By Marcel Schwantes – INC
Warren Buffett is arguably the best investor who ever lived. The Oracle of Omaha, as he is known, started investing in 1942 with just $114.75 and is now among the top 10 richest persons globally.?
While Buffett is occasionally wrong about economics (his biggest mistake being the $358 million investment in US Airways), he is spot-on about his most famous life lessons, like the three examples below.
1. Love the work that you do
Plain and simple, when you do what you love, success will follow. Buffett has lived by this rule, stating that when you’re passionate about your work, “you’ll never work a day in your life.” He concludes, “There comes the time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning.” So, what is it that you really want to do?
2. Stop your “thumb-sucking”
In his 1989 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Buffett said, “I have passed on a couple of really big purchases that were served up to me on a platter and that I was fully capable of understanding. For Berkshire’s shareholders, myself included, the cost of this thumb-sucking has been huge.”
The lesson? As with most important decisions in life, including investing, do your research thoroughly, get all the information, and then act swiftly on your decision. And if the answer is no, act with the same clarity of mind and walk away knowing you made the right choice.
3. Don’t judge yourself by other people’s standards
When setting the bar for your own goals, don’t fall for the trap of measuring it by other people’s measure of success. Instead of trying to keep up with the Joneses, measure yourself by one of Buffett’s most famous rules — your “inner scorecard”– which defines your own standards and not what the world imposes on you.
The inner scorecard, a principle he learned from his father, comes from deep within and speaks your truth. It gives meaning to who you are, and how you naturally behave and see the world on the basis of your values and beliefs, not someone else’s. In short, it’s taking the higher road to achieve success because it comes from the heart.
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