skills | Mikael Syding

December 27, 2017December 27, 2017

Creating a confluence of success factors – new people equal new insights

If you don’t see new people you won’t see new things

-Anna Svahn, networking phenomenon, in my (Swedish) podcast “25 minuter” (link)

If you always see the same people, you’ll keep doing the same things, think the same thoughts, commit the same mistakes, miss important investment opportunities, and end up stagnant and disillusioned.

– Change your people, change your life.

I’ve written extensively before about the importance of perspective for both effectiveness and long term satisfaction, a.k.a. happiness (check out Perspective is gold, Long term satisfaction and Mentally challenged). Anna elaborates on a similar theme.

In my interview* with her, Anna explains how rewarding it can be to step out of your echo chamber, to be proven wrong and learn new things. Not least, she hits the nail on the head when recommending changing the five people you spend most of your time and energy on, lest your own situation and perspective will never change.

* it’s 34 minutes packed with insights about networking, efficiency, life rhythm, Tao, writing and much more. If you understand Swedish I strongly recommend you to listen to it on whatever podcast app you’re using, e.g., Soundcloud or iTunes #113.

The right people or the right place?

Successful people seem to repeatedly be right where they need to be at the right time. One explanation is that they know and regularly meet with the right people. Or is it the other way around; do they meet the right people because they are at the right place?

“Create the situation you want“, is Anna’s answer to that. Among other measures she has taken, in order to broaden her perspective and gain new insights, she started having breakfast with inspirational people every Friday; first one-on-one and later in somewhat larger settings. The breakfasts are invitation-only, the guests are a secret and all kinds of documentation and social media have been banned. The rules ensure a free flowing conversation about anything from boosting start-ups to discussing investments, crypto currencies, or the weather for that matter.

These breakfasts are as simple as they are ingenious. Start by asking a friend from Facebook or Linked in, or a colleague from a different department. Use the first breakfast to brainstorm who else you could ask. Expand from there. Before you know it you’ll have created a vibrant micro community of idea creation that can lead to if nothing else a healthy dose of brain activation and fun, but more likely also to great ideas about personal growth, investing and adventure.

Don’t trust chance – create your own

My own life and career consists of a long chain of serendipitous events and a confluence of somewhat unlikely factors. I was always more likely to end up like the meth cooking chemistry professor in Breaking Bad than heading the European hedge fund of the decade and later an appreciated blog and podcast, but luck and grit happened to take me on a different path. Anna Svahn, on the contrary, is exactly where she wants to be and she just turned 25 years old this summer (2017).

Svahn has deliberately created her own confluence of synergistic factors of people, environments, habits (though she calls it rhythms) and activities, whereas I blindly stumbled from one lucky break to the other owing most of my successes to pure grit and a slightly asocial personality (not being invited to the cool kids, not giving a damn, hiding in science and symbol manipulation).

Next, I’ll write an article on how my being a bullied loner and a nerd from out of town tied in with computers, programming, mathematics and being tired of school to put me in the perfect time and place for using the dotcom bubble to catapult my career. I was lucky to have the right skill set and lucky to have the right calibration regarding stock market valuations for my two decades as a finance professional.

I’ll also describe my development from a die hard “Discounted Cash Flows Are The Only Theoretically Correct Way To Value Companies” advocate, through “Technical Analysis Dabbler”, via “Earnings Reports Are All Important” evangelist and “Relative Growth Rates Rule” missionary and a few other of the ways any investor is bound to get lost. My view these days on DCF, TA, trend analysis etc. is too complicated to explain in anything less than a short book, but that’s coming sooner or later.

A blueprint for success – creating your own confluence of serendipitous factors

IT legend Roger McNamee (listen to the interview in Superinvestors #18) has provided a blueprint for how to create your own confluence of people, activities, environment and grit in any new and exciting sector. He toured for a year, if not more, with the people who were creating the new IT industry. That’s how he saw more clearly than anyone else what companies and what people would succeed, go under, get acquired, get funding, should get funding and so on.

His blueprint is exactly how I have tried saying you should cover developments in blockchain technology, quantum computing, robotics, electric engines, battery technology, AI and so on. That is, if you care about achieving a leading position in an exciting and future oriented field.

