is due to our options, the choices made by your parents on where you lived, schooled and exposure, your own choice on where to live, study, work who to marry, parenting, and other seemingly insignificant decisions that always have consequences.

MJ DeMarco, in his book The Millionaire Fastlane shares some great insights on decision making:

“Your life’s choices are like a mature oak tree with millions of branches. The branches symbolize the consequences of your choices. Near the trunk of the tree, the branches are thick, reflecting the decisions you’ve made early in life, while the top branches are thin, symbolizing decisions near the end of your life.”

“Youthful choices radiate the most strength and fabricate the trunk of your tree. As the branches ascend topside through time, they get thinner and weaker. They don’t have enough power to bend the tree in new directions because the trunk is thick with age, experience, and reinforced habits.”

“The smallest choices made in your daily life create habits and lifestyle that forms process-they are the ones that can make the biggest impact. You can’t decide to “go Fastlane” because that itself is just an event. A Fastlane process is hundreds of choices.”

Here are some great quotes on decision making:

The Psychology of Human Misjudgement by Charlie Munger.

September 22, 2020 In Speech 57 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Charlie Munger delivered this speech at Harvard University in June 1995. Munger spoke about a framework for decision making with an emphasis on factors contributing to human misjudgments. The Psychology of Human Misjudgment is talk eleven in Poor Charlie’s Almanack, a collection of speeches and lectures by Charlie Munger, compiled by Peter D. Kaufman. The speech is based on the concepts he read from Robert Cialdini’s great book. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

Munger was so impressed by Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, after reading the book, Munger wrote in Poor Charlie’s Almanack:

“Cialdini had made himself into a super-tenured “Regents Professor” at very young age by devising, describing, and explaining a vast group of clever experiments in which man manipulated man to his detriment, with all of this made possible by man’s intrinsic thinking flaws. ”

“I immediately sent copies of Cialdini’s book to all my children. I also gave Cialdini a share of Berkshire stock [Class A] to thank him for what he had done for me and the public. Incidentally, the sale by Cialdini of hundreds of thousands of copies of a book about social psychology was a huge feat, considering that Cialdini didn’t claim that he was going to improve your sex life or make you any money. “

I immediately sent copies of Cialdini’s book to all my children. I also gave Cialdini a share of Berkshire stock [Class A] to thank him for what he had done for me and the public.

The Psychology of Human Misjudgement Transcript

Top 30 Quotes on Commitment

September 20, 2020 In Quotes 6 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!”― William Hutchison Murray

Most of us set new year resolutions every 365 days, but we start faltering from February/March; the missing piece is the commitment to follow through. We all want the prize, but we do not love the process; we are unwilling to pay the price, but we want the joy of winning the prize. Anything worth doing takes a lot of time, grit, sacrifice, whatever-it-takes-attitude, and the ability to want it more than you want to breathe.

Commitment is the ability to stick with something long after the initial excitement is gone. Commitment is a decision to stick with a project, idea, relationship, or goal against all odds, failure, and tribulation. Setting a goal is not enough, you have to be committed to making it happen against all odds.

In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy set a great goal to land a man on the moon when he said: “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon. The most important word in that statement is the Commitment to achieve a goal.

The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.

There is a business fable about the chicken and the pig which is a metaphor for commitment to a project or cause.:

When producing a dish made of eggs with ham or bacon, the pig provides the ham or bacon which requires his or her sacrifice and the chicken provides the eggs which are not difficult to produce. Thus the pig is really committed to that dish while the chicken is only involved, yet both are needed to produce the dish.

Here are some great quotes on commitment;

Book Summary – The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime! by MJ DeMarco.

September 14, 2020 In Book Summaries 16 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

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The object of life is not to be on the side of the masses, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.~ Marcus Aurelius

MJ DeMarco had an epiphany when he had a chance encounter with a Lamborghini Countach owner; the meeting led him to have a paradigm shift about wealth. The Millionaire Fastlane is the belief that creating wealth need not take 50 years of financial mediocrity devoured by decades of work, decades of saving, decades of mindless frugality, and decades of 8% stock market returns

The book has a get rich scheme title, but it is not the theme of the book; the Fastlane is just a metaphor on the path to creating wealth, which the author classified as the sidewalk, the slow lane, and the Fastlane. The author deliberately chose the name of the book because he knows the society as we have it structured is attuned to shortcut, quick fixes, and immediacy.

“The goal of the book is to change your perception about wealth and money. Believe that retirement at any age is possible. Believe that old age is not a prerequisite to wealth. Believe that a job is just as risky as a business. Believe that the stock market isn’t a guaranteed path to riches. Believe that you can be retired just a few years from today.”

Here are my favourite take aways from reading, The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco.

Book Summary: Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 by John C. Maxwell

August 31, 2020 In Book Summaries 9 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Leadership is like maturity. It doesn’t automatically come with age. Sometimes age comes alone.

