21 July 2013

Here lies the oldest man that ever lived

Perfect. That was the perfect line to end a very good video of Warren Buffet being interviewed/questioned by a bunch of students in India.
If you're interested, check out the video here:
I've recently been watching a whole bunch of videos about the psychology of decision making (whether it involved money or not) and so far the above video has been the best one I've come across.
I've always been a firm believer that I little nuggets of wisdom can be found in anything, as long as you're willing to be ready to take note of it.

I was doing my usual Lynda.com daily video tutorial (alright, so I've slacked off for a few weeks because of a mad schedule, yes, yes, it's the same thing every time). I was watch the tutorials for Wordpress eCommerce Core Concepts and came across a very good concept. The author discussed the ideas of how to make your store stand out and he mentioned the following points about how to make your store excel:
  • Be the first
  • Be the best
  • Be different
Woah, when I saw this, I hand to re-watch the video again to grasp it. The reason I say this is because this has always been a fundamental principle for me and my decision making or where I invest my time and effort. I've always believed in going my own way even if it meant I was the only one, my perfectionist personality has always been there (and sometimes an annoyance) and by default, being Indian in a Chinese community has had me being different without much effort. Not only has these been the driving force behind my own web business, but also my comedy career. Well I guess lucky for me, those points where good ones. Phew.

Alternatively, I also came across a discussion about the difference between knowledge, wisdom and insight. I remember in university, during my last year, I read a book about data and how it is different from knowledge and information. Data always exists, it's always there but it is often ignored. Information is the data that is relevant to you and knowledge is putting it in a way where it has some value.
The above article adds the human touch to it where knowledge is the basic input but it is wisdom and insight that adds the human element and involves our brains and emotions to help us make judgement and decide if the knowledge's value is useful and worth our while.

As I come across more people talking about things, it's become so convenient to get information now, the only problem is, which is good and which is bad? I was talking with a friend about how the gap of poor and rich is widening and we agreed that very often, the poor aren't given a chance because they're not provided the resources for them to get out of where they are. Granted, it's never about the cards you were dealt, it's about how you play your hand and I'm definitely an advocate for people to step out of their comfort zone and do something for themselves even if it's inconvenient. But even when you think you're being provided with a certain service, chances are you may be being provided with sub-par quality of this service. And this is where wisdom comes in. Over time and experience, you slowly develop the ability to question reality and realize that there is no black and white, it is all grey. What everyone says is right, can easily be wrong tomorrow, so ultimately, there is only what you believe to be true.
This, is usually the underlying statement with every great decision maker. They made the decision in the end trusting themselves and their choice by being ready to bear the consequences and from having made so many wrong decisions, they've realized that if they're wrong again. So what?

And on that note, I've decided to read some more about this. Very fascinating learning how different people make decisions and why it is they work that way.