Remo Uherek

Benjamin Franklin has been teaching it 300 years ago. Charlie Munger is teaching it today.

The idea is simple:

Be a useful member of society.

Remember Charlie Munger’s Three Basic Rules: Don’t sell things you wouldn’t buy yourself. This alone would solve many problems of society.

Benjamin Franklin always tried to be useful. He started one of the first public subscription libraries. A volunteer fire department. He owned a newspaper. Published useful books. He started the American Philosophical Society, still existing today. And so many other things.

If we could all be a little more like Ben Franklin, the world would be a better place.

Every morning, I answer the question “What is important to me?” One of the things is “Be useful”. Earning money and making a profit are important. But more important is to always ask yourself: Is what I’m doing useful? How can I be more useful? How can I be of service to humanity?

One way I try to be useful is this blog. I try to share everything I learn, and making a tiny contribution to the improvement of humanity. May you find it helpful.

1. Don‘t sell anything you wouldn‘t buy yourself.
2. Don‘t work for anyone you don‘t respect and admire.
3. Work only with people you enjoy.

(Learned from Poor Charlie’s Almanack.)

I have been using Twitter for 12 years and I love it more than ever.

For me, Twitter is not a social network. It’s an idea network. More like a protocol. A public conversation protocol.

Twitter the business

I have trouble viewing Twitter as a regular tech company. Of course, I want Twitter the company to be sustainable and profitable. But, Twitter has a history of not being very good at monetization. It looks like this has improved, as Twitter has been profitable for the past 5 quarters.

I might be mistaken (and I hope that I am), but I don’t believe Twitter will ever find a similarly strong business model as Google or Facebook. So while I couldn’t be more excited about Twitter the product, I am not similarly excited about Twitter the business.

The role of Twitter in society

I believe Twitter plays a different role. More one of a protocol and public utility. Twitter enables real-time global conversation, and it does it better than any other tool. Well, not fully global, as Twitter is currently blocked in China, which might never be resolved. But this is a different story.

A decentralized future?

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, is also the CEO of Square, a mobile payments company. Both Jack and Square have been experimenting with and supporting Bitcoin for several years.

I have a strong conviction that the world is moving towards decentralization and privacy. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are an important catalyst for that. So how could Twitter look like in a decentralized, censorship-resistant world?

It could be similar to Steemit. The central database would be decentralized on a distributed ledger. Created content could not be controlled or censored. It only could be moderated in a limited way on the client layer. There would be multiple clients and user-experiences.

Without a central database, the current business model would be heavily disrupted. There would be no data licensing. And advertising would be harder, as there would be multiple clients.

Conclusion

Is that the future of Twitter? I don’t know. What I do know is that I love Twitter and the work of Jack Dorsey, and I will be watching and continue to cheer from the sidelines.

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This post has been inspired by the recent podcast episodes with Jack Dorsey, which allowed me to take a deep dive:

– Jack Dorsey on Roe Rogan Experience
– Jack Dorsey on Sam Harris
– Jack Dorsey on Tales from the Crypt
– Jack Dorsey on Stephan Livera

Recently I stumbled upon this video that made me rethink and improve my push-up game.

Here’s the checklist:

Mistake #1: Not applying Full Range of Motion
Solution: Get all the way down (chest touches the floor), and all the way up. Don’t just do half push-ups like most people. Do full ones!

Mistake #2: Flaring your elbows out too wide
Solution: Tuck your elbows in as close to the body as possible.

Mistake #3: Not keeping a straight spine
Solution: Keep a proper and firm plank position.

Mistake #4: Going too fast
Solution: Go slow and do each repetition properly.

Mistake #5: Not breathing properly
Solution: Breathe in through your nose as you go down. As you go up, breathe out in a steady stream through your mouth.

Mistake #6: Not progressing with the movement
Solution: When you can’t do full push-ups yet, do them on your knees, but still applying all things above (especially, keeping a straight posture). When regular push-ups stop being hard, you can do weighted ones (e.g. putting a weight plate on your back) or plyo pushups (e.g. clapping your hands in between reps) or one-handed ones.

Watch the full demonstration video here.

Prolonged sitting increases the risk of several health conditions. Sitting is so normal for us that we seldom question it. I know I don’t.

I believe it’s useful to increase awareness and help battle our cultural sitting obsession. Here are some ideas:

Read while standing
I’ve recently started to read in a standing position. And I quite like it. I just put the book (or iPad) on a cleared shelf and read. Why haven’t I thought of this sooner?

Move every hour
Research has shown that moving 2–3 minutes at regular intervals lessens the harmful effects of inactivity. My Oura Ring sends me a push notification each hour if I don’t move. I receive many of those notifications! (Which has increased my awareness of this problem.)

Get a standing or treadmill desk
You can get a standing or even a treadmill desk. I’ve never used one, but I’d love to try it.

Take a walk with an audiobook
This is one of my favorite activities. You are outside, you move, and you learn.

