Be water, my friend.
Keeping your mind open
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I see both sides like Chanel
See on both sides like Chanel
- ‘Chanel’ by Frank Ocean
Subscribers to the newsletter will know that I have been a fan of Bruce Lee since I was young.
Lee set out to create his own form of fighting style, pulling from many different styles such as Karate, Kung Fu, Boxing, etc.
He studied the different forms in detail and incorporated what he considered relevant from each style and discarded the rest.
Many of his movies end with him in a final fight with some bad guy who has a specific style and Lee wins out when the bad guy can’t handle his style.
This is most evident in his final movie ‘Game of Death’ (which Lee wrote, starred in and directed). Lee died during the filming of the movie and the movie was completed years after his death from over 100 hours of saved footage.
The premise of the movie involved Lee’s character fighting his way up a five-level pagoda, encountering a different fighting style on each floor.
(Interesting side note - the last fighter that Lee faces in the movie was the 7 foot tall basketball legend, Kareem Abdul Jabbar)
Why Should You Care?
Bruce Lee has many excellent quotes from his life and his philosophy and a simple Google search will throw up 100+ examples.
One of my favorites relates to his idea that a person should not limit themselves and should be open to ideas and different approaches.
“Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.”
Lee specifically applied this approach to his fighting style but it applies to all aspects of life.
In April 2013, I decided to hand in my notice in Barclays and take a career break. I had been in Barclays 3 years at that point, working as a relationship manager with some of the largest Irish companies but I wasn’t enjoying it at all.
I had been promoted after the first year and had been kicking ass for the majority of my time there but it didn’t feel like it was going anywhere or pushing me enough.
It was my partner who suggested the career break, as our daughter was due in that June, and I didn’t need any convincing.
To many on the outside (and my parents in particular!) it seemed like a crazy idea to be walking away from a ‘good job’ but I look back now and know it was the best decision I have ever made.
Without being open-minded to leaving, I would never had the fantastic experience with Future Finance or have ended up where I am now, working and investing in great founders trying to build great companies.
I have never been afraid to try new things or look at solutions in unusual places. But sometimes I can get bogged down in work/life and need to remind myself to be open to new ideas and new thoughts.
This is your reminder.
Be water, my friend.
Tell me why I’m wrong…
- Eoin
Left Field
How do I describe ‘Left Field’? It’s a place to put the content (newsletters/articles, etc) that we have amassed over recent weeks or previous years that really make us think or change our thinking on a particular topic. All the content will offer an alternative view of some topic in financial services, technology or sport (or a combination of all three!)
The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code
This is the absolutely fascinating story of how Bill Benter, a former physics student and long time student of gambling, did the impossible and wrote an algorithm that couldn’t lose at the horse racing track, earning Bill close to $1bn dollars.
Anyway, I won’t give away too much. Enjoy the article and feel free to get in touch to discuss more!
- Eoin
Can’t Sleep?
MoneyNeverSleeps podcast episode from this week:
Episode 104: Money Talks #23: European Startup Scaling and TransferWise in the Money
This week, Pete and Eoin take another look at the TikTok deal as a bellwether for change in how entrepreneurs outside the US look at the American market, a peek inside the now-profitable fintech unicorn TransferWise, the Nikola scam, the Yandex-Tinkoff tie-up, Y Combinator’s acid test….and Cobra Kai!
Podcast Recommendation: Highly recommend checking out ‘Sway’, the brand new podcast from one of our favorites, Kara Swisher. Every Monday and Thursday, Kara investigates power: who has it, who’s been denied it, and who dares to defy it.
Book Recommendation: I highly recommend the book, ‘The Signal and the Noise: The Art and Science of Prediction’ by Nate Silver. Nate is the New York Times political forecaster, who accurately predicted the results of every state in the 2012 US election, and he reveals how we can all develop better foresight in an uncertain world. From the stock market to the poker table, from earthquakes to the economy, he takes us on an enthralling insider's tour of the high-stakes world of forecasting, showing how we can all learn to detect the true signals amid a noise of data.
Article/Newsletter Recommendation: if you haven’t heard of it already, check out ‘Trapital’ by Dan Runcie. Every week Dan breaks down in detail the business of Hip-Hop with newsletters, deep-dive essays and a podcast.
This newsletter has been written by Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend
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