by ptio on 3/19/16, 7:59 PM with 180 comments
by ezequiel-garzon on 3/19/16, 11:01 PM
[1] http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dont-buy-stuff/...
by WavingThe44 on 3/19/16, 11:05 PM
First, there is a fundamental law, from which no one—neither the great nor the small—is exempt. In substance it is: "Every 'Standard Oil' man must wear the 'Standard Oil' collar."
This collar is riveted on to each one as he is taken into "the band," and can only be removed with the head of the wearer.
Here is the code. The penalty for infringing the following rules is instant "removal."
1. Keep your mouth closed, as silence is gold, and gold is what we exist for.
2. Collect our debts to-day. Pay the other fellow's debts to-morrow. To-day is always here, to-morrow may never come.
3. Conduct all our business so that the buyer and the seller must come to us. Keep the seller waiting; the longer he waits the less he'll take. Hurry the buyer, as his money brings us interest.
4. Make all profitable bargains in the name of "Standard Oil," chancy ones in the names of dummies. "Standard Oil" never goes back on a bargain.[9]
5. Never put "Standard Oil" trades in writing, as your memory and the other fellow's forgetfulness will always be re-enforced with our organization. Never forget our Legal Department is paid by the year, and our land is full of courts and judges.
6. As competition is the life of trade—our trade, and monopoly the death of trade—our competitor's trade, employ both judiciously.
7. Never enter into a "butting" contest with the Government. Our Government is by the people and for the people, and we are the people, and those people who are not us can be hired by us.
8. Always do "right." Right makes might, might makes dollars, dollars make right, and we have the dollars.
by ape4 on 3/19/16, 10:44 PM
by Mahn on 3/20/16, 1:16 AM
by clishem on 3/19/16, 10:51 PM
"In this eye-opening account, Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice. Not only is the cliché flawed-preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work-but it can also be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping."
by joslin01 on 3/20/16, 2:38 PM
> The inordinate love of money, no doubt, may be and is "the root of all evil," but money itself, when properly used, is not only a "handy thing to have in the house," but affords the gratification of blessing our race by enabling its possessor to enlarge the scope of human happiness and human influence. The desire for wealth is nearly universal, and none can say it is not laudable, provided the possessor of it accepts its responsibilities, and uses it as a friend to humanity.
> So in regard to wealth. Go on in confidence, study the rules, and above all things, study human nature; for "the proper study of mankind is man," and you will find that while expanding the intellect and the muscles, your enlarged experience will enable you every day to accumulate more and more principal, which will increase itself by interest and otherwise, until you arrive at a state of independence.
> When a man's undivided attention is centered on one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements of value, which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen different subjects at once. Many a fortune has slipped through a man's fingers because he was engaged in too many occupations at a time.
by lr4444lr on 3/19/16, 10:10 PM
The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man:
"I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us, if it was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy together."
"But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent in two months, and what would you do then?"
"Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!"
by tmd on 3/20/16, 2:32 PM
[1] http://efinance.org.cn/cn/fm/The%20Equity%20Premium%20Stock%...
by archildress on 3/19/16, 9:32 PM
by 11thEarlOfMar on 3/19/16, 11:01 PM
This is all true, but it was not all obvious until I'd experienced four or five decades of life lessons. If you think this advice is at all dubious, ask and we'll see if we can explain...
by vlunkr on 3/19/16, 10:13 PM
by farooo123 on 3/19/16, 9:41 PM
by zoom6628 on 3/20/16, 1:41 AM
Required reading for those considering a startup or a career.
by huuu on 3/20/16, 7:24 AM
The first rule for making money: never do it for the money.
A free download is available: http://www.tinaja.com/ebooks/ismm.pdf
by egypturnash on 3/19/16, 11:12 PM
> Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets. If they make money they like to tell their neighbors how it was done. Nothing is gained by this, and ofttimes much is lost.
Nicely done, Mr. Barnum. I am honored to share a birthday with you.
by gnarbarian on 3/20/16, 5:35 AM
I was recently reading in a London paper an account of a like philosophic pauper who was kicked out of a cheap boarding-house because he could not pay his bill, but he had a roll of papers sticking out of his coat pocket, which, upon examination, proved to be his plan for paying off the national debt of England without the aid of a penny.
by atmosx on 3/20/16, 8:27 AM
However there's a hidden idea which equals wealth to happiness which I dislike heavily. That said we can rest assured that while wealth is not connected to happiness (too many things into play to achieve that state), debt sure as hell leads to miserable.
by rabidrat on 3/19/16, 10:06 PM
by amelius on 3/20/16, 2:45 PM
Probably neither.
by oliv__ on 3/19/16, 10:16 PM
by andrewchambers on 3/20/16, 10:34 AM
by iamgopal on 3/20/16, 2:28 AM
by dschiptsov on 3/20/16, 10:42 AM
BTW, the parts of the Patanjali Yoga Sutra, which gives practical advice about the practice - about necessity of an appropriate isolated place, diet, habits with emphasis on sleep cycle, proper state of mind, concentration and persistence - is the best universal advice to achieve anything in life that I am aware of. The word Yoga could be translated as "discipline", and has little to do with asanas, mats, and yoga pants.
by bbcbasic on 3/20/16, 5:44 AM
I loathe books like How to Win Friends and Influence People that have some meandering and boring story before it gets to the point.
This is the 'how to start a startup' for business of the regular type, i.e. no ambition to get loads of capital and become the next Google. Read this once the tech bubble has burst!
by znpy on 3/20/16, 1:49 AM
by increment_i on 3/19/16, 9:59 PM
by cosmolev on 3/19/16, 9:48 PM