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John C. Maxwell is my favorite Leadership Author and I like reading his books because they are always well researched, with very good stories, anecdotes, and book references that would make you want to explore the topic further. In Developing the Leader Within You 2.0, John outlines principles for inspiring, motivating, and influencing others from any type of leadership position.

Everything rises and falls on leadership. The world becomes a better place when people become better leaders. Developing yourself to become the leader you have the potential to be will change everything for you.

Success leads to the greatest failure, which is pride. Failure leads to the greatest success, which is humility and learning.
In order to fulfill yourself, you have to forget yourself. In order to find yourself, you have to lose yourself.…That may lead to failure, but it will eventually lead to genuine success. – David Brook

Here are my favorite takeaways from reading Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 by John C. Maxwell:

Book Summary – Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo.

August 24, 2020 In Book Summaries 8 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

No matter what you’re facing, you have what it takes to figure anything out and become the person you’re meant to be.

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From the host of the award-winning MarieTV and The Marie Forleo Podcast, an indispensable handbook for becoming the creative force of your own life. Everything is figureoutable is more than just a fun phrase to say. It’s a practical, actionable discipline. A mantra that helps you operate at your best and achieve what you want. It’s a mindset to help you solve meaningful problems, learn new skills, and find ways to help and contribute to others. Once adopted, this attitude will make you virtually unstoppable.

Purpose fuels persistence. Reasons come before results.

Premise of Everything Is Figureoutable: No matter what you’re facing, you have what it takes to figure anything out and become the person you’re meant to be.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”- Maya Angelou

Here are my favourite take aways from reading Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo:

Book Summary – Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game by Mark Miller

August 21, 2020 In Book Summaries 10 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

If you try to play checkers in a chess world, problems are your reward.
Chess is not a game of luck, and neither is business. When you win, it’s because you made good decisions.

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I am fascinated with the game of chess, even though I do not know how to play it yet. It is on my bucket list of games to master; the game contains lots of strategies that are applicable in life and business. I have seen lots of movies (Searching for Bobby Fischer, Life of a King), Documentaries (Magnus, Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine), read some books such as How Life Imitates Chess by Gary Kasparov to name but a few.

Chess Not Checkers by Mark Miller is an excellent book on how we can apply the game of chess to win in business. The author share four Chess Moves that have Parallel to Business, these moves, derived from winning strategies and principles from the chess world, have parallel applications in any organization. The four chess moves are: Bet on Leadership, Act as One, Win the Heart, and Excel at Execution.

In Chess Not Checkers, Mark Miller tells the story of Blake Brown, newly appointed CEO of a company troubled by poor performance and low morale. Nothing Blake learned from his previous roles seems to help him deal with the issues he now faces. The problem, his new mentor points out, is Blake is playing the wrong game.

The early days of an organization are like checkers: a quickly played game with mostly interchangeable pieces. Everybody, the leader included, does a little bit of everything; the pace is frenetic. But as the organization expands, you can’t just keep jumping from activity to activity. You have to think strategically, plan ahead, and leverage every employee’s specific talents—that’s chess. Leaders who continue to play checkers when the name of the game is chess lose.

On his journey, Blake learns four essential strategies from the game of chess that transform his leadership and his organization. The result: unprecedented performance!

Here are my favourite take aways from reading Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game:

J.K. Rowlings 2008 Harvard University Commencement Speech

August 12, 2020 In Speech 15 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world-famous author addresses some of life’s most important questions with acuity and emotional force.

The Speech was compiled into a book: VERY GOOD LIVES presents J.K. Rowling’s words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life. How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others?

Transcript J.K. Rowlings 2008 Harvard University Commencement Speech

Top 30 Quotes on FEAR.

August 9, 2020 In Quotes 6 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

We are born with only two innate fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds.

We are born with only two innate fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds. All other fears are fears we picked up growing up, we can, therefore, unlearn all our fears through self-discipline and commitment to follow through.

We all fear something, you can let it drive you or cripple you, The choice is yours, you have to face your fears, doubt yourself if you have to but don’t fall for your fear. You would never have a problem-free period of life, the majority of life is suffering at one point or the other but you have to do deal with it. Your FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real, your fear is in your head and you have to face it with courage.

Author John C. Maxwell, in the “Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership” notes

“I once saw an article in the Saturday Evening Post that talked about fear. It said that many”:

People fear dying in a plane crash, yet the odds against that happening are 250,000 to one. A person is more likely to be kicked to death by a donkey than to die in a plane crash. –
People are also afraid of being murdered, yet a person is eight times more likely to die while playing a sport than to be shot by a stranger.
People fear dying on the operating table during surgery, yet they are twenty times more likely to die in an automobile accident. At the same time, millions of people hope and pray they will win the lottery. The truth is that they are three times more likely to be struck by lightning.
People’s fears and worries are often overblown. Many times they’re not based in reality. Yet these worries stop them from being productive and successful just the same.

Here are some 30 great quotes on Fear:

Book Summary – The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

July 6, 2020 In Book Summaries 9 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference.

