Edmond Chan

Renaissance Technologies, Tolstoy, and Teslas for $78/month

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Hey there!

This week, I’ve been reading

an essay in the FT by Simon Schama on What Tolstoy’s War and Peace can teach us. One of the things that Schama talks about is when a ‘brigadier’ saw him reading it in a lunch bar and asks him if it’s his first time. When Schama says yes, the brigadier almost sighs with contented and kind-hearted envy. If you haven’t read it yet, then I contentedly and kind-heartedly envy you too. It’s a life-changer. As Nietzsche (I think) said, there are books where you mark your life as before you read it and after you read it. It’s up there in my top 5 books. Treat yourself to the Rosemary Edmonds translation and see you in about 3 months. Well that’s how long it took me :). The first couple of hundred pages read like The Sopranos on steroids and set in Napoleonic-era Russia. The character list is like a huge ensemble cast on the stage. Schama himself re-reads the Monster semi-regularly. It’s been 17 years since I first read it. Maybe it’s time to do it again.

Books I’m reading

I’m halfway through the book about Jim Simons and Renaissance Technologies (The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Greg Zuckerman). It’s good but it’s not yet a book that’s going to make it onto my list of non-fiction life-changers (think Legacy, Shoe Dog, 12 Rules of Life, Tipping Point, Freakonomics, A Short History of Nearly Everything etc). If you liked Zuckerman’s The Greatest Trade Ever about John Paulson and his firm’s huge bet against sub-prime in 2007 and 2008, you’ll enjoy this book too. It goes into the personalities of the people who built Renaissance, people you wouldn’t think were your typical Masters of The Universe. These men were world-class mathematicians, academics in tweed jackets, many of whom had no background in finance. Yet they went on to help create the most successful investment firm of all time.

Money

Graham Stephan is a very entertaining money guy on YouTube. He’s 28, got a huge property portfolio and makes millions on YouTube. What’s appealing about him is how savvy he is. He’s frugal, finding a way to live in his house for almost zero dollars and also buying a Tesla for $78/month! Here he is on how to save 99% of your income:

First published on my email newsletter on Substack sent on Jan 26 2020.

Level 11s and 11 stars – Google super-developers, audiophile headphones and stellar customer service

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Here’s some tasty articles for your reading pleasure:

Books I’m reading this week: What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz and The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman.

This was an email newsletter first sent through my Substack on Jan 14 2020.

No alcohol for a month – here’s what I found

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I wrote the below in August 2019 but it’s been in draft until now. I thought about it again now I’m basically dry until the baby arrives.

I’ve never done a period off booze. Not that I’m a heavy drinker or ever have been. I’ve enjoyed social drinking and good binge session for more than 2 decades now and never felt the need to do a dry January.

In recent years, I’ve enjoyed boozing less and less. I still love the taste of craft beer and good wine, but my hangovers are getting longer and longer. Sometimes they last until the third day. 

It isn’t always throbbing headaches. It’s also a feeling of not being too sharp and slightly foggy-headed. I’ve toyed with the idea of would my life improve greatly if I just gave it up.

At the end of July, I went to a craft beer place with one of my best mates and some of his mates from Sussex, and one or three turned into 6 or 7 strong ones, and before I knew it, I couldn’t remember how I got home. I haven’t been like this for a long, long time.

I decided to stop drinking any alcohol for the month of August. I’ve heard about One Year No Beer, where you sign up for a year-long challenge to not drink any alcohol. Testimonials rave as to the benefits of clarity and clear-headedness. A year was a bit too long for me and my Dad was surprisingly sceptical about me giving up booze. His main reason was that he didn’t want me to beat myself up if I ended up having a drink. Surely, it isn’t that hard to give up drinking? I’m not an addict. I don’t drink on weekdays and I generally steer clear of getting drunk these days. 

People who give up alcohol generally report vague words like: “more clarity”, “more energy”. It’s all very vague. For me, the thing I’ve noticed the most is that I feel like I have a To-Do list that I just want to keep adding to and I have this urge to consistently smash my to list. I suddenly want to get things done that I would normally put off such as emptying the vacuum cleaner. I get up early on Saturdays and Sundays and go swimming. I just feel ‘on it’. Sharper and more mentally agile. My aggression levels are up a bit (not that I’m shouting at people) but more that I push harder in the gym and better shrug off things that would normally give me anxiety.

