Personal Life Strategies

Communication

• Practice active listening: Give your full attention, ask questions, and seek to understand the other person’s perspective and needs.
• Show appreciation: Express sincere appreciation for the other person’s qualities, accomplishments, interests or efforts.
• Use empathy: Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and understand their thoughts and feelings.
• Practice clear communication: Be clear and concise in your language, use examples to illustrate your point, avoid jargon or technical terms.
• Use positive language: Choose words that are positive and affirming, and avoid negative or critical language.
• Communicate assertively: Express your thoughts and feelings diplomatically but confidently.
• Be open-minded: Consider different perspectives and ideas, and be willing to receive feedback and constructive criticism.
• Be authentic: Be true to yourself and your values, and communicate in a way that is genuine and honest.
• Be reliable: Do what you say you will do and keep your promises to build trust and credibility.

Sales

Every interaction is an opportunity to improve your communication-connecting-influencing skills — growth

Be unapologetic — No guilt, know you’re doing what you do and be comfortable with that — strong frame

People want to be understood/appreciated by and interact with people whom they respect — empathy/conspiracy and value — “no worries, I understand, and I appreciate that”

Sales is about a clarifying/simplifying the path to a solution and/or the great deal — clarity

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VOICE — Intonation, Smile-Laughter — Energy

COMFORTABLE — Relaxed, Comforting-Positive — Peace

FUN — Pumped Up, Enthusiastic, Funny-Cocky-Exaggeration-Worldplay — Self-Amused

CARING — Curious-Interested, Focused On Them/Topic, Not Me Nor My Life (Except To D.H.V.) — Love/Trust

TELL STORIES/USE EXAMPLES — Share Expertise And Experience…And Find Commonalities — Communication

NON-NEEDINESS — Non-Agitated, Not Rushed — Self-Sufficient

Investment

1. Focus on Accumulating Income-Generating Assets, Not Liabilities: Invest in assets that generate passive income, such as rental properties, stocks, bonds, yield products, and businesses, rather than accumulating liabilities, such as credit card debt or car payments. It’s also worth avoiding frivolous expenses -as it reduces capital that could otherwise be invested.
2. Diversify Your Portfolio: Spread your investments across different asset classes, such as: US Stocks, EU Stocks and Emerging Market Stocks // Frontier Market Stocks // Long-Dated Treasury Bonds // Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) // Real Estate ETFs (REITS) and Physical Real Estate (EU, US and Developed Markets) // Precious Metals — Gold mostly, maybe some silver or platinum // Commodities ETF // Cryptocurrencies with at least 55% in BTC and 25% in ETH // Alternative Assets — Whisky Casks, Artwork, Collectibles, Jewels
3. Keep Your Investment Strategy Simple: Everybody wants to be a genius, everyone wants to figure out the next best stock… most fail. Invest in low-cost index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that provide broad market exposure, and avoid complicated or risky investments. Simplicity and consistency can help you avoid unnecessary fees, taxes, and market volatility.
4. Invest for the Long Term: Maintain a disciplined, consistent approach to investing and never try to time the market or engage in speculative investments. I won’t pull the trigger on any investment if I was not comfortable holding it for literally 10–20 years (it doesn’t mean I have to, but I want that mindset).
5. Invest in Your Future: Contribute regularly and early into your investment account and savings account to take advantage of compound interest. The goal is to amass to accumulate a massive portfolio of income-generating assets which then mean that you can work but don’t need to work in order to sustain your lifestyle. The snowball starts small but grows exponentially and with little effort.
6. Leverage Other People’s Money and Resources: Use other people’s money and resources, such as banks and partners, to build wealth and avoid relying solely on your own -limited- money and resources. Learn how to negotiate and collaborate effectively to create win-win situations.
7. Be wary of investment advisors: Seek professional advice when making complex financial decisions like estate planning or tax/fiscal strategies, but be wary of investment advisors who charge high fees or make unrealistic promises. The bolder the claim, the more cautious one needs to be. Also, most investment banks really just invest in a diversified portfolio (as described in point 2).
8. Understand That The More You Invest, The Better You’ll Be At It: It might be terribly scary to open a trading account, or put a buy-order for a stock for the first time, or calculate your total portfolio allocation, etc. it needs to be done, though, and the more it’s done the less intimidating it gets. Develop positive habits and routines that support your financial goals, such as saving, budgeting, and investing regularly.
9. Invest in Yourself: Continuously learn and improve yourself. Invest in developing new skills, acquiring new knowledge, and gaining new experiences. This will help you stay relevant and adaptable in a rapidly changing economy and job market. It will also provide networking opportunities which in themselves can be financially or professionally rewarding.
10. Diversify Some More: Diversifying reduces risk. It goes beyond simple asset allocation. Think about the platforms where you hold your assets and trade, think about the currencies you use for your investments, think about the time and recurrences of your investments which should also be diversified, think about the providers of ETFs or trading instruments, think about the banking rails to onramp/offramp cash. All of this ensures that when a black swan event happen (and it always does, eventually), you will only suffer a little bit -while people around you suffer much more.