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As someone that has participated in 10+ Marathons, I know first-hand the value of commitment and consistency in achieving any worthwhile goal like running a marathon; it requires having a daily routine of running with the end in mind. Darren Hardy, former publisher of Success Magazine, In this book, shares insights gleaned from interviewing and interacting with highly successful people. The Compound Effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices.

The premise of the book is that Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal. Succeeding in any field requires putting in the work, and seeing the compounding results over time. Success requires putting in the work daily and consistently over a long time, small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference.

Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE

Here are my Favourite Take Aways from reading, the compound effect by Darren Hardy:

The Sunk Cost Fallacy

July 2, 2020 In Management 5 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Recently I enrolled in a Bootcamp, which I had thought would help me achieve one of my career goals. Few weeks into the program and after I had paid a large sum of money, which was non-refundable, I realized It was not going to help achieve the career goal that I had intended and coupled with my hectic work schedule. It was not easy pulling the plug on the program, even though I had invested a large chunk of money, but I had to for the sake of my sanity & save money, time, and energy.

In retrospect, it was not a wrong move to leave the program as I was able to use that time for some other activities such as writing some IT certifications. I had to think of the trade-off I would be making vis a vis my career goals.

The Sunk Cost Fallacy is the tendency to continue to sink money, time, or effort into an activity/project we know is not going to give us our expected result. We continue these resources imply because we have already incurred a cost (sunk), which cannot be recouped. We place more value on the project based on how much we have already invested rather than the real present value.

The sunk cost is very pervasive in every area of our lives as we continue to spend money, time and effort in abusive relationships, loss generating business, viewing boring movies or sports games, nonproductive dating/marriage, or even schooling and career choice. There are lots of examples of the sunk cost in the business world such as Concorde, Google Glass, Microsoft Zune among others.

Here are some examples of the sunk cost fallacy:

Book Summary – The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga

June 30, 2020 In Book Summaries 9 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

All you can do with regard to your own life is choose the best path that you believe in. On the other hand, what kind of judgment do other people pass on that choice? That is the task of other people, and is not a matter you can do anything about

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The Courage to Be Disliked follows a conversation between a young man and a philosopher as they discuss the tenets of Alfred Adler’s theories. Adler, a lesser-known twentieth-century psychologist whose work stands up to Freud and Jung, believes in a liberating approach to happiness in which each human being has the power and potential to live a happy and fulfilled life without worry about the past or future.

Their dialogue spans five nights, and the reader is invited to journey alongside the youth as he grapples with, fights against, and is ultimately moved by the profundity of Alder’s wisdom.

The Courage to be Disliked is inspired by Socratic dialogue, a literary genre derived from Plato’s dialogues in which Socrates is a main character who, through conversation, seeks to answer questions on the meaning of life.

When you’re 18, you worry about what everybody is thinking about you.
When you’re 40, you don’t give a darn what anybody thinks of you.
When you’re 60, you realize that nobody has been thinking about you at all!

Here are my favourite takeaways from reading “The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness“. Some great insights such as your past does not determine your future, Happiness is a choice, how we fabricate anger, a competitive mindset can affect your mental health and the courage to be disliked leads to long-lasting happiness.

J.K.Rowling Biography

June 28, 2020 In Bios 12 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

I had been writing – all I ever wanted to do from – as – from the age at which you understand that books are written – they don’t just spontaneously grow out of the ground.

J.K.Rowling is the author of the widely popular Harry Potter fantasy series, which has sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. Rowling is the first self-made billionaire author in history, captivating readers in eighty languages, and two-hundred countries around the world.

The Harry Potter Series is one of the highest-grossing movie franchises in history – raking in more than 9.1 billion dollars. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two.
Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

Rags to Riches

Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling saw herself as a failure. Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child, but she described her failure as liberating and allowing her to focus on writing. During this period, Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide. Rowling signed up for welfare benefits, describing her economic status as being “poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless”

J.K. Rowling first had the idea for Harry Potter while delayed on a train travelling from Manchester to London King’s Cross in 1990. Over the next five years, she began to plan out the seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and amassed a mountain of notes, many of which were on scraps of paper

Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech

June 18, 2020 In Motivation 13 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

One of the most inspiring commencement speeches of all time on June 12, 2005, Steve Jobs, Late CEO of Apple and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered a very compelling speech to the graduating Stanford University students.

Full Transcript of Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

What is the trade-off?

June 17, 2020 In Life 8 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.- Thomas Sowell

Life is a fight for territory; we are always trading off something for yet another thing: your Work or Your Marriage, Your Mental Health, or Mindless scrolling on social media. Unfortunately, there is always a trade-off. The question is not if you are trading off something; instead, the question is, what are you trading off?

Take, for instance, you run a not-for-profit organization, but you are attending conferences all year round, all over the world. The trade-off would probably be less time working on your project. Another example is social media/instant messaging, picking up your phone every 15 minutes to check the latest updates for the dopamine rush. Still, the trade-off is either having less face to face conversations or having less time to work on your goals. You get the drift, most times you cannot have it all.