1. The Modern Library 100 Best Novels

25. 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read: The Definitive List

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Tribes in Iraq and Afghanistan

Three years ago (though I just found it recently, shame) Stephen Pressfield wrote an article called, “It’s the Tribes, Stupid,” where he makes a convincing argument that what we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is not Islam, but rather “…tribalism articulated in terms of religion.”  He argues that tribalism seeks security over freedom, hence strongmen, not democracies, have ruled their cultures for years.

Pressfield rejects the notion that an American-style democracy with widespread power-sharing cannot survive in Iraq or Afghanistan.  I’ll be honest, there’s a large part of me that agrees and has for the past several years, but it’s very hard to stomach the loss of life, money and time it has taken to prove this point.  I would like to hear/study more from the Iraqis and Afghanis themselves on freedom vs. security before concluding that Pressfield is spot on, but he definitely has my ear at this point.

Here are his words (emphasis mine):

“The tribe is the most ancient form of social organization. It arose from the hunter-gatherer clans of pre-history. A tribe is small. It consists of personal, face-to-face relationships, often of blood. A tribe is cohesive. Its structure is hierarchical. It has a leader and a rigid set of norms and customs that defines each individual’s role. Like a hunting band, the tribe knows who’s the top dog and knows how to follow orders. What makes Islam so powerful in the world today is that its all-embracing discipline and order overlay the tribal mind-set so perfectly. Islam delivers the certainty and security that the tribe used to. It permits the tribal way to survive and thrive in a post-tribal and super-tribal world.”

—

“The heart of every tribal male is that of a warrior. Even the most wretched youth in a Palestinian refugee camp sees himself as a knight of Islam. The Pathan code of nangwali prescribes three virtues – nang, pride; badal, revenge; melmastia, hospitality. These guys are Apaches.  What the warrior craves before all else is respect. Respect from his own people, and, even more, from his enemy. When we of the West understand this, as Alexander did, we’ll have taken the first step toward solving the unsolvable.”

—

“To deal successfully with the tribe, a negotiator of the West must first grant it its pride and honor. The tribe’s males must be addressed as warriors; its women must be treated with respect. The tribe must be left to its own land, to govern as it deems best.  If you want to get out of a tribal war, you must find a scenario by which the tribe can declare itself victorious.”

—

“Perhaps in the end, our leaders, like Alexander, will figure some way to bring the tribal foe around. More likely in my opinion, they’ll arrive at the same conclusion as did Lord Roberts, the legendary British general. Lord Roberts fought (and defeated militarily) tribesmen in two bloody wars in Afghanistan in the 19th century. His conclusion: get out. Lord Roberts’ axiom was that the farther away British forces remained from the tribesmen, the more likely the tribesmen were to feel warmly toward them; the closer he got, the more they hated him and the more stubbornly and implacably they fought against him.”

Building Tribes for Security in a Chaotic World

John Robb, author of “Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization,” wrote a blog post on how to build your own tribe. He views the tribe as an important structure for security and survival in a global depression.  Though traditional tribes have been erased in the last few centuries (at least in the West) due to, as Robb explains, “…pressures from the nation-state that saw them as competitors and the marketplace that saw them as impediments,” they can pick up the slack where the nuclear family or social circle have failed.

With a tribe, Robb says, you have, “A group of people that you are loyal to you and you are loyal in return.”  Sidenote: I’d be interested to ask Robb how a tribe differs from a typical street gang because the sound similar in many ways.  Anyway, here’s how Robb says one should go about starting their own tribe:

A strong tribe, in this post-industrial environment*, isn’t built from the top down.  Instead it is built organically from the bottom up.  A simple tribe starts with cementing ties to your extended family, a connection of blood.  The second step is to extend that network to include other families and worthy  individuals.  A key part of that is to build fictive kinship, a sense of connectedness that leads to the creation of loyalty to the group.  That kinship is built through (see Ronfeldt’s paper for some background on this):

• Story telling.  Shared histories and historical narratives.
• Rites of passage.  Rituals of membership.  Membership is earned not given due to the geographic location of birth or residence.
• Obligations.   Rules of conduct and honor.  The ultimate penalty being expulsion.
• Egalitarian and often leaderless organization.  Sharing is prized.
• Multi-skilled.  Segmental organization (lots of redundancy among parts).
• Two-way loyalty.  The tribe protects the members and the members protect the tribe.   If this isn’t implemented, you don’t have a tribe, you have a Kiwanis club.