Applying the blueprint in practice

Start by reading the basics, then sell that knowledge to public and private organizations as a consultant. Keep learning more about the tech itself, as well as what your prospective clients want or need – both from your meetings with them and through external sources. Not least, keep talking to all and any industry representative you can get hold of. Call them, interview them, go to conferences, travel with them. NB: remember to provide value at all times; ask them what you can do for them. “What do you need? What do you lack? How can I help you?”. Keep notes in your commonplace of people, companies, sub industries, sector convergence and divergence etc.

In one year you’ll know more than any industry analyst or CEO about the key players, key technologies, key developments, most lucrative investment or employment opportunities. Contrast that with studying books and articles on the internet alone for a year, trying to understand the ever changing flows of a new industry without talking to the people shaping the development.

So, take a leaf from Anna Svahn’s and Roger McNamee’s books, and test drive all electrical cars you can, talk to e-car owners, talk to local politicians (about regulation), call e-car sub-suppliers and battery start-ups to gauge demand and technological developments, ask for or make your own calculations regarding Tesla’s cars (do the numbers add up regarding weight, power, range, charging times, manufacturing cost and so on).

Or, why don’t you buy a few toy robots, learn some Python and re-program them, talk to toy store purchase managers, visit robot manufacturers, try your alterations on your or your friends’ and their children. What works and what doesn’t? What are the manufacturers, innovators and stores missing?

Conclusion – listen to Anna Svahn and Roger McNamee and change your settings to change your life

Listen to my interview (#113) with Anna here
List the people you spend your time and energy on
List who or what kind of people you’d like to see more of
Change your daily habits in order to interact more with inspirational people and less with homeostasis dwellers
- stop eating lunch with the same colleagues at the same place
- change gym (or talk to new people about new things at your old gym)
- watch less TV or aimlessly surf the net, and schedule IRL (preferably non alcoholic) activities with inspirational and ambitious contacts you’d like to know better

April 18, 2016April 18, 2016

How hard can it be? Consult on Blockchain/Bitcoin

Executive Summary: How to make money consulting on Bitcoin and Blockchain technology

Two steps: 1. Learn it, 2. Consult

Article length: 338 words

There is a way, do you have the will?

Hardly anybody knows anything about Blockchain.

That leaves huge room for you to make money.

If you’re reasonably intelligent and used to learning things quickly through deep focused work, you should read up on Bitcoin/Blockchain, package a convincing offer and start consulting. 20 hours of preparation is plenty in this context. Then you’ll learn enough to become a true expert over the following 100h.

I think most organisations, authorities and companies need (and want) to understand the technology. In addition, I’m certain they’ll soon start budgeting for training their employees.

So, what you need to do, if you want to make money and become an expert in a very hot area, despite lacking an education, is this:

Learn about Bitcoin. You could start by reading Princeton‘s recently released free text book on the subject (perhaps “Princeton” is enough to make you see this is a highly lucrative area, or soon will be)
Create a clean and fresh website, and demonstrate your knowledge (it will become clear after reading up on it)
Create a few template applications and offers, i.e., ideas of how and why your local start-ups, your multinational HQs, your municipal authorities, politicians, police etc. should use knowledge about the Blockchain technology (you should be able to do this after bullet 1. above)
Demonstrate a pedagogical streak, through extremely clear, as-to-a-child, infographs and examples, that scream to decision makers that they need to hire you to explain:
1. Why it is important
2. What you can use it for, or risks you want to avoid

There, free advice for you or that unemployed friend of yours (share the article!).

Consulting on Bitcoin is basically free money.

Have you signed up for my free newsletter yet? No? Do it now and get my e-book “The Retarded Hedge Fund Manager” for free.

October 24, 2015October 26, 2015

Hard made easy – channeling your inner Sprezzaturian

This article is a 25 minute primer of what this site is about. And a call for you to subscribe to my newsletter for more stories, inspiration and advice.

It’s more than that though. Even if you’ve read dozens of my articles, I’m sure you’ll find a few gems in this one too.

If you prefer Swedish, lyssna på mitt svenska program (podcast) “25 minuter” istället.

Premiär måndag 2 november 2015

Why should you listen to a retired money man?