Do a 7 minute workout in the morning
Most of us don’t move enough. There is no excuse for not doing a 4 min Tabata or 7 minute workout in the morning. You can do it anywhere, even in your underwear…

Earn your play time
Love to play an occasional game or surf social media? Then earn it! Do a set of squats, pushups or burpees before you are allowed to indulge. Recently, I got addicted to a new game, and after each 5-10 min round I did a set. “Getting fit by gaming”, it’s a whole new mindset. It felt pretty awesome.

Have other ideas? Let me know on Twitter.

My own experience shows that sponsoring podcasts can be very effective in driving awareness and sales. I have bought many things triggered by podcast ads, including supplements, clothing and even a new mattress.

Here are the success factors that made those sales happen:

A trusted host
Podcasts are very personal, and loyal listeners spend countless hours listening to their favorite hosts. I would only work with hosts that have earned a high level of personal connection and trust with its audience.

Let the host read the ads
When the host reads the ads, they feel much less intrusive and may even be perceived as useful information. Bonus points if the host ads his own twist to the ad text.

A product loved by the host
The absolute best conversion rate can be achieved when the host uses and loves your product, and includes his own experience/testimonial into the ad text. Most of my own purchases have been triggered by this factor.

A juicy coupon code
This serves two purposes. The consumer has a powerful call to action, and the advertiser can measure the effectiveness of the campaign.

A separate landing page
Sometimes, the company creates a unique landing page, e.g. yourproduct.com/john if the host goes by the name John. This can increase the conversion rate, because a testimonial or special promotion can be added.

Repeat the call to action
The call to action and URL should be repeated multiple times.

Frequency is key
It can take a long time for people to get the message. That is what frequency is for. Don’t book just one or two placements. Book 8, or 24 or 52 placements, spread out over a long period of time. Don’t stop when you or your employees are tired of hearing the ads. Consumers need regular reminders, even if they have purchased from you before. If you want repeat purchases, don’t stop the campaign.

Consider Media for Equity
Some entrepreneurs form a joint venture with podcast hosts. In such a deal, the podcast host gets a share of the business in return for its audience and influence. One such example is Onnit which has partnered with Joe Rogan.

Charlie Munger, business partner of Warren Buffett, recently spoke at the 2019 Daily Journal Annual Meeting. You can watch the full recording here.

Here are some of my learnings:

Fish where the fish are
For Charlie, that means China. High-quality companies in China are currently available for cheaper prices than similar companies in the USA.

China
Charlie has outsourced his China investments to Li Lu. This is the only time he has ever given money to an external manager.

Don’t be too active
As a value investor, you need to be okay with inactivity. Be a good picker and then hold for a very long time. For example, Charlie has held Berkshire Hathaway and Costco for many decades.

No exit strategy
Charlie does not have an exit strategy or price target for his investments. He rarely sells.

Have a “Too hard” bucket
Charlie has three categories when evaluating investing opportunities: Yes / No / Too hard. Especially the last category solves many problems. Charlie looks for the easy and obvious opportunities, and discards the rest.

Charlie on Stoicism
He admires stoicism and has learned a lot from stoic thinkers. I didn’t expect anything else. In fact, I view Charlie and Warren as modern stoics!

I am fascinated by space and the universe.

Recently I discovered Google Maps Space View. You can access it by going to Satellite view and then zooming all the way out (only on desktop).

You can turn the earth, see where the sun is and what parts of Earth are bright or dark.

As you can see, Earth is nothing else than a cabriolet spaceship, floating through darkness, lit by a burning star.

The Stoics advise us to regularly zoom out and watch things from the cosmic perspective. It helps to see things more clearly and not take ourselves too seriously.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride through darkness!

Open browser tabs are just another nagging reminder of unfinished work. I used to have 5-10 open tabs on my laptop and 50-100 open tabs on my phone. It served as my reading list, my video list, things I was researching.

It didn’t feel right. And it was a source of anxiety.

Then, I implemented a Zero Browser Tab Policy. I now treat my tabs as an inbox that I bring to zero daily:

• Things to read/watch go to Pocket.
• Things to do go to Wunderlist.

Now, my browsers feel clean. And whenever I work on something, it gets 100% of my attention, without that nagging reminder of something unfinished.

This is a simple improvement that made my life 1% better. Do enough of such 1% improvements, and they compound into something substantial!

I started applying the Japanese Water Therapy. It suggests to drink about 1 liter of water right after waking up.

It makes intuitive sense to me.

The human body needs about 2-4 liters of water per day. As a heuristic, you can say it needs 100 ml per hour. So if you sleep for 8 hours, you might need 0.8 liters.

It also makes sense that it helps with flushing out toxins, and potentially preventing headaches.

I’ve been drinking 100-300 ml of water after waking up anyways, and now I’ve upped it to 1 liter.

Further reading:
[1] http://thegreencreator.com/japanese-water-therapy/
[2] https://alkaway.com/blog/drinking-water-wake-japanese-tradition/
[3] https://www.aox.com.sg/blog/wellness/ayurveda-way-japanese-water-therapy/

[Thank you Anuj Didwania for the inspiration.]