I’m also sleeping better. I’m starting to feel tired around 10pm and actively yawning. My eyes start to feel heavy and the pillow on my face is a welcome relief. I don’t sleep all the way through unbroken but this is a serious improvement on my normal sleeping patterns. 

Could this be down to something other than not drinking? Quite possibly. I’ve also been exercising a lot. Lots of cardio and lots of weights. That could be raising my testosterone levels. But it could be down to no alcohol. Alcohol increases oestrogen, so it makes sense for the opposite to reduce oestrogen and therefore increase testosterone. My sleep is also better quality and for longer which also has a direct positive effect on testosterone.

I also like the feeling of exerting self-discipline. Not cracking when I would normally fancy a beer, particularly on weekends or at social events. It’s been fortunate to coincide the dry month with a month where I have very little in the calendar in terms of socials. If it had been a month full of 40th birthday celebrations, then it might have been a bit more of a struggle. Peer group pressure is a powerful thing even if wielded with subtlety. I find that there’s even self-peer group pressure, as you don’t want to be the party-pooper. 

Do I miss alcohol? Not for the first weekends. I still love the taste of craft beer and good wine. And I still like feeling tipsy and drunk (but not too drunk). That first drink after the break will be interesting. I wonder what I’ll like and dislike about it.

So back to today! How did the rest of August go? By the end of the month, I was gagging for a beer or three. Particularly on some of the blazingly hot and sunny Bank Holiday weekends, when all I wanted to do was have an ice-cold beer. The last weekend fell on the 31st Aug, and it would have been easy to capitulate but I resisted, just to get the full calendar month.

I’m doing it again at the moment as the due date for baby Chan is Boxing Day, and I don’t want to be a bit pissed if suddenly labour comes on. It’s been two weeks without a beer (bar a couple of afternoon glasses of wine last Saturday in the pub). And I’m starting to feel similar effects to what I felt in August: feeling more ‘on it’ and more ‘getting shit done’ and it’s probably no coincidence that I went swimming this morning and about to go for a run.

Give it a go. Commit to a month without booze and see what the effects are. If you’re a social drinker, I’m sure you’ll feel the positive effects!

9 marvellous things you can do with 24 hours in Cambridge

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After 2 or 3 years using hotels.com, we finally got our reward for booking our 10th night on the platform. It works like a coffee reward scheme, and after 10 nights, you get a night free which is equivalent to the average cost of the 10 nights that you booked. Pretty good deal.

Angelique wanted to spend it away for her birthday and for some reason I thought why not Cambridge. A search for hotels in Cambridge popped up this beauty: University Arms. It looked so good and with excellent reviews that we planned the night away around this hotel.

We went for a Sunday night. Cambridge is only 50 mins away on the fast train out of Kings Cross, and University Arms is only 10 mins walk from the historic centre of Cambridge. The hotel is excellent with superb branding and little touches all over the place.

All in the Cambridge colours

We went for a walk towards the historic colleges and headed towards The Backs, a walk that goes behind the colleges. We were there in term-time and not all the colleges are open to the public. We went past Corpus Christi, then down to the River Cam to see the Mathematical Bridge.

From here we strolled to Clare College and the back of Trinity College. From here we found out about an Evensong service at Clare College Chapel which was a gem of a find. I’d had a quick pint beforehand at the Cambridge Brew House (decent craft beer-focused pub), and we were just on time getting to the Clare College service. When we got in, the choir were lined up to sing in the marbled entrance foyer, in their white and red robes. The elegant and compact chapel was fairly full and looking around, there were lots of academics in black gowns and students.

The choir singing in the entrance was incredible and you couldn’t come close to replicating that huge sound in a CD or on Spotify. Our stroke of luck was that this service was commemorating the 250th anniversary of the completion of the current Clare Chapel. The Bishop of Ely led the service and afterward there was champagne for the church-goers.