Personal Finance, Money Management, And Investing

1. We Won’t Make Money Trading
2. Frugal Living And Savings
3. Income Generating vs Depreciating
4. We Won’t Ever Sell
5. Slow Is Fast, Fast Is Slow
6. Diversification vs Stock Picking
7. Why We Hold Long-Term
8. Averaging In And Stacked Orders
9. Rebalancing
10. Opportunistic Buying
11. Further Diversification Considerations
12. Profit Taking
13. What It Means To Be Wealthy
14. How Are You Calculating Your Net Worth

Diet And Health

• No Sugar
• No Alcohol
• No Nicotine
• No Caffeine
• As Little Meat As Possible
• As Little Processed Foods As Possible

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• Regular Cold Exposure (Finish Every Shower With Cold Water)
• As Infrequent Food Intake As Possible
• Daily Deep Belly Breathing
• Daily Meditation
• Daily Exercise
• A Regular Sleep Schedule
• Daily Natural Light Exposure (Go Outside)
• Right Posture And Taking Breaks To Move Joints

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• Plenty Of Water
• Plenty Of Fruits, Vegetables And Alkaline Foods

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Supplements:

• Probiotics
• Omega 3
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin K2
• Vitamin B-12
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Turmeric

Exercise and Fitness

Yoga is the best form of exercise. This isn’t because it could be trendy, spiritual or filled with girls in yoga pants. Most physical activities are asymetric and practice only specific muscles or focus on a particular part.

Yoga develops:

• Presence
• Breath
• Strength
• Flexibility
• Balance

I like exercies that improve mobility, from toes to ankles, to knees, to hips, to chest and spine flexilibity, to shoulders and neck, to wrist and fingers.

Some exercises I like:

MUSCLE STRETCHES

Hamstrings
- Standing fold or sitting fold
- Half splits
- Triangle pose
- Wide legged forward bend

Upper Thighs
- King pigeon
- Enlaced king pigeon
- Lunge with back leg bent and held back
- Dancer pose
- Reclining Hero Pose

Inner Thighs
- Frog pose
- Splits
- Butterfly (Sitting, feet together, knees out pushed down)

Hips
- Knees to chest, bundled circles, knees circles
- Lunge with back bend
- Lizard
- Eagle (standing)
- Triangle legs (knees stacked front, feet pointing backward, bending)
- Malasana (squat, hands in prayer)

Glutes
- Pigeon pose
- Figure 4 and pull back
- Leg/baby cradle
- Square pose — sitting down, crossed legs, bending down

Spine
- Slow fold down and up
- Half bridge with slow up and down
- Bridge
- Camel
- Bow
- Child pose, active child pose, side child poses
- Cat and Cow
- Upward and downward facing dog
- Sphinx and Cobra
- Puppy pose
- Lord of the Fishes — Sitting twist
- Lying down twist eagle legs
- Sitting on side hip, spine twist to lay on belly
- Chair pose spine twist, hand in prayer
- Baby pose
- Plow pose
- Dolphin pose
- Noose pose (enlaced squat pose)
- Wild thing pose

