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What I learned from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

admin · May 9, 2016 · Leave a Comment

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

Unlike most of the books on this site, what I took from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt isn’t so much about learning, but much more about inspiration.

Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt led one of the most action-packed lives in history, filled with vigour, achievement, joy, suffering and overcoming.

This incredible biography of Roosevelt by Edmund Morris is heavily detailed and a work of intense scholarship but is as readable as a novel.

This is actually the first of a three part series by Morris on Roosevelt. (The second being Theodore Rex and the final being Colonel Roosevelt)

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt charts the period from birth to the Presidency.

What can we learn from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt?

That life is more than long enough

Most people complain that life is too short. They can’t fit everything in. There’s never enough time etc.

Teddy’s life shows that all to be bullshit. He found time to be a prolific writer and author, ranch-owner, pioneer, politician, naturalist, policeman, soldier, war hero, conservationist and President of the United States.

He would have been in full agreement with Seneca’s treatise On the Shortness of Life.

Life isn’t too short.

60 or 70 years is a lot of time.

But how most of us waste the time given to us.

How much time is wasted on pointless web-surfing, mindless TV marathons and shopping?

4 hours a day in the evening watching Netflix adds up.

Say you do this 5 times a week.

That’s 20 hours a week.

80 hours a month.

Imagine using 80 hours a month to your side projects.

To working out.

To reading more.

To doing the things you’ve always wanted to do but put it off like writing a novel, learning an instrument, learning a language.

Don’t waste time. Allocate it consciously and wisely.

That we can always change our destiny

Roosevelt was born with a weak body. His mind and spirit were bright and strong.

His father recognised this and gave young Teddy early bodybuilding equipment.

Roosevelt rose to the challenge and built up his asthmatic, frail body into a strong, muscular physique.

He then boxed, swam, wrestled, rode, throwing himself into physically demanding activities, constantly testing and developing his masculinity.

Roosevelt, through hard work and determination, turned himself into the epitome of physical vigour.

The importance of social confidence

Roosevelt was famous for his loud voice, ramrod straight posture and strong handshake.

He could walk into every room and say hello to everyone with a smile and strong eye contact.

The importance of moral courage

Roosevelt wasn’t afraid to stick to his guns and have the strength of his convictions.

He would go against his Party when their views differed from his, even under pain of censure and humiliation.

This undoubtedly helped him with winning the trust of the American public. They knew he would do what he believed to be the right thing.

The importance of physical courage

When the Spanish-American arrived, Roosevelt was Secretary of the Navy and had no need to put himself in harm’s way.

Of course, instead, Roosevelt raised a regiment known as the Rough Riders and saw action in Cuba, posthumously winning the Congressional Medal of Honour, the highest military honour in the United States.

Further reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt 

https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/theodore-roosevelt

 

Why we should commit to becoming learning machines

admin · Apr 30, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I first heard of the idea of being a learning machine from my time at Phoenix in reference to legendary billionaire investor Charlie Munger.

charlie munger a learning machine

Simply put, a learning machine never stops learning and is committed to growth.

It’s easy to say and I bet everyone would say that they’re learning machines, but how true is this really.

The sad reality is most people don’t like to learn and aren’t committed to lifelong learning.

Most people don’t even learn at school. They’re taught facts to recite but they’re not learning.

It carries on through univrsity and once they’re in a career, the learning has stopped.

At 30 years old, most men have become average and their lives have stagnated.

Why it’s important and why you should care

The day you stop learning is the day you start moving backwards.

I want to be wiser today than I was yesterday. Even just a little bit. Overtime, these small increments build up and build up.

Imagine the power of compounding applied to small incremental improvements in learning.

Over a year. Over a decade. Over a lifetime.

Why bother?

Because otherwise, you stay average.

Why would you want to stay average?

Average means being doomed to repeat mistakes.

Never becoming wealthy.

Never reaching your goals.

Never improving your relationships.

Never taking charge of your own destiny.

Never taking responsibility for your life.

Don’t settle for average.

Commit to becoming a learning machine.

Steps to becoming a learning machine

Say it out loud:

I don’t know everything.

I don’t know very much at all.

To think that I know everything I need to know is arrogant and absurd.

I can always know more.

I can always be learning more.

Aim to know more about lots of diverse topics

Literature, finance, self-improvement, cooking, sport, health, travel, writing, marketing, art, fashion, love, cosmology, politics, economics, psychology, mythology, history, philosophy, religion, poetry. The list is endless.

Think of different and novel ways to put these topics together

Munger aims for a latticework of different mental models. How different knowledge bases can intertwine and interact, to form new knowledge.

Seek out fellow learning machines

This is hard to do. Learning machines are not common creatures. I’m lucky enough to know a few, however, even then, it’s rare still to find one who shares your interests and learning angle.

There is one surefire shortcut. Follow successful people. Successful people tend to be learning machines. Read their biographies and learn from the best.

Check out great blogs. You’ll learn more from the following non-exhaustive list than most formal educations.

Tim Ferriss

Tim’s blog is a wealth of information. He has a blog that has received millions of views. His podcast has had at the time of writing more than 60m downloads. He is insatiably curious and this will surely rub off on you.

James Altucher

Altucher writes like a dream. And he writes a lot. Everywhere. Check out his blog here.

Fighting Mediocrity

This is a YouTube channel like no other. He’s done a library’s worth of awesome animated book reviews.

Check it out here.

Join Quora and Medium

Quora is an amazing resource. People ask questions and people answer those questions. More often than not, experts in those fields will answer those questions. Subjects range from technology, coding, marketing, fashion, academia…everything.

Medium was founded by one of the founders of Twitter. He wanted to create a longer form content publishing platform. Some people use it as their blog. Articles cover a wide range of topics and the best get upvoted and pushed to the top of the discoverability rankings.

I have an account and specify the topics I’m interested in and I get a nice email of Medium Digest where articles I may want to read are highlighted.

My Medium account is medium.com/@edmondchan1000

Always carry a book

Books have never been cheaper. Pile into Amazon and get yourself a paperback.

A good friend of mine always gets his books secondhand so that they have more character but that’s totally up to you.

Get a Kindle

Ebooks are here to stay and have the obvious advantage of having a whole library in your pocket. It’s smaller and lighter than a normal paperback.

I’ve had loads of Kindles in my time but now I read using the Kindle app on my iPad and iPhone 6.

Kindles are improving all the time now as well. Check the latest models out here.

Carry a notebook

I’ve got a friend in Rome who always carries a small Moleskine to jot down thoughts he has, quotes he likes from the book he’s reading at the time.

Moleskines are quite pricey. Imitations are often just as good.

Do it today. Commit to becoming a learning machine!

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