Episode 38 – Year in review and thoughts for 2020

Wrapping up 2019 and looking ahead to next year, I recorded this episode from Brisbane’s Happy Boy Restaurant. Amid ambient café noise, we touch on what it takes to be a genius, socialism versus capitalism, the ascendance of China, man’s search for meaning, LBJ and, of course, our big reads in 2019 and thoughts for 2020.

Show highlights

  • Building specialisation – the Federer approach (try lots of things first) versus the Woods approach (specialise early)
  • Temperament and grit are more important than IQ – Buffett has outperformed Singleton, despite not being as ‘smart’
  • Our summer reading lists
  • Michael Crichton’s journey through medical school and how you spend years doing what you don’t want to do, to get where you want to go
  • How over 95% of millionaires rated “being well disciplined” as a very important/important component in explaining in their economic success (apologies – in the podcast I said 80%)
  • Grit – how stamina counts over intensity
  • Controlling our circumstances through choice, optimism, realism, Viktor Frankl’s advice and Man’s Search for Meaning
  • Jordan’s fiction reading amounts to children’s books, our shout out to Jerry Seinfeld/Ray Romano lookalike Al Shopov (Jordan’s brother – a source of intellect for the podcasts) and Larry David lookalikes
  • Where we got it wrong with predictions for 2019, from higher interest rates to values and capitalism
  • Want to reduce environmental impact? Innovation and doing ‘more with less’
  • Will China’s domestic politics feature more in the 2020 spotlight?

Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in the Podcast

Image source: AP/Philstar Global

Posted in Podcast.

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