Warren Buffett Life Lesson: Learning from People Better Than One's Self Instead of Feeling Threatened

I'm afraid that Warren Edward Buffett's lessons are hardly taught in school (read here). Whether it's the use of cost averaging into an index fund (or equity fund) or how to win in stocks, I believe we need more of Buffett's lessons. Now, it's time for a bit more of Buffett's lessons. Just because I can't be Buffett doesn't mean I can't learn from him. Another lesson that I feel I should constantly learn from Buffett is, "Hang out with people better than you."

I once felt threatened when more intelligent people gave me friendly criticism. I felt I was insulted even when the person was trying to help me. How would Buffett respond to that? I should choose my friends carefully. I could remember when I started to make friends with intellectual types. Sure, I didn't enter the dean's list. However, I remembered hanging out with better people than I am helped me improve my bad study habits. I could remember my days in the Associate in Computer Science course and I befriended some of the dean's listers. Later, in my business administration days, it made sense for me to hang out with better people than the unruly crowd. Though, it was funny that these intelligent people I hung out with never thought I nearly didn't graduate fourth-year high school.

How did hanging out with more intelligent people help? I remembered I almost failed in basic programming. Rather than hang out with that arrogant information technology student--I befriended a highly intelligent guy. The difference was there that I did make it even if I never got accepted into the course I originally intended. Later, my study habits improved when I was hanging out with more intelligent people. Whether it's the summa cum laude or the organization president--I did get better. I tend to have bad social skills. I had a tendency to get distracted. Hanging out with such people started to be part of better growth. I may have never graduated cum laude but I'm glad that I finished on time.

However, some people choose to feel threatened. That pretty much differentiates the winner mindset from the loser mindset. The winner mindset could care less if somebody is better than him or her. The loser mindset tends to think that he or she has to be better than everyone. The winner mindset respects competition. The loser mindset hates competition. The winner mindset accepts losses. The loser mindset chooses to blame others. The winner mindset accepts healthy competition. The loser mindset seeks to compete with others only for gain. The winner mindset seeks not to impress others. The loser mindset tends to be about impressing others. If you're in the loser mindset then it's more than time to change that mindset to grow.

I used to say, "I'll never be Buffett! I'll never be John Gokongwei Jr.! I'll never be Bill Gates!" These guys can give me advice on how not to be poor. Sure, I'll never become the Oracle of Cebu City and I don't intend to be. However, could learn from the Oracle of Omaha to better improve myself. I may feel threatened but there's not a need to be. Instead, learning from the better people can be more rewarding than seeking to eliminate the competition.

Has Passing Down Hatred for Singapore (Because of Flor Contemplacion) Economically Helped the Philippines?

PEH.ph It was on March 17, 1995, when Flor Contemplacion was executed in Singapore. I've noticed that I've been addressing her as the late many times, even if the late is a statement that may be ony appropriate if the person has been recently deceased within 10 years. It's about to become 30 years since Flor was hanged in Singapore. However, generational hatred would've been passed down from 1995 up to 2025. Some people are still tagging #JusticeFor Flor. These traits may be passed down from the Batang 1990s to their children in this generation. It may also be passed down from parent to child, even if the child was born in the 2000s to 2010s. Somebody born in 2000s and beyond might even say, "Papa and mama told me about Flor Contemplacion! That's why I hate Singapore!" Talk about a child born in 2004 who's probably angry with Singapore, because his parents kept telling him about how Flor was supposedly "unjustly treated" over there. Some tim...

It's A Myth: First World Countries Self-Industrialized and Only Opened to FDI, After They Succeeded

The Straits Times As the battle for economic charter change goes on, another lie often spread: "First world countries, first industrialized by themselves, before they opened their economy to FDI." I'm seeing it ironically on Facebook. I tell them, "If you hate foreigners so much, why don't you get out of the Internet?" Some of them give replies like, "We're not hypocrites for badmouthing FDI on Facebook. We're simply forced to use imported equipment because foreigners unfairly own the means of production (read rebuttal here )." When I ask for their sources, they give sources like people from Bayan Muna (Nation First), the League of Filipino Students, the IBON Foundation, Kabataan Partylist (Youth Partylist), the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), and maybe even the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Most of these sources (not all) are the favorite sources of those going against badly needed economic cha-cha. I...

Why FDIs are Choosing COMMUNIST Vietnam Over DEMOCRATIC Philippines

China Daily HK Tomorrow is Ho Chi Minh's birthday. I would like to raise another FDI issue between democratic Philippines and Communist Vietnam. I remember with a certain woman I'll call Miss Clueless, to respect her privacy. Miss Clueless probably never saw a map, called FDI as Favored Duterte-China Investments, and I told her the bigger problem with the constitutional restrictions. Miss Clueless kept talking about that the late Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino III made us a tiger economy, regardless. However, I wrote that relying too much on Noynoy's economic legacy, is pretty much landing into the same fatal mistake that Nokia did . Relying on past successes is a surefire recipe for failure. As Miss Clueless blamed former president Rodrigo R. Duterte, the person still believes that people must change first before systems. I asked her, "Why are people choosing Communist Vietnam over the Philippines." The reason I heard from Miss Clueless was something...

Is Jollibee "Invading" South Korea Now as It's About to Acquire 70% of Shabu All Day?

I must confess that I find this new rather hilarious . It's because the word shabu is often associated with drugs. All the while, shabu shabu is a Korean delicacy! Well, I'm going to say that Jollibee Foods Corporation has now become a multinational buyer . Jollibee acquired 70% of Compost Coffee back in 2024 . This year, Jollibee as a multinational corporation is now acquiring Shabu All Day for PHP 5.1 billion pesos. Is Jollibee checkmating South Korea or is the Philippines conquering South Korea not just by OFWs but als through Jollibee? The answer is still no. From GMA News , we can read this article by Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas: Under the deal, Shabu All Day will be consolidated into Jollibee Foods Corp.’s (JFC) financial statements immediately upon completion of the acquisition for a total consideration equivalent to KRW127 billion. Completion of the transaction is subject to closing and financing conditions. The acquisition is expected to lead to a 2% jump in revenues, incre...

Why I Believe Economic Cha-Cha is Needed to Curb Exodus of Filipino Nurses

I was looking at the Facebook feeds and I found an interesting feed. It's from the Inquirer's Facebook page and I'm finding some interesting comments here . I'm really thinking about the economic ignorance of some of the comments. I won't be naming them out specifically. If I did, I'd probably have too much to mention. The level of ignorance can go with subsidies, wage increases, and better healthcare systems, but for some, when I mention open economies-- it seems that somet of them are more than willing to say, "But foreign investors will invade us!" type of talk. I'm getting fed up with such kind of talk. I would like to explain how economic charter change is badly needed if we expect more Filipino workers to stay in the country. One article I wrote some time ago was the myth of invading other countries through labor export and foreign investment . The proof that it's a myth is that the Philippines has been sending nurses abroad. If my estim...

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