Money wisdom by Shaan Puri
Check the original Twitter thread at @ShaanVP/status/1674936982626275328
THE RICH AREN’T JUST “LUCKY”
Pretend we took all the money, and re-distributed it equally. Everyone got $100,000.
Within 10 years, the rich people would be rich again.
wealth building is a skill that can be learned.
For most people, they need to make 3 small shifts..
Story
quick story - a man wants to learn golf.
He buys clubs, and starts hitting balls at the driving range.
The balls go left, right, center. He can’t control it.
He sees a coach teaching a kid nearby. He walks over and hires the coach. First lesson tomorrow.
The coach teaches him a few things.
He starts hitting balls. It’s a bit better, but not much.
Balls still flying left and right.
“this coach sucks” he mutters to himself.
I don’t want this crappy kid’s coach. I need a real coach. The best!
So he hires a professional coach
The coach gives him some instructions.
Within a few minutes, he’s hitting the ball straight and far.
Boom!
The next day, he goes to play a full 18 holes of golf.
Again, the ball is spraying left and right.
He’s getting frustrated. The coach isn’t saying anything.
Finally he turns around: “hey coach. are you just going to stand there? or are you going to do your job? I’m WAY off. I need to change something up”
The coach smiles
“You know, you’re only 2 millimeters off”
What? Did you not see the ball 100 yards off into the lake?
“Yes, but all you need is a 2 millimeter shift”
You see, when your club face hits the ball, if it’s 2mm in the wrong angle, it completely changes the trajectory of the ball
After a few practice swings, he tweaks the angle and takes a swing.
He nails it.
This is a story I heard from Tony Robbins once. And I loved it because so many things in life just require a small shift in your approach in order to completely change your trajectory.
The 3 shifts
To be wealthy - here are the 3 “two millimeter shifts” to make
Shift 1: Hard Work –> Smart Work Shift 2: Far from money –> Hangout with money Shift 3: Small Swings –> Wait for the Fat Pitch
SHIFT 1 : Hard Work –> Smart Work
“Hard work is the key to success”
Is this true?
The lawn guy works hard. Cooks work hard.
Why don’t janitors drive Bentleys?
WHAT you work on & WHO you work with is what matters. After that, just work ‘hard enough’
So what should you work on?
Naval says it best: find the thing that feels like PLAY to you, and WORK to others. Keep dabbling until you find that.
For some that’s coding. Others it’s writing. For some it’s exercise. Hell, Marie Condo loves cleaning and made it her thing
When something feels like play to you:
- you’ll do it a lot. Not just 9-to-5, but every available moment
- and you’ll keep going, even if you don’t get instant results.
You know what they call the guy practices non stop & never quits?
“The best”
& the best always gets paid
SHIFT 2 –> Far From Money –> Hangout with Money
Pretend you want to get a 6-pack.
You need to start thinking & acting like someone who HAS a 6-pack.
Fit people travel with protein powder & resistance bands in their suitcase. They pick hotels based on the gym.
Think like a fit person –> act like a fit person –> become a fit person
Same for wealth. You must shift your “way of thinking” to match that of the type of person you want to become.
So how do you start thinking like a wealthy person?
Find a way to hangout with wealthy people. Or people who also are driving hard to become wealthy.
Their mindset will flow to you, like osmosis.
But how? What if you don’t know anyone?
3 Ways:
- Peers. Find 5 people with the same dream as you. Make a group chat. Do weekly dinners. Move into a house together. Whatever it takes
- Mentors. Tell someone who’s done it you want to learn from them. They’ll give you 1 meeting. Take massive action. Followup. Repeat.
- Change your info diet
Ask people who recently achieved what you want - what do they listen to? who do they follow? what newsletters do they read?
My greatest teachers are people I’ve never met. Just people from twitter, podcasts & youtube.
SHIFT #3 –> Small Swings –> Fat Pitches
A common mistake:
- take the first ‘good’ offer
- start too many projects
- chase shiny objects
You can do anything, but not EVERYTHING
Warren Buffett missed the internet wave. That’s OK bc he understood Coke & Geico (his fat pitch)
Ted Williams was famous for “waiting for the fat pitch” -
he would only swing if the ball was in the hot zone (~0.400 batting avg) and avoid the pitches that resulted in a ~0.230 avg
Warren Buffet explains it’s even better for investing.
Unlike baseball, there are no “called strikes”
You can pass on 50 opportunities, waiting for your fat pitch.
But what does a fat pitch look like?
The first 10 years of your career, you wont know a fat pitch even if it hits you in the face.
First 10 yrs == work with the smartest, highest energy, most resourceful people you can find. Go into emerging markets.
After that, your eye starts to notice fat pitches
Some common fat pitches:
- platform shift (eg. iphone app store)
- law change
- new tech breakthru
- market panic sells (on sale!)
- opportunity to work at a generational company early (eg. Facebook 2004-2008)
- someone owns something but doesnt realize what its worth
SWING HARD
Most people take weak, half swings.
They make a couple calls. send a couple emails. They rarely follow up or follow through.
Don’t strike out looking.
Winners follow up. They double down on what works. They get on the next flight out.
Intensity IS the strategy.
Here’s a good Hard Swing: @TaylorOffer told me a great story.
He had a merch business, but wanted to double down.
How do I get the most popular youtubers (eg. Logan Paul) to work with me?
He noticed all their videos had the same doors.
“they must live in the same building”
He found the building & moved across the country to move in.
He knew they worked out. So he hungout in the gym, working out twice a day.
Eventually they became friends. They partnered with him, and the launch sold millions right away.
If you remember one thing from this, it’s this:
“intensity is the strategy”
Winners don’t have better strategy. They do the obvious things with more intensity.
I didn’t even realize what “max intensity” looked like until I saw it.
3 shifts:
- Find what feels like play to you, and work to others
- Find a way to hangout with people who either have what you want, or are chasing it as hard as you
- Take a simple strategy, and turn up the intensity
There are 50+ other wisdom nuggets, but that’s all for today.