One of the habits I’m building as part of Serenity through Sweat is continuing education. Reading materials that are intellectually stimulating, whether it is physical education, history, finance, trying to balance both pleasure reading as well as books of substance. With a contract negotiation ongoing at work, I figured it would be a good time to dive into economics, and I had heard about John Maynard Keynes and Keynsian economics, so I figured I would give it a try.
I’ll say first off, that I am not particularly mathematically inclined, and a large portion of Keynes’s formulas from The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money went right over my head. The book was a beautifully written compilation of intricate math formulas, new (at the time of publication) economic theories, and scathing critiques of his fellow economic theorists, all backed up with his aforementioned formulas.
Since the book was written in 1936, there is an eloquence in the prose that doesn’t exist anymore, but some of the critiques remind me of the sensational internet “burns” that we are accustomed to now, (albiet with much better facts and research)
I was also surprised how much I was able to take away from the book outside of purely economic information. Keynes, in order to form his economic theories, had to be a keen observer of human behavior. After all, the theories must be able to hold true not only in the vacuum of an academic text, but also in the messiness that is human civilization. And, despite the many changes our world has gone through since 1936 much of that observed human behavior and psychology still rings true.
Keynes writes of picking stocks “Even outside the world of finance, Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering what average opinion believes average opinion to be, and this national weakness finds its nemesis in the stock market”
This observation on picking stocks in the 30’s is extremely profetic decades later with the rise of social media. It is easy to be concerned with what we think works for everyone else, rather than what works and is best for ourselves. From fad diets, to trendy exercises, to fashion, how often are we true to ourselves, and how often are we more concerned with what the average American thinks? (As an aside this is a slippery slope that leads to Faking the Funk)
Regarding the long term investor Keynes writes, “For it is in the essence of his behavior that he should be eccentric, unconventional, and rash in the eyes of average opinion. If he is successful that will only confirm the belief in his rashness; and if in the short term he is unsuccessful, which is very likely, he will not receive much mercy. Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally.”
When it comes to Serenity through Sweat, we are long term investors in ourselves. It is easy to get caught up in what average opinion believes is the best path forward, but much more rewarding to blaze our own trail and succeed unconventionally.
Thanks for joining me, and stay sweaty my friends.