In short: because I’ve been awarded the title The European Hedge Fund Manager Of The Decade, because I can bench press 140kg, because I haven’t had a cold in 9 years, because I have been royally laureled for my math and physics competence, because I retired financially independent at 41.

Because I did all this, despite being the odd one out, the bullied one, the one with no contacts or role models, the computer obsessed Aspberger child from Jukkasjärvi.

Because there is a method to my madness, that you can emulate for increased job and life satisfaction.

What would Batman Do?

Do you want to improve?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

Settle in for bite sized, albeit deep, advice and memes, to get you through the day, the years, and help you prosper and find meaning in life. My main goal is to show you how you can be happy and accomplished without being a total dick.

This particular article will give you an introduction to the entire site, so come back and explore the individual articles later, old and new.

Bookmark me for later, when you are in the mood for more tips, tricks, habits and mindsets that can keep you ahead of the pack and avoid being automated into joblessness and oblivion. I’ll even try to make you smile every now and then.

“Would Batman give up, give in, have that snack, quit?”

Then why should you?!

Keep investing

At this site, mikaelsyding.com, you’ll find a wide range of articles about personal development, education, skills, career, futurism, happiness, health, philosophy, decision systems, weight lifting, nutrition, sleep, meditation and finance (some hard core, some more philosophical).

personal development

education

skills

career

futurism

happiness

health

philosophy

decision systems

weight lifting

nutrition

sleep

meditation

finance

If it all seems too chaotic, check out my structured archives and delve into your specific area of interest from there.

My main motto is to “Always Be Investing”. That means to be a constant learner, to always aim for a small step upward, forward, and enjoy the journey (which can turn out to be quite surprising, and you should let it be), rather than only find satisfaction in a certain, successful, outcome.

Don’t try to become rich. Don’t put the horse before the cart and waste your life doing something you hate, in order to buy stuff and possibly quit when you’re 40, 50, 60… Instead try to become better, while enjoying the process.

Always Be Investing

Hard Made Easy

Sprezzatura is the art of nonchalance, the practice of making difficult things seem like a piece of cake. Think James Bond – when, where and how did he acquire all those skills he seems born with (wine, politics, women, technology, gems, physics, chemistry, geography, martial arts)?

Life should be a fun, albeit challenging, ride; like a computer game, where you complete one level after the other.

Sometimes you have to make more of an effort to get through, sometimes it’s almost as if you see the Matrix and can control the game, just flowing through level after level. Life is like that too – if you keep an open mind, learn instead of hate, try new things without fear and let them go just as easily, to make room for new endeavors.

Do you want to join the rank of Sprezzaturians?

Of course you do. Sign up for my newsletter right away. You’ll get my eBook for free too. Try reading just one page, maybe two. Come on, just one, then forward it to your mother/friend or go ahead and share it with all your social media contacts :). It’s quite retarded.

Sprezzatura – Hard Made Easy

Please note how the guy to the left is carefully holding his espresso

Smorgasbord

Alright, here is a quick taste of what I can give you:

