What I've learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0154

7651.  Ted Williams (the baseball player) was (part) Mexican;

7652.  How people perceive you is a reflection of their inner world.  How you respond to their perceptions is a reflection of your own;

7653.  The ego is a coping mechanism created in our childhood to protect us.  If we don’t consciously work to create a healthy ego, we will be driven by it.  An unhealthy ego keeps us in a protected denial that blocks growth.  We become defensive and resentful telling ourselves a narrative that leaves us “stuck” in our current reality;

7654.  Ty Jerome (the point guard for the University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team) eats at Littlejohn’s (Delicatessen) (LittlejohnsDeli.com) in Charlottesville;

7655.  The subconscious mind holds beliefs about: 1.  Who “you” are; 2.  Who “you” are supposed to be; 3.  Your limitations; 4.  Other people and their intentions; 5.  The world and how it relates to you; 6.  Money, religion and sexuality; 7.  “Personality” traits; and 8.  What is valued most to others;

7656.  Insecurity and self-doubt is an internalized behavior from our parents;

7657.  Signs of insecure parents: 1.  Gossips about other children or families; 2.  Views their child’s achievements or failures as an extension of self; 3.  Compares their child to other children; 4.  Comments on their child’s appearance (i.e., weight, clothing & features); and 5.  Pushes life choices on their child without awareness of their child’s desires or needs;

7658.  With insecure parents, achievement and appearance are everything.  Because they haven’t healed their own wounds, they carry their unlived lives to their children.  They push careers on their children, influence who their children date, where they live and how they behave.  This insecurity is manifested in the adult child who begins to look to their parents for approval in every area of their life.  Self-awareness isn’t realized because their “self” relies on the love of an insecure parent;

7659.  Your most valuable asset is your attention.  Ask: 1.  Does this situation require a response? 2.  Does engaging bring me closer to who I want to become? 3.  Could my attention serve me better elsewhere? and 4.  Am I showing up as my highest self?

7660.  Where you place your attention every day will shift the chemistry of your brain and body.  We spend 95% of our time in the subconscious.  We’re mostly unaware of how we spend our time;

7661.  What you focus on only expands.  Becoming intentional about attention can bring major shifts in life;

7662.  Wall Street is the only place where people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway;

7663.  When someone says they want what’s best for you, they’re speaking through a lens of what they believe to be best for themselves;

7664.  I’ve (finally) been on a movie date (in an actual theatre);

7665.  Kenny Chesney is (pretty) jacked;

7666.  Kenny Chesney puts on a good show. . . . There’s this energy/excitement in the arena when he goes on stage;

7667.  When something happens to you, it sits on top of you like a rock.  And if you never tell the story, it sits on you forever.  But as you begin to tell the story, you climb out from under that rock and eventually you sit up on top of it;

7668.  It is never tragic when something people think is bad happens to you.  Because if you can learn to use it right, it can buy you a ticket to a place you would never have gone any other way;

7669.  You’re not telling the story to change what happened.  You’re telling the story to change you;

7670.  A study on eating habits found that, on average, if you dine with one other person you will eat about 35% more than if you ate alone;

7671.  If you’re with a group of four other people, you eat about 75% more;

7672.   Groups of 7 or more (people) eat 96% more than if they were alone;

7673.  The reason you eat more when you’re with friends is the same reason you rush to buy the latest “hot” stock or the newest iPhone.  Groupthink leads to questionable decisions because it encourages members of the group to ignore possible problems with the group’s decisions and discount the opinions of outsiders;

7674.  8 symptoms of groupthink: 1.  Illusion of invulnerability – Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks; 2.  Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions; 3.  Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and, therefore, ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions; 4.  Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemies” make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary; 5.  Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views; 6.  Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed; 7.  Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous; and 8.  Self-appointed “mind guards” – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view and/or decisions;