Building Tribes to Spread Ideas

Seth Godin, author of “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us,” is interested in building tribes of a different kind, the ones that spread ideas and change the world.  Here’s Seth Godin’s recent TED presentation where he explains why the world needs YOU to lead a tribe.

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We tell ourselves that keeping up with the Jones’ is a fool’s game, but our credit card statements say otherwise.  Like many truths of life it seems that those regarding happiness are often relegated to the later years, after we’ve spent ourselves into oblivion and finally decided that maybe our fathers were right, real happiness is independent of our circumstances.

These reflections came today after reading a great piece in The New York Times by Pico Iyer entitled, “The Joy of Less,” (see full article here) in which he discovers, as so many have, that the roots of happiness are often more subtle than we’d like to believe.  He writes,

“There is nothing either good or bad,” I had heard in high school, from Hamlet, “but thinking makes it so.” I had been lucky enough at that point to stumble into the life I might have dreamed of as a boy: a great job writing on world affairs for Time magazine, an apartment (officially at least) on Park Avenue, enough time and money to take vacations in Burma, Morocco, El Salvador. But every time I went to one of those places, I noticed that the people I met there, mired in difficulty and often warfare, seemed to have more energy and even optimism than the friends I’d grown up with in privileged, peaceful Santa Barbara, Calif., many of whom were on their fourth marriages and seeing a therapist every day. Though I knew that poverty certainly didn’t buy happiness, I wasn’t convinced that money did either.

So — as post-1960s cliché decreed — I left my comfortable job and life to live for a year in a temple on the backstreets of Kyoto. My high-minded year lasted all of a week, by which time I’d noticed that the depthless contemplation of the moon and composition of haiku I’d imagined from afar was really more a matter of cleaning, sweeping and then cleaning some more. But today, more than 21 years later, I still live in the vicinity of Kyoto, in a two-room apartment that makes my old monastic cell look almost luxurious by comparison. I have no bicycle, no car, no television I can understand, no media — and the days seem to stretch into eternities, and I can’t think of a single thing I lack.

He goes on to say that the simple life isn’t always easy.  Having to travel an hour to print his latest article, or missing the N.B.A. finals tempt him to return to his previous lifestyle, but it appears the trade off has helped him live his life in the present, something I’ve struggled with for years.  It wasn’t until my daugther came along and showed me how to slow down that I recognized the waste of glossing over the present, constantly dreaming of tomorrow.  I wrote about it here and here.

Iyer goes on to question common sources of happiness, the great job, stability, recognition — the pursuit of these things do not seem to make his friends happy.  What are most of us missing when it comes to the pursuit of happiness?  He concludes,

I certainly wouldn’t recommend my life to most people — and my heart goes out to those who have recently been condemned to a simplicity they never needed or wanted. But I’m not sure how much outward details or accomplishments ever really make us happy deep down. The millionaires I know seem desperate to become multimillionaires, and spend more time with their lawyers and their bankers than with their friends (whose motivations they are no longer sure of). And I remember how, in the corporate world, I always knew there was some higher position I could attain, which meant that, like Zeno’s arrow, I was guaranteed never to arrive and always to remain dissatisfied.

Being self-employed will always make for a precarious life; these days, it is more uncertain than ever, especially since my tools of choice, written words, are coming to seem like accessories to images. Like almost everyone I know, I’ve lost much of my savings in the past few months. I even went through a dress-rehearsal for our enforced austerity when my family home in Santa Barbara burned to the ground some years ago, leaving me with nothing but the toothbrush I bought from an all-night supermarket that night. And yet my two-room apartment in nowhere Japan seems more abundant than the big house that burned down. I have time to read the new John le Carre, while nibbling at sweet tangerines in the sun. When a Sigur Ros album comes out, it fills my days and nights, resplendent. And then it seems that happiness, like peace or passion, comes most freely when it isn’t pursued.

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It’s always interesting to hear someone talk about their passions, but even more so when it is a writer.  That their job is one of communicating and story-telling makes their descriptions more potent and memorable.

A pitcher might say that he likes pitching because he’s always been good at it and he likes the roar of the crowd, or a pilot might say he flies simply for the freedom of traveling through the skies (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry being a glaring exception).  It’s not that they don’t love what they do, but few have the ability to express it in a way that wholly represents their passion.  A writer on the other hand will give you an answer like the following from Updike:

Why write? As soon ask, why rivet? Because a number of personal accidents drifts us toward the occupation of riveter, which preexists, and, most importantly, the riveting gun exists, and we love it.