After this we went to The Eagle, a famous pub where Watson and Crick reportedly announced the discovery of DNA, and also where RAF personnel used to meet and drink in the back bar during the Second World War. The ceiling and walls here still bear the written and signed names of RAF personnel and it’s a wonderful sight with great atmosphere.

RAF bar at The Eagle Cambridge
The RAF bar at The Eagle Pub, Cambridge

Then we had a fine dinner in the Cambridge Chop House for some juicy steak and venison.

The Butler steak at The Cambridge Chop House

The next morning, we went for breakfast at a Cambridge institution, Fitzbillies, famous for its sticky Chelsea buns.

Sticky Chelsea buns at Fitzbillies, Cambridge
The famous, ridiculously sticky buns at Fitzbillies, Cambridge

Then we went to the highlight of the trip, Kings College. Its chapel hosts the world-famous Carols at Kings College. The chapel is just stupendously impressive:

The largest fan-vaulted ceiling in the world, at King's College Chapel, Cambridge
The largest fan-vaulted ceiling in the world, at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge

An unexpected highlight of the trip was the amount of decent Chinese eateries. We went to Yim Wah Express for some very good dim sum and also had some delicious Xian-style dumplings at 1+1 Rougamo.

We did all that in 24 hours and if we had more time, we would have caught an evensong at King’s College Chapel, just to hear the world-famous choir sing. Their most famous performance each year is their Christmas Carol service on Christmas Eve, where we heard that people start queuing for entry at 4am that morning!

I’d also have had a few glasses of wine at the very highly-regarded Cambridge Wine Merchants. Oh well, next time!

Hack the monumental power of the language you use to feel more positive, optimistic and happier

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Theodore Roosevelt, of the greatest Presidents, when meeting new people, would shake them by the hand energetically and proclaim loudly and sincerely that he was “deeeelighted to meet them!” You can almost hear that exclamation mark! He was larger than life and through the sheer force of his character, pulled America firmly into the vanguard of the 20th century. Roosevelt knew the power of language and the power of using positive, optimistic, and forceful language.

Think about how often we use weak language, both to other people and to your own self. How often, when someone asks you how you are, do you reply: “Not bad”, or “pretty good”, or “okay”. How about trying a Teddy Roosevelt, and proclaiming yourself “Fantastic!”, or “Excellent!”, or “Having an exceptional day!”?

Now you might think that on some days you might not be feeling fantastic or exceptional and that saying so might be a lie. But you’d be doing yourself a disservice as even saying these very positive words can have an uplifting and enlivening impact on your mood. 

Say it now with me: “I’m having a fantastic day thanks!”. Repeat it again and say it with conviction. Come on, once more with feeling!

How do you feel? I bet you feel better than you did a minute ago. It’s much like the effect of smiling that we saw in the last post. 

How was the food? Instead of “it was fine”, try “it was delicious!”.

How did that project go? Instead of “it’s challenging”, try “it’s an invigorating challenge and still hunting for solutions!”

It might sound like spin to you, but it has a powerful, positive impact. It’s the opposite of complaining. Complaining hurts those hearing it and it hurts those saying it. This is the opposite of that. You’re actively managing positivity around you; yours and other peoples’.

We see the power of positive language most often in sport. Where boxers never contemplate defeat. Their training has always gone ‘incredibly’. ‘To plan’. ‘Best shape I’ve ever been in’.

It’s the sphere of ‘self-talk’ where we need to police our negative language and instead use the power of positive. optimistic language. When you say to yourself, “I can’t do that”, you reinforce to yourself that you actually can’t do that. Or worse “I’m no good at that”. Or “I’m useless/worthless/a loser”. Try this: even if you don’t believe that, say the preceding sentence. How did that go? Didn’t you feel instantly much worse? Did your shoulders hunch forward? Did your head go down slightly? Did you feel a bit more like a loser? Yes? That’s the power of language. You can harness it for good or bad. How about we harness it for the good it can do us?

Speak with exclamation marks!

Try it today. Watch the words you use to others and to yourself. Instead of weak words, use superlatives. Instead of caveating everything you say, say “I’m having an exceptional day, learning new things and rising to new challenges!”. Speak with exclamation marks!

Let me know how you get on in the comments!

This post was first published on http://positivityisasuperpower.com