Shoulders
- Sitting, legs bent, arms back with fingers pointing back, sit backward
- Laying down on belly, arms crossed straight under chest, fingers point out
- Finger tips on shoulder, big circles with the elbows
- Big shoulder circles up and down
- Eagle
- Straight arms holding towel, go forward and back over head

Neck
- Lying down on belly, elbows together, chin on hands supporting up
- Arm around back, other arm pressing head other direction, move around
- Fingers interlock at the back of the head, pressing down

JOINT STRETCHES

Toes
- Kneeling down, sitting on curled toes
- Kneeling with toes pointed, sitting and swinging back

Ankles
- Knees to chest, circle the ankles clockwise and anti clockwise
- Lotus pose

Knees
- Knees to chest
- Legs straight massaging with hands
- Hero pose

Wrist
- Kneeling down, back of hand on floor or fingers pointing back with top of the hand on the floor

INVERSIONS

- Baby crow
- Crow
- Crane
- Side crow
- Fallen angel
- Eagle side crow
- Headstand
- Tripod
- Eight-angle pose
- Grasshopper pose
- Pincha Mayurasana
- Scorpion pincha Mayurasana
- Handstand

- Peacock
- Feathered peacock
- Shoulder pressing pose
- Firefly
- Pose Dedicated to the Sage Koundinya I
- Scale pose

Spirituality And Mindfulness

Being enligthened means to be pervaded by an awareness of the present moment. Beingness is awareness, is life flowing, here and now.

While this sounds simple enough, the ego has enormous momentum. The mind with its thoughts, emotions, memories of the past or anticipations about the future -all tainted by a dualistic and time-bound judgements- tricks us into looking anywhere but here and now.

We confuse who we are with the ego and fall into the delusion that the mind and the past or future will get us out when it is in fact the very prison we then seek to escape. It’s also scary to let go of a familiar prison, a box we have identified with, have created relationships, ideas, improvements, values, etc.

Who we are cares for none of that. Realising that what we are is awareness or presence (but so not the ego with typically identify with) then unsurprisingly feels freeing, light, blissful, joyous, lively and harmonious.

There is no strategy and no work to reach enlightment. There is nothing to do. There is no gate to cross, no path to take. Just an instantenous realisation that here and now is all there is, ever, and that nothing needs to be added, that no personalisation of ‘what is’ needs to take place.

In the meantime, there is still something that can support the spontanous blossoming of such realisation: meditation.

How to meditate:

• Sit with a straight back, unsupported
• Breathe naturally, without trying to control or change anything
• Observe the breath going in and out
• Focus on the area at the entrance of the nostrils and above the upper lip
• When the mind has calmed enough and is focused enough
• Let awareness flow through the entire body, part by part. This means, feel your hair, your forehead, your nose, your cheecks, your throat, every part of the body. Feeling each part entails just being aware of the inner body -nothing esoteric here: can you feel your right hand, not by moving it, nor by looking at it, nor by remember that you indeed have a right hand… just sense the right hand as it is, with the natural life energy that pervades it.
• Let your awareness flow up and down.
• Over time, when thoughts and emotions come up you will feel that they generate sensations. This is amazing because it gives you an opportunity to witness the ephemeral nature of the world of things -physical and mental forms. You then just observe those good and bad feelings come up, and practice equanimity, with no attachement to good sensations and no aversion to bad sensations.

Enlightenement isn’t away from thoughts, emotions or sensations (meaning the way forward is not to reject, avoid, ignore, repress the mind and the body). We have to transcend this. Transcendance happens when you can observe the ego -the body and the mind- and instead of be identified with it, just be aware of it, as part of the present moment.

Once the present moment is accepted as it is, once we surrender, accept, welcome, love life as it is, only then do we let go of the ego (which then serves no purpose) and are simply present.