Think of a pencil. What a quiet, nimble, slender, and then stubby wonder-worker he is! At his touch, worlds leap into being; a tiger with no danger, a steamroller with no weight, a palace at no cost. All children are alive to the spell of pencil and crayons, of making something, as it were, from nothing; a few children never move out from under this spell, and try to become artists. I was once a rapturous child drawing at the dining-room table, under a stained-glass chandelier that sat like a hat on the swollen orb of my excitement.

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My poor eating habits accelerated rapidly once I wasn’t under her watchful eye, but still without any detriment to how much I weighed or looked.  Will, my roommate at the Academy, would grow visibly frustrated with my gleeful disregard, explaining that the amount of chocolate I ate was going to weaken my immune system, give me acne and all kinds of other terrible disorders.  Never happened.

Then I got married to a woman who can cook like a Food Network star, but more importantly who believes in eating healthy.  Slowly, like a wild bronco being broken, she began to reign in my terrible eating habits by substituting them with healthy alternatives.  Sometimes I resisted, but over time I began to realize she was right and more importantly, healthy didn’t have to mean tasting bad.

During this process I’ve begun to pay more attention to nutritional articles and medical studies touting the health benefits of certain foods.  The following are a few that I’ve grown to love and would recommend to anyone trying to develop a healthier eating plan:

Blueberries- these little guys are considered by many to be a “superfood” for how many health benefits they pack.  Blueberries are among the fruits with the highest antioxidant activity.  Antioxidants are thought to prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke by fighting the free radicals which cause damage to cells.  They also act as an anti-inflammatory, helping your skin remain younger by preventing aging and wrinkles.

Blueberries are also good for your brain.

According to a USDA study…a diet rich in blueberry extract reversed some loss of balance and coordination, and improved short-term memory in aging rats…This particular USDA study is the first to actually demonstrate a reversal in dysfunctions of behavior, going farther than earlier studies which linked high-antioxidant fruits and vegetables to prevention of function loss only. – prnewswire.com

And in case you needed one more reason, researchers at Rutgers University have found that blueberries reduce the risk of urinary tract infections by preventing bacteria from attaching to the walls of the urinary tract.  Not sure what it’s like to get a urinary tract infection, but it sounds gross and painful…so I eat blueberries on my waffles now instead of chocolate chips.

Almonds- almonds are the most nutritious of all the nuts, but many never consider how healthy they are because they’ve heard that they’re high in fat.  They’re right, but almonds contain the good kinds of fat, like monounsaturated that actual helps lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol.  Almonds have been shown to lower the risks of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

“A one-ounce serving of almonds (about 23 almonds) is an excellent source of vitamin E, magnesium and manganese, and a good source of fiber, copper, riboflavin, and phosphorus. Not to mention, every ounce has 6 grams of protein, and 12 grams of heart-healthy unsaturated fats. Now that’s a lot of nutrients for such a small package.” – almondsarein.com

Finally, just like blueberries, almonds contain antioxidants which are healthy for the skin and can prolong the appearance of wrinkles and other signs of aging.

Red Wine- For years now the Europeans have been laughing at Americans who say they only drink wine because it’s good for the heart.  “Why not just drink it because it tastes good?” they ask.  Both cultures have a good point and I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.  I drink wine because I love the taste, the culture and because I know that it’s good for my health.

Many people have heard of the healthy effects of red wine, but believe that it is simply the best choice if your going to have alcohol.  In fact, there are many health benefits that red wine drinkers experience over those who drink no alcohol at all.  Thus far, doctors have been reluctant to advise their patients to start drinking alcohol because of the highly negative effects alcohol abuse.  Understandable.

Kim Marcus and Jacob Gaffney recently wrote an article in the May 2008 issue of Wine Spectator summarizing the recent findings of various medical studies and tests and what they mean for wine drinkers.  Here’s a sample of what they found:

Heart: Many studies have shown that regular and moderate consumption (one to two glasses per day) of red wine is associated with the greatest amount of benefits, such as better circulation and overall heart health.  A fascinating new angle of study is being pursued by researchers at Stanford University, who have discovered that one of the factors behind alcohol’s effect on the heart is that it activates an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2.  The enzyme, which helps process alcohol, also eliminates toxic byproducts created by the breakdown of fats in cells during a heart attack.  Eliminating the byproducts prevents additional damage to the heart cells.

