Author Archives: Edward Brownlee

Follow a Compass

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Conventional wisdom says that to be successful, you should build a career plan: Map out where you are now, where you want to be, and the steps you’ll need to take to get there. However, Seth Godin, a bestselling author,  disagrees with that conventional wisdom since he never followed a predetermined path. His advice: Use “a compass and not a map.”

Your compass is your vision — who you aspire to be outside of a job title. Following it means pursuing decisions that make you happier and more content in the short term rather than following a pre-planned set of steps that may or may not eventually lead to your “dream job.”

Maps are great! They get you from point A to point B and help you stay on the right track! Yet, everyone’s got the same map, following the same routes, visiting the same sights. So, if you try to run your business or career using a map, your business or career will look, sound, and feel like any other out there. How do you stand out like that?

As a business owner and individual, what you need is a compass!

This won’t give you a step-by-step guide. No, it does something better! It points you towards your goal, leaving the path to reach it totally up to you. Unpredictable turns and unexpected terrains provide the chance to craft a unique journey. That’s what will make your business stand out!

Now, I’m not saying that you should throw away the map! Glance at it from time to time to see what routes work and which ones lead to nowhere. Just don’t follow it unthinkingly, or you might end up like some of the drivers who follow GPS without using their judgment – in a lake!:D

Your business needs that compass mentality. It’s not about retracing steps but charting your unique journey.

Those decisions may not always pan out, but you’ll learn enough from each failure to succeed eventually, Godin said.

Tesla – Electric Vehicles

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Tesla is planning to build another factory overseas, There is a demand across the globe by several nations wanting the plant to built.

Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, would like the next Tesla factory to be built in his country. Erdogan asked the Tesla CEO to put the eighth factory for its electric vehicles in Turkey.

Musk mentioned India as a possible place to make a low-cost electric vehicle. Tesla is currently building a factory in Mexico.

Saudi Arabia is also vying for the new plant. Attracting Tesla would be part of a push by Saudi Arabia to secure metals needed for EVs in Africa as the country tries to diversify its economy away from oil, reports Barron’s.

VO2 Max

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VO2 max is the single best indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness.

When it comes to measuring fitness and longevity, there is one number cardiovascular experts believe rule them all: VO2 max. VO2 max — or your oxygen uptake — shows how much oxygen your body absorbs and uses while working out. V is for volume, O2 is for oxygen and max is for maximum. Many health experts consider it the single best indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness, and research has found it correlates to longevity as well.

A person’s maximal oxygen consumption, also known as VO2 max—a measurement of how well the body takes in and uses oxygen while exercising at a high intensity—is a useful statistic to gauge fitness and cardiovascular health. A higher VO2 max score means the heart and lungs are transporting more oxygen-rich blood to the muscles, increasing energy production and maximizing athletic performance.

The most accurate VO2 max tests are done in a laboratory where you are hooked up to a mask that measures oxygen consumption as you exercise. VO2 max is measured in milliliters of oxygen a minute per kilogram of body weight. The more oxygen you burn, the fitter you are.

Activity level Average VO2 max
Sedentary 27-30 mL/kg/min
Active 33.0-36.9 mL/kg/min
Very active ≤ 77 mL/kg/min

Source:  Cleveland Clinic.

If you are on a treadmill, you are told to walk or run faster and faster until your oxygen consumption stops rising. If you go beyond this point, you will increasingly be using anaerobic energy—which doesn’t burn oxygen—and you will have trouble sustaining it for long periods.

References:

  1. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-vo2-max-and-how-to-calculate-it/
  2. https://www.barrons.com/articles/vo2-max-test-increase-fitness-age-128c53cd

The Cockroach Theory

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At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.

She started screaming out of fear.

With a panic-stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but …it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.

In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt.

When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood I should not react in life.

I should always respond.

The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of.

Always attempt to respond to situations and never just react !

Be HAPPY not because Everything is RIGHT in your Life.

Be HAPPY because your Attitude and Mindset towards Everything in your Life is Right!