7675.  3 ways to beat group think: 1.  Have the courage to be different – “The hardest thing over the years has been having the courage to go against the dominant wisdom of the time, to have a view that is at variance with the present consensus and bet that view,” says legendary investor Michael Steinhardt; 2.  Be a critical thinker – “You can’t be a good value investor without being an independent thinker.  You’re seeing valuations that the market is not appreciating.  But it’s critical that you understand why the market isn’t seeing the value,” says Joel Greenblatt; and 3.  Have perseverance and grit to stick to your principles – “If you believe that the value approach is inherently sound then devote yourself to that principle.  Stick to it and don’t be led astray by Wall Street’s fashions, illusions and its constant chase after the fast dollar.  Let me emphasize that it does not take genius to be a successful value analyst, what it needs is, first, reasonably good intelligence; second, sound principles of operation; and third, and most important, firmness of character,” says Benjamin Graham;

7676.  Bad investing decisions are usually made in the heat of the moment.  Whereas financial success almost always comes after careful preparation and pre-commitment to a clear plan.  Investing is no different than writing a grocery list before you go to the store.  You do this to curb impulse buys;

7677.  Try to seek out alternative viewpoints that disagree with your own;

7678.  Write down your reasons for making an investment decision in the first place and review it periodically to see if things have changed;

7679.  One study of almost three thousand Americans found that people with close friendships are far less likely to die young;

7680.  In 2004, a Swedish epidemiologist discovered the lowest rate of dementia in people with extensive social networks;

7681.  Fifty year-old men with active friendships are less likely to have heart attacks than more solitary men;

7682.  People, who have had a stroke, are better protected from grave complications by a tight, supportive social network than they are by medication;

7683.  Relationships are three times as powerful as exercise for increasing your lifespan;

7684.  According to George Vaillant, an American psychiatrist, professor at Harvard Medical School and author of the book, Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study, men with warm relationships, make more money;

7685.  The 58 men with the best scores for warm relationships were three times more likely to be in Who’s Who and their maximum income (i.e., between the ages of 55 and 60 in 2009 dollars) was an average of $243,000.00 a year.  In contrast, the 31 men with the worst scores for relationships earned an average maximum salary of $102,000.00 a year. . . . It literally pays to make friends out of colleagues;

7686.  In The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study, Dr. Howard Friedman wrote: Those who were the most successful were the ones least likely to die at any given age.  Ambition was not a problem and taking it easy was not healthy.  In fact, those men who were carefree, undependable and unambitious in childhood and very unsuccessful in their careers had a whopping increase in their mortality risk. . . . Apparently, in these studies of men specifically, being too laid back and carefree will actually kill you;

7687.  Dr. Friedman also wrote: We did not find that precisely living out your dreams matters much for your health.  It was not the happiest or the most relaxed older participants who lived the longest.  It was those who were most engaged in pursuing their goals;

7688.  According to Dr. Friedman, you don’t have to achieve your goals to reap the benefits.  Simply striving toward any goal is enough to improve your health;

7689.  If you have kids and you want them to live a long and prosperous life, one of the best predictors of their success is having mom and dad stay together;

7690.  Dr. Friedman wrote: The long-term health effects of parental divorce were often devastating.  It was indeed a risky circumstance that changed the pathways of many of the young Terman participants.  Children from divorced families died almost five years earlier on average than children from intact families.  Parental divorce not parental death was the risk;

7691.  According to Dr. George Vaillant, a loving childhood is one of the best predictors of mid and late-life riches.  He found that contentment in the late seventies was not even suggestively associated with parental, social class or even the man’s own income.  What it was significantly associated with was warmth of childhood environment and it was very significantly associated with a man’s closeness to his father;

7692.  Having strong relationships with friends and family is the best thing you can do for your health;

7693.  Dave Bautista is from Arlington, Virginia;

7694.  I can say (that) I’ve seen a movie with “Drax the Destroyer” . . . and Kumail Nanjiani (the comedian and actor);

7695.  Dave Bautista feels closer to his “Guardians of the Galaxy” costars than his “Avengers” costars;

7696.  I can say (that) I’m in a selfie with “Drax the Destroyer” and Kumail Nanjiani;

7697.  The U(nited )K(ingdom) issued the first stamp (the “Penny Black”);

7698.  The U(nited )K(ingdom) is the only country that doesn’t put its name on (postage) stamps.  It uses (an image of) the queen instead;

7699.  Wells Fargo owns the Pony Express;

7700.  The Pony Express was in operation for less than 19 months;