Delaying Dementia: Several studies have not only amassed evidence that moderate wine-consumption may help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, but are also now detailing the complicated physiological processes at play…Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York have found that grape seed polyphenols block the formation of the plaques (that kill surrounding brain cells).

Preventing Arthritis: Researchers in Sweden have found that drinking an average of five to 10 glasses of wine per week may cut the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis by up to 50 percent, compared to the risk of nondrinkers.  In addition, other studies have found that moderate wine-drinking is linked to increased bone density in elderly women, possibly lowering their risk of osteoporosis.

Lowering Diabetes Risk: People who consume moderate amounts of wine daily appear to be at an advantage when it comes to preventing type 2 diabetes; studies have shown that light to moderate drinkers may have a substantially lower risk of developing the disease.  A Harvard School of Public Health study from 2003 found that women 25 and older who consumed a glass or two of alcohol a day were at a 58 percent lower risk of developing diabetes than nondrinkers.

More info on almonds:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/health-benefits-of-almonds.html

http://tinyurl.com/d5nhku

More info on blueberries:

http://www.trueblueberry.com/blueberry/default.asp

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/slideshow1_ss_oz_20080205/3

More info on red wine:

http://stanford.wellsphere.com/wellmix360/benefits-of-drinking-red-wine

http://eating.health.com/2008/02/11/6-reasons-to-drink-wine/

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He describes a battle that showed the deadly limits of technology when operating in unfamiliar terrain, against an unconventional force, and under the watch of military commanders who had been lulled into a false sense of battlefield awareness.  As an eyewitness, Naylor’s account provides the type of scrutiny and on-the-scene reporting that makes generals queasy.  But, don’t get this confused with a sterile news story, “Not A Good Day to Die” has all the hallmarks of a, “Black Hawk Down”-style narrative with plenty of intense action.

Initially stymied by a deal struck between U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command that banned personnel from discussing Operation Anaconda with media, the author had to maneuver one bureaucratic roadblock after another, admitting in the forward that this book was not an easy one to report.

“Researching and explaining a complex and controversial operation fought by a dozen task forces was always going to be a challenge, despite the advantage I enjoyed having been present at the rehearsals for and some of the combat during Operation Anaconda. But even I, after thirteen years of covering the military, had not expected to find so many obstacles placed in my path by a handful of individuals with reputations to protect.” pg. xi

What happened in the Shahikot Valley that made leaders so unwilling to talk?  That’s exactly what Naylor sets out to explain.  First, was the huge intelligence gap that no one grasped until it was too late. Despite constant UAV coverage, hi-tech signals reconnaissance and multiple NSA resources being directed towards piecing together an accurate picture of the enemy and battlefield, the soldiers went in extremely blind to the realities of what they would be facing. The big takeaway, a glaring lack of reliable human intelligence and a terribly inefficient system to share intelligence among the various services and branches involved.

Second, the people making most of the decisions where the ones furthest away from the battlefield. Rather than trusting the men on the ground to lead the fight, generals glued to live predator feeds thousands of miles away felt qualified to direct various forces of which they had very little contact or understanding.  A centralized command structure trying to keep up with a constantly changing enemy spelled disaster from the beginning.  Take for example an episode on the eve of battle where Major General Franklin “Buster” Hagenback, 10th Mtn Division commander requested additional air strikes based on new intelligence from the field.

“General Hagenback said, ‘Hey, bomb these frickin’ things,’ recalled Mikolashek, who was also in the VTC.  This request provoked what Mikolshek described as ‘a little consternation’ on the part of CENTCOM participants in general…”Hey, you guys said you wanted this many targets bombed, and not it’s all of a sudden this many.  What are you doing?’ was how Mikolshek characterized Renuart’s response…

In the end Renuart and Central Command said they would try to arrange the additional air strikes.  But Renuart’s initial reaction suggested that Central Command was not postured to quickly adapt to changing battlefield circumstances.” pg. 187

As often happens in war, the Captains and Sergeants were called upon to not only defeat the enemy, but overcome the lackluster planning of their superiors.  And to this end they did remarkably well.  If half of this book is about the failures of those at the top, the other half is a glowing report of the courageous and cool-headed conduct of those on the front lines.