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

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September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

  • Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States.
  • In 2021, there were 48,183 Americans that died by suicide.
  • In 2021, there were an estimated 1.70 Million suicide attempts.
  • On average there are 132 suicide per day.

Imagine if we could walk together toward a world without suicide. One in which we all have a greater understanding of mental health. One in which we all know how to be there for each other, including ourselves, when someone is struggling.

Artwork by Devon Blow

Together we can make a difference and break the stigmas around mental health, helping to prevent another person from taking their own life. Suicide prevention starts with all of us.

Morningstar’s 33 Undervalued Stocks

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33 Undervalued Stocks for Q3 2023, according to Morningstar

Here’s the list of Morningstar’s top underpriced stock picks for the third quarter of 2023.

  1. Albemarle ALB
  2. Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B
  3. Blackstone BX
  4. Citigroup C
  5. Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH
  6. Conagra Brands CAG
  7. Corteva CTVA
  8. Curaleaf CURLF
  9. Dover DOV
  10. Dow DOW
  11. Duke Energy DUK
  12. Entergy ETR
  13. Federal Realty Investment Trust FRT
  14. Hanesbrands HBI
  15. HF Sinclair DINO
  16. Illumina ILMN
  17. Jacobs Solutions J
  18. Kraft Heinz KHC
  19. Moderna Therapeutics MRNA
  20. NiSource NI
  21. Park Hotels & Resorts PK
  22. Pinterest PINS
  23. Salesforce CRM
  24. SLB SLB
  25. Stericycle SRCL
  26. Teradyne TER
  27. TC Energy TRP
  28. Tyson Foods TSN
  29. VF VFC
  30. Ventas VTR
  31. Verizon Communications VZ
  32. Walt Disney DIS
  33. Zimmer Biomet ZBH

Source:  https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/33-undervalued-stocks-2

Stock picker factors:

  • Stock price is cheap relative to intrinsic value,
  • Company pays investor to wait
  • Company ability to repurchase stock at a reasonable price
  • Stock must be cheaply price (ROE, ROIC, P/E, P/Sales, P/FCF)
  • Buy something at three-time cash flow and five percent dividend yield.

Source:  https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/33-undervalued-stocks-2

The Passing Away of the WWII Generation

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Behind every living person lies a great story waiting to be told. One of life’s greatest tragedies is dying without telling your story. Regrettably, the stories and experiences of many African American WWII veterans are going untold.

The Passing Away of the WWII Generation
Every single day in the calendar year 2023, World War II veterans’ stories and personal experiences are disappearing forever. Yielding to the inevitable aging process and time, the men and women who served, fought, and won the great conflict are now in their mid-90s or older. The youngest veteran is estimated to be 95 years young.
According to US Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, 167,284 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were alive in 2022.
The book ‘African American Experience During World War II’ provides the stories and experiences of the 1.6 million African American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who served and fought during World War II.

China is No Longer Investable

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Investing capital in China is both risky and is wildly unpredictable given the country’s lack of transparency, weak accounting standards, absence of the rule of law, and poor regulatory oversight.

Worse, the fate of the Chinese economy and business environment is almost entirely dependent on the domestic and global aspirations of a single man, Chinese authoritarian President Xi Jinping.

China is not a democracy and does not abide by the rule of law. Chinese Communist government’s sweeping control over the economy puts businesses, especially American-based firms, in a delicate position in trying to avoid the ire of President Xi and the Chinese government.

Hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, founder of Hayman Capital Management and long time critic of Communist China, has long proclaimed, “You have to say, each country run by maybe a despotic authoritarian should be re-reviewed and maybe not invested in.”

Bass cautioned against investing in Chinese stocks. He highlighted the risk of accounting fraud due to a lack of financial audits in China, and the prospect of further regulatory crackdowns on Chinese companies in the U.S. and crackdowns on American companies in China.

References:

  1. https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/07/08/chinese-stocks-are-crashing-buy-the-dip-or-stay-aw/