Aim low
- whatever you do, break it down until the first step is ridiculously easy. Don’t aim for the moon or the tree tops. Aim for getting out of bed. Then, perhaps aim to walk up to the tree and touch the trunk, the first branch. Make that first thing so small you can’t not do it. Then do it.
Just one more
- it’s often one more snack or cookie that gets done, but I’m talking about steps, about progress, about making it as easy as possible to exert yourself beyond what you thought possible. Aim for just one step, just the one. But right when that step is finished and you get to quit, make it a habit to think (and do), just one more, just one; that’s not too hard.
Live laterally
- try new things, scary things, experiment with, e.g., 1% of your time. It will make life seems fuller and longer in retrospect, while swift, joyous and flowing in the now. Guaranteed mid-life crisis free. Oh, you’ll be smarter, learn faster and live longer too. Lateral living is the opposite of the debunked 10 000 hour-focus-on-one-thing-your-entire-life BS.
Sleep
- with your feet outside the covers, outside the bed, never using the same pillow two nights in a row, red-adjusting your mobile screens or banning them altogether an hour before bed time, low-threshold meditating in bed for 10 seconds (beginner) to 10 minutes (master level)
Meditation – 10 seconds a day, or a week
- how to for beginners: when going to bed, lie still on your back and go through your body parts mentally “one toe at a time, there it is, then the arch of the foot, the heel, the calves, the shins…”. Just do it for 10 seconds, or 20, whatever you like. With time you’ll like it more – but also fall asleep faster.
- There are other easily accessible meditation techniques that don’t involve yoga, strange mantras, incense etc.
  - 1) just breathe – in through your nose, out through the mouth, focus on the act of breathing. Never mind stray thoughts; they’re okay, but go back to thinking about the breathing
  - 2) breathe with your abdomen (stomach), using your diaphragm
  - 3) do synchronized breathing with others
  - 4) power-breathing: a Johnny Drama pre-audition primal scream, or a more controlled kapalabhati breathing ahead of any kind of performance
Managed life topology
- don’t just focus on acquiring lateral skills, clever combinations of practical knowledge and experiences. In addition, hunt high and low, be cold, be hot, be comfortable, and get hurt, love and lose, get drunk or high and revel in your own misery the day after. Don’t go full retard Hangover but don’t hold all the punches either.
Challenge everything
- trust nobody, do the math yourself, be independent. Every man is an island, his own nation.
Find yourself, know thyself
- if you don’t know who you are, if you can’t cut through the noise of media, friends, neighbors and competitors and truly know your own inner feelings and drives, how can you be happy, be yourself, choose the right path? Don’t keep up with the Joneses, don’t keep up with anyone. Just follow your feelings and develop yourself to the next level, and the next, and the next.
Stupid stories
- every now and then, I’ll tell you about that time:
  - I came four hours late (and hungover) to my first board meeting as the CEO of the European Hedge Fund Of The Decade
  - I publically advised Investor to sell its Ericsson and Astra shares at the top of the market in 1999
  - I recommended Buy the Virtual Reality company Prosolvia all the way down into its bankruptcy
  - When I kept yelling “Ola!” to SHB’s CEO “Per Boman” at an investor dinner in London. So what, three letters, typical Swedish name…
  - What really happened at the fund and in my head when the towers fell in New York on 9/11, 2001. When the Fukushima tsunami and nuclear disaster hit and we timed our trades magically, netting me personally almost 2m USD in dividends from just a week’s trading.
  - That job interview when I was asked about a fiction role model and answered “Ford Prefect in the fifth part of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy trilogy, when he jumps out the window of a high rise to keep the element of surprise on his side“. I didn’t get the job.
  - I ran out of gas in South Africa’s countryside – I’ve never been as tense in my life
  - I actually went on an all-inclusive Caribbean cruise for ten days without even having a ticket
  - I utterly destroyed two guys that attacked me – and other street fights
  - How I’ve had 8 concussions, actually forgetting my entire family for a day or two when I was 18. Wait, no, I was 17, but I had forgotten that too at the time due to blunt force trauma to the head.
  - Or “Knife Night” 1989, in a druggie shack made of drift wood in Amsterdam. Sarphaatistraat last number…
  - When I was sure I was being kidnapped and sold during a vacation in Napa Vaelly
  - When I was sure I was being kidnapped and sold in Thailand.. What? Wait a minute. Again?!
Finance: There will be some boring, but useful, finance talk too: how to forecast index movements, how to value a single stock, what’s wrong with the economy, how to build an investment portfolio, how much leverage (loans) you should use, where house prices are going etc.
- A note of caution: I am naturally independent, a natural contrarian, maybe too much so for my own (and consequently your own) good
- This memo by Howard Marks from last Thursday (October 24, 2015) is also representative of my thoughts on investments and risk; Nobody buys that stock anymore, everybody knows it’s a good investment (already)
Silly pictures
- oh, I’ve got troves; there seems to be no end to how stupid I can look, not to mention the things I say or do sometimes (like that time in the line to the Star Wars premiere on Kungsgatan, Stockholm in 2005…)

That time in Visby, Gotland, at a political summit when I got caught on camera with a rhubarb umbrella:

A few years later I got caught by the cops too in Visby, and another year. Oh, 5-0 was involved yet another time. And another. And then there was that kerfuffle with fireworks in the shower and being thrown out of the hotel in the middle of the night…