Between various Spec Ops recon teams that climbed thousands of feet into “unpassable” mountains to gain critical intel, to CIA members stationed in-country who impressed everyone with their intricate knowledge of the area, to Air Force Pararescuemen like Senior Airman Jason Cunningham who was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross for his exemplary conduct in helping save the lives of 10 wounded soldiers, to members of the 101st Airborne and 10th Mountain Division that acted with lethal professionalism as they were flown into clouds of bullets – this book shows the best of our military as well.  It is a fitting toast to those who risk their lives on a daily basis and a story that will be told for many years to come.

Purchase Book Here

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Barnett has advised leaders on national security for many years now and has some of the most refreshing and spot-on ideas of how the U.S. military needs to change if we’re going to be effective in the 21st century.

He argues that we are still set up to fight a cold-war era opponent and that our military is being asked to nation-build when it was never meant to be used that way. But, rather than just criticizing, he offers a very clear solution: a large civilian force made up of highly educated civil servants who can focus on the post-fighting phase of helping rebuild a country like Iraq or Afghanistan.

I won’t spoil it too much, just give it a watch if you have a second.

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Since then, I’ve moved into a new season of my life. And though I’ve still maintained close contact with many mentors, my interests and passions have taken new, unexpected twists. That’s life. As many of you have noticed, I’ve posted very little content over the past several months. Though much of this has had to do with my crazy schedule as a C-17 pilot, the other has to do with a lack of passion for the subject matter I’d originally built my blog around.

Lessons in Skilled Living implies just that – each blog post imparting a life lesson. Well, for now I’m out of lessons, at least, I am not that interested in writing about them.

What am I interested in writing about? War, coffee, books, strategy, Christianity, technology, philosophy, the Middle East, John Boyd, education, movies, the outdoors, flying, Africa, being a dad/husband, music, wine, entrepreneurship, economics, foreign policy….just to name a few.

For now, I want to learn and digest some life lessons before I try to pass any more on.

So, I give you fair warning that I’m changing content mid-stream. I know this is taboo in the blogging world, but not too many people read this thing anyways, so I think it’ll be okay.

One other thing – my posts are going to be a lot shorter and more frequent.

I’m going to quasi-model my blog after Ben Casnocha’s. He’s a brilliant guy who, though I don’t always agree with him, keeps me coming back to his blog more than any other, simply because it captures my imagination and intellectual curiosity on a daily basis.  If my blog can be half as interesting and engaging as his, I’ll have succeeded.

Thanks for your time, please feel free to let me know what you’d like me to write about more and I’ll consider it. To the loyal readers of Schaefer’s blog, thanks for sticking with me as I grow. You constantly remind me why blogging is worthwhile.

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Hey guys, I just wanted to check in and let everyone know that I’m still alive. I know it’s been quite a while since my last post and I apologize.  Life has a funny way of flying by if you aren’t looking and the past few months have been no exception.  My job has kept me on the road around 30 of the past 60 days.  It’s hard being away from family, but it’s definitely a big plus that I’m getting to do what I love, flying all over the world and making a difference in a lot of people’s lives.  With that said I wanted to give you a quick update of what I’ve been reading, doing and finding of great value.  So here we go:

The Hard Way

As most of you know, I have the privilege of writing for one of the best blogs on the internet, The Art of Manliness.  Recently, I placed years of thoughts into a single post, entitled, “The Hard Way.”  Here’s a brief teaser:

This “easy” epidemic has reached every aspect of our culture from health to education to relationships. People don’t want to workout and eat healthy because it’s hard. No problem, according to the creators of 1,000 different diets promising a great body with little to no effort. As for expanding one’s knowledge, why waste time reading a whole book when you can get the gist from the Cliff Notes? And relationships? Well, working through marriages can be difficult, so “experts” have stepped in to hand you a Kleenex and pat your back as they tell you, “You deserve to be with someone who adores you for you, don’t feel bad about ending things and moving on to someone new who will better meet your needs.”

At some point it has become acceptable to avoid things because they’re hard. Success has become some sort of self-help scavenger hunt with all of us desperately wanting to find an easier way than just grinding it out, a magic solution to life’s equation waiting to be uncovered.  We cut corners and call it “optimizing.”  We take the path of least resistance and dress up our cowardice in the guise of efficiency.  And in doing so, we’re killing ourselves, one life-hack at a time.

