As a daily discipline for at least a week, take time for prayer. Some days it may be for only a minute or two; on other occasions it may be for more lengthy periods. Experiment with the four types of prayer:
Confession: Recognizing and admitting, without guilty feelings, the current state of your life
Thanksgiving: Expressing appreciation for the blessings of your life
Petition: Out of the spirit of your highest ideal, asking for what you feel you need
Praise: Communicating the wonder and awe you feel when you consider the Creator.
By the end of the week, notice whether you can observe any changes in the amount of time and energy you spend on worrying.
Mark Thurston Phd and Christopher Fazel
The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Creating Your Future
Based on decades of Warren Buffett’s shareholder letters, here are the top lessons that recur throughout his writings:
Buffett emphasizes thinking in decades rather than months or years, noting that short-term market movements are irrelevant to compounding wealth. He often references Albert Einstein’s statement that “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world” and urges reinvesting profits rather than seeking immediate returns. He reminds shareholders that “a single winning decision can make a breathtaking difference over time,” reinforcing the belief that a few exceptional investments held over decades can drive monumental value.
Key themes include avoiding market speculation, evaluating intrinsic business value, and maintaining a margin of safety. In his 1996 letter, Buffett stated: “Your goal as an investor should simply be to purchase, at a rational price, a part interest in an easily-understandable business whose earnings are virtually certain to be materially higher five, ten, and twenty years from now.”
Over six decades, Buffett has emphasized prioritizing high-quality businesses with durable competitive advantages, as seen in Berkshire’s holdings like Apple, Coca-Cola and American Express. In analyzing 1,000 companies, only 25 met tests of economic excellence with average returns on equity over 20% and no year below 15%. These business “superstars” were also stock market superstars, and most sold non-sexy products in much the same manner as they did years prior, suggesting that making the most of an already strong business franchise produces exceptional returns.
Buffett’s letters highlight the mistakes companies make in capital allocation, such as overpaying for acquisitions or issuing debt irresponsibly. He warns against empire-building by CEOs who make acquisitions for the sake of expansion rather than shareholder value. Buffett wrote in 2016: “Every decade or so, dark clouds will fill the economic skies, and they will briefly rain gold. When downpours of that sort occur, it’s imperative that we rush outdoors carrying washtubs, not teaspoons.”
Buffett values integrity highly in business leaders. He famously stated: “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” When evaluating a company, investors should pay attention to management’s track record, compensation structure and corporate culture.
In his 1984 letter, Buffett famously said, “In the short term, the market is a voting machine but in the long term, it is a weighing machine”—a timeless reminder not to get swayed by market hype and to focus on the fundamental value of a business. Buffett reaffirms that short-term noise is irrelevant; compounding wins in the end.
Buffett prefers to keep investments simple, especially during complex market periods. During the dotcom boom, he avoided companies he didn’t understand, emphasizing that investors should focus on businesses that are easily understandable. His ability to distill complex financial concepts into understandable, even delightful prose—as if writing as a wise mentor rather than a distant CEO—is reflected in all his communications.
THE FIVE BUCKETS
1. What you know (your knowledge)
2. What you can do (your skills)
3. Who you know (your network)
4. What you have (your resources)
5. What the world thinks of you (your reputation)
These five buckets are interconnected – filling one helps to fill another – and they are generally filled in order from left to right. We usually start our professional life acquiring knowledge (school, university, etc.), and when this knowledge is applied, we call it a skill. When you have knowledge and skills you become professionally valuable to others and your network grows. Consequently, when you have knowledge, skills and a network, your access to resources expands, and once you have knowledge, skills, a valuable network and resources, you will undoubtedly earn a reputation.
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The most important personality trait of the 21st century?
High Agency.
It’s the difference between people who wait and people who make things happen.
Here’s why:
High Agency means finding a way forward without waiting for perfect conditions.
No excuses or blaming circumstances.
Just action.
The Wright brothers had it.
The New York Times once wrote:
“Man won’t fly for a million years.”
Four years later, two poor bicycle makers were flying above the beach.
That’s High Agency.
High Agency people don’t ask, “Can this be done?”
They ask, “How can this be done?”
They don’t wait for permission.
They start with what they have.
They solve problems others call “impossible.”
The difference between high and low agency isn’t talent or luck.
It’s how you respond when someone says:
“That can’t be done.”
Credit: @georgemack
Suggested by Andrew D
ONE TUSK 