Taking a loss
- Losses are in the past. Period.
Technical analysis
- Lines in a chart are not real
Smart and easy mobility tips – 2 minutes a week to keep you young
Happiness
- I often point to the importance of fun, of flow, of happiness, of experiencing and enjoying life. Of being aware. Of really seeing, really feeling, really touching, taking the active choice. It can seem a bit new age at the surface, but I promise you, I am scientific to the core. However, I often leave the referencing to others. Like Eric Barker e.g.
- And here are a few things I’ve said about happiness in the past: Wall of wisdom, and TED Happiness research
Expensive things
- Yes, I bought Zlatan’s Ferrari convertible from him, and then a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo convertible, and a Hublot Big Bang Rose Gold
  - Then I learned they were just things – that needed maintenance, that could get stolen or vandalized. Try it, but be open to realizing it really isn’t as fun as you might think.

In my underwear at the summit of Aconcagua, the highest peak outside Himalaya. There I am, keeping the element of surprise on my side, should any other struggling mountain climbers, Andinistas, make it to the top during the two full hours I camped there.

360 spin on Gotland Ring 2006 (I’m driving)

It’s all empirical

I’ve lived all my advice.

I’m 44 years old (in January 2016) and I’ve done a lot of good and bad things – from appearing on TV shows like Singled Out and Man O Man to being royally laureled by the Swedish King, in front of a massive crowd as the best math and physics student; acing the chemistry olympics organic chemistry test and not least winning the European Hedge Fund Of The Decade award (and the story that followed that night and morning…, which isn’t included in the eBook).

Some, if not most, of my lessons are backed up by science too, but I’m often sloppy with references, since I believe the ideas are more important than the authors. Anyway, I know I only internalize knowledge from reliable sources. It’s just too bad you can’t know that.

In addition, I think it’s more important that I did it all myself – including tearing both my ACLs without even seeing a doctor afterward. I’m a ninja, what can I say. No, really, I am a ninja. I’ve practiced Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing as well, and pumped some iron (benching 310 lbs = 140kg).

Bench press 140.3 kg (309 lbs)

When it rains it pours

In essence, you just hit the mother lode, so make sure to stick around. Start with subscribing to my newsletter, and if you know Swedish, listen to my podcast “25 minuter”.

There is so much more useful, practical and plainly presented, already written here, and orders of magnitude more planned for the future. One eBook is done and ready – it’s ugly and retarded, but fun and useful. Kind of like myself.

Another book is in the works, Retard’s Playbook: i deals with Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Public Address, Private Address, Having Fun, Zen (not least the Yogi Berra kind), Workout Methods, Why The In Between Is Most Interesting, The Power Of Tautologies, Books, How To Become An Investor, The Importance Of Walking And Brain Plasticity, Omega-3, Beliefs, Principles and on and on…

Yep, you’ll find it all here. From broccoli to BDNF and brain plasticity.

Did I mention I went from three colds a year to none in 9 years? That’s 27 saved weeks of fever, sniffling and general misery. I managed to increase my workout tolerance and my Personal Best Lifts too. Find out how right here.

Health in a bottle: Omega-3 fish oil with oleocanthal-rich olive oil from Arctic Med

As if the blog and the eBooks weren’t enough, I keep appearing in radio and TV shows, not to mention my own show: “25 minuter”, which is in… Swedish! Premiär 2 november, 2015.

My show, too, strictly follows a no bullshit rule, and focus on practical, actionable advice, albeit with some fun every now and then.

Is rich, strong, healthy, smart, laid back, successful and efficient, yet deep, something you might be interested in?

Then, be all you can be, by taking one baby step at a time, laughing at how silly and easy it is, celebrating every little victory, knowing the journey is the destination.

Take the fork in the road, end up in the direction you’re heading. Don’t play chess with pigeons…

Say after me: “Tsuyoku Naritai!”, and I’ll help you navigate around the worst and most unnecessary pitfalls and point you in the direction of personal development, of investing in yourself, for yourself.

Tsuyoku Naritai

Now, how about that e-mail address? You can unsubscribe at any time, and you’ll still keep your copy of “The Retarded Hedge Fund Manager”.