There’s nothing wrong with working smarter or making things more simple. There’s no reason to make something harder than it has to be. And I’m not suggesting we go back to plowing fields by hand or walking uphill both ways to work. The problem is that many of us have begun to think that if something is hard, it is automatically wrong and must be changed or substituted immediately. In the process we often fail to reach our real goals, substituting in ones that are more “realistic.” And more importantly, we rob our character of some much needed pruning. We’re missing out on a fundamental truth of manhood – doing things that are hard molds boys into men of strength and character.

See the full post here.

Ramit Sethi’s New Book, “I Will Teach You to Be Rich”

One of my favorite bloggers, Ramit Sethi, just released his much anticipated book and I was lucky enough to be part of the launch community.  What does this mean?  Basically, I got the book a few weeks before it was released to the public and had a chance to engage in live weekly discussions on the web with Ramit and other members of the community.  Not only was this an incredible opportunity to dig deep into a great book, it also was one of the most innovative product launches I have ever witnessed.  On top of engaging with readers, Ramit produced a team of “superfans” that became evangelists for his book and produced a wildfire of discussion and anticipation.  The result, “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” reached #1 on Amazon in a matter of hours, selling out and causing his publisher’s to have to do an emergency printing of additional copies.

The following is one of the most valuable sections of the book, “The Ladder of Personal Finance.”  It gives the EXACT advice that I would give to any friend that asked me the basics to managing their money:

Rung 1:  If you employee offers a 401(k) match, invest to take full advantage of it and contribute just enough to get 100 percent of the match.  A “401(k) match” means that for every dollar you contribute to your 401(k), your company will “match” your contribution up to a certain amount.  For example, for easy math, let’s assume you make $100,000.  A “100 percent match up to 5 percent of your contribution” means that you’ll contribute $5,000 and your company will match it with $5,000.  This is free money and there is, quite simply, no better deal.

Rung 2:  Pay off your credit card and any other debt.  The average credit card APR is 14 percent, and many APRs are higher.  Whatever you card company charges, paying off debt will give you a significant instant return.

Rung 3:  Open up a Roth IRA and contribute as much money as possible to it.  (As long as your income is $101,000 or less, you’re allowed to contribute up to $5,000 in 2009.)

Rung 4:  If you have money left over, go back to your 401(k) and contribute as much as possible to it (this time above and beyond your employer match).  The current limit is $15,500.

Rung 5:  If you still have money left to invest, open a regular non-retirement account and put as much as possible there.  Also, pay extra on any mortgage debt you have, and consider investing in yourself: Whether it’s starting a company or getting an additional degree, there’s often no better investment than your own career.

Get this book!  For years, “Random Walk Down Wall Street” by Malkiel has been my go-to personal finance favorite, but this book has now taken it’s place.

The Wife and I Have Become VAYNIACS!!!

Ever since I was young, I’ve been fascinated by the world of wine.  My dad has been a a wine fan for as long as I can remember and some of my best memories involve some great wines we have shared together over the years.  Marelize, my wife, also grew up in a family that enjoyed good wine.  Recently, I checked out the website, “Wine Library TV” after hearing so much about it through various sources.  Creator Gary Vaynerchuk is a young, wildly charismatic wine expert, who has found a niche as the internet’s wine guru.  He has an uncanny pallet and ability to describe various flavors that come out in each wine and he does so without the snootiness so characteristic of many winos.  Needless to say, Marelize and I are hooked!

The following are a few great episodes to check out:

How to train your pallet

Wine as an investment with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer

Tours of some incredible home wine cellars

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One of the biggest reasons for poor investment decisions as of late is due to unmet expectations. People expect their investments to go up, up and up.  When they don’t, lots of little doubts begin to creep in.

“Do I have too much invested in the market?”

“Am I just invested in the wrong companies?”

“Will the market ever come back…and if so will it be too late for me?”

Much of these unmet expectations come from a single source. The holy grail of stock market statistics that has been preached by advisers and professors for ages as the ultimate reason to invest in the stock market:

The average return of the stock market is 10%

The thing about this statistic is that many people zone in on the “10%” aspect and completely ignore or minimize the word “average”.
The word “average” should emphasize the long-term nature of investing, but to most it’s more like the warning sign for a roller coaster – “yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it, just let us on the ride!”

This is why I love following presentation by Carl Richards of Behavior Gap that I found on Ramit Sethi’s blog this afternoon. It shows the fundamental flaw in most of our thinking when it comes to associating average with normal. Here it is:

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