Salam Eidul Adha

The Biggest Failure

On the street, you're given the mistake first and then it's up to you to find the lesson, if you ever find it. Since most people have not been taught how to make mistakes and learn from them, they either avoid mistakes altogether, which is a bigger mistake, or they make a mistake but fail to find the lesson from the mistake. That is why you see so many people making the same mistake over and over again. They make the same mistake over and over again because they have never been taught how to learn from their mistakes. In school, you are considered smart if you don;t make mistakes. On the street, you're smart only if you make mistakes and learn from them.

In business world, that something new is often called 'experience.' But experience is not enough. Many people say they have a lot of experience because they keep making the same mistake over and over again. If a person truly learns from a mistake, his or her life changes forever, and what that person gains instead of experience is 'wisdom.'

People often avoid making mistakes, and that is a mistake. They keep saying to themselves, 'Play it safe. Don't take risks.' People may be struggling because they have already made mistakes and have not learned from the mistakes. So they get up every day, go to work, and repeat the mistake and avoid new mistakes, but they never find the lesson. These people often say to themselves, 'I'm doing everything right, but for some reason, I'm not getting ahead.' They may be doing all the right things but the problem is that they are avoiding the wrong things-wrong things such as taking more risks. They are avoiding their weaknesses instead of confronting them. They are not doing something they may be afraid of doing, and consciously to avoid making a mistake rather than make one.

Some of the biggest failures I know are people who have never failed.

The Magic Of Mistakes

My dad came from the world of academics, a world where mistakes are perceived as bad and to be avoided. In the world of education, the more mistakes a person makes, the less intelligent that person is thought to be.

I had a different view on mistakes which came from the streets. For me, mistakes were opportunities to learn something new, something he did know before. To me, the more mistakes a person made, the more the person learned.

There is a bit of magic hidden in every mistake. So the more mistakes I make and I take the time to learn from, the more magic I have in my life.

Just remember the frustration you went through as you struggled to learn how to ride a bicycle. All your friends are riding but all you are doing is climbing on the bike and immediately falling off. You make mistake after mistake. Then suddenly, you stop falling off, you begin to peddle, the bike begins rollin, and then suddenly like a magic, whole new world opens to you. That is the magic found in mistakes.

Itukan satu kitaran.

Rivalry is the life of trade, and the death of the trader. I don't set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.



Rivalry : The act of competing as for profit or a prize.

Other Mistakes

Another company, Diamond Fields, was formed untuk mencari diamonds, yang mana mereka tidak pernah menemui nya. The company's head geologist had made a mistake. Yet, instead dari mencari diamonds, they struck one of the largest nickel deposits in the world. Their stock price soared upon the discovery. Hari ini, walaupun namanya tetap Diamonds Field, they make their money in nickel.

Levi Strauss headed for the gold fields of California to strike it rich in mining. Walaubagaimanapun, beliau bukan seorang miner yang bagus, so he instead began sewing pants out of canvas for the miners who were successful. Hari ini, I think hampir seluruh masyarakat dunia pernah mendengar tentang Levi's jeans.

Dikatakan bahawa Thomas Edison would never have invented the light bulb if he had been an employee for the company he ultimately found-General Electric. Juga dikatakan bahawa Edison failed over 10,000 times before finally inventing the light bulb. If he had been an employee of a major corporation, he would most likely have been fired for making so many mistakes.

Christopher Colombus's big mistake was that he was looking for a trade route to China and accidentally bumped into America.

Warren Buffet's Mistake

Warren Buffet, America's richest investor, company beliau dikenali dan dihormati, Berkshire Hathaway. Hari ini, harga share bagi Birkshire Hathaway adalah one of the highest priced company shares in the world. Tikamana semua pelabur menilai stock Berkshire Hathaway, hanya sedikit dari mereka sedar dan tahu bahawa Berkshire Hathaway adalah one of Warren Buffet's biggest investment mistakes.

Suatu ketika dulu, apabila beliau hendak memiliki company tersebut, Berkshire Hathaway adalah sebuah shirt-manufacturing company yang ketika itu sedang slowly going out of business. Warren Buffet berfikir mungkin team beliau dapat mengubah nasib company tersebut. Well as most of us know, textile manufacturing sedang tenat di America dan sedang beralih arah ke negara-negara lain. It was a trend yang even Warren Buffet sendiri tidak mampu melawannya, dan company tersebut eventually failed as a manufacturing company, walaupun Warren Buffet merupakan tulang belakang nya. Yet, inside of this company failure, Warren Buffet found the gems that ultimately made him extremely rich.

So the saying 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch,' is a wise bit of financial wisdom.

When we learn to ride a bicycle, we train our subconscious mind to ride our bike. Once that is done, we don't have to think or remember how to ride a bike as we ride. When we learn to drive a car, we also train our subconscious mind. And that is why, once we have trained our subconscious mind to drive, we can drive and talk to someone else, eat a hamburger, think about problems at work, or listen to the radio and sing along. Driving is (hopefully) automatically handled. The same can happen with reading financial statements.

What takes the longest time in finding a good investment is analyzing the numbers. Learning to read financial statements is a tedious process, especially when you first begin to learn. The good news is that it gets easier and faster as you practice. Not only does it get easier, but you can also review many more investment opportunities almost automatically without thinking... just like riding a bike, or driving a car.

Margin Call

Singgah di gerai makcik itu.

Sabtu lepas, "Bro, nanti you buy burger untuk kita semua. Okey bro? 15 cukup tak? Campur-campur."

Sejurus mengundur diri dari jamuan hari jadi Hadif(nama sebenar) di Puchong, aku terus menuju ke arah Kampung Medan.

Walau sudah hampir berbulan aku tidak ke sana semenjak berpindah rumah, keadaan di sana masih seperti dulu. Malah semakin worse kulihat. Hujan. Traffic jam. Kuli buat jalan. Penunggang tanpa helmet. Parking tepi jalan.

Hanya satu sebab yang menyebabkan aku kembali ke sana. Membeli burger. Ya, aku masih ingat zaman membeli burger dengan duit-duit syiling dulu. Burger terbaik dari seluruh alam.

Dan mungkin satu sebab lain. Gerai burger itu begitu hampir dengan gerai makan makcik yang dulu anaknya menjadi mangsa jelingan aku, dulu.

Hujan. Gerai burger belum buka. Aku duduk di gerai makcik itu menunggu. Aku mengorder milo panas.

"Milo panas satu!!!" Jerit makcik itu kepada anaknya. "Makan tak nak?" Aku geleng sambil menyalakan sebatang Marlboro Light.

Makcik itu berlalu. Dia sudah tidak kenal akan aku.

Dia datang lagi.

Dua hari lepas Najib (remember his story?) was here in my place.

Dengan penuh harapan pucuk dicita ulam mendatang menggunung tinggi, Najib ingin menumpang semalaman dan bangun esok pagi untuk ke Shah Alam, urusan kerja.

Pagi itu, maka bangunlah Najib dan bersiap untuk pergi.

Unsangkarebel. Tidak sampai 5 minit, Najib mengeteks aku.

"Hujan, hebat!"

"I think I need your thumbprint! I'm waiting in front of the lift!"

Dan hujan terus mencurah-curah turun sepanjang hari sehingga lewat malam. Dan membuatkan rancangan penting ke Shah Alam terpostpone.

Alkisah, Najib pembawa hujan.