TIP059: STEPHEN COVEY’S 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

W/ PRESTON & STIG

30 October 2015

In this episode, Preston and Stig explain how they now look at the current market conditions after the best month for stocks in 4 years. Preston and Stig will also be talking about their favorite book recommendation for students and potential business leaders: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that have sold more than 25 million copies.

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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • Why Preston, Stig, and Vanguard Founder Jack Bogle think the expected return in the stock market is 4%.
  • Why the historic stock market rally in October 2015 doesn’t change Preston and Stig’s fundamental opinion about the market.
  • A brief discussion of each of the 7 habits of highly effective people.
  • Which of the 7 habits that is the most important.

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TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

Preston Pysh  01:04

Hey, how’s everybody doing out there? This is Preston Pysh. I’m your host for The Investor’s Podcast. as usual, I’m accompanied by my co-host, Stig Brodersen, out in Denmark.

Preston Pysh  01:13

Today, we got a book that we’ve summarized and we’re going to be talking about, and it’s a really popular book. The name of the book is “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” And this is written by Stephen Covey. This one’s going on to probably set a lot of records as far as a book sale. So, this is a really popular book, if you’ve never heard of it. It gives out some really, really concrete guidance.

Preston Pysh  01:39

So, before we get to the book, what we’re going to really discuss is the current market conditions because Stig and I haven’t done this for a while. There have been some really interesting things happening in the market. It was funny. I checked on the forum and for anybody that knows me personally, they know that I’ve had a very, very busy schedule lately. I really have not had a lot of time to focus on my investments, the podcasts, and things like that. Even though we’re rolling out episodes, I’m really struggling to keep pace with my current schedule these days.

Preston Pysh  02:10

So, one of the comments on the forum was hilarious. One of the people in the forum said, “Preston’s been really quiet lately.” And I love the comment because somebody was calling me out because of how the market has been. Stig and I are recording this episode on the 30th of October, just because some of our episodes had a little bit of a lag. Maybe a week or two.

Preston Pysh  02:31

At the end of October, it was probably one of the strongest months on record in the history of the stock exchange. You can look up these facts here. I don’t know if it was the strongest month on record, but it’s very close to being the strongest record month. To be honest with you folks, if I had to call that, or in August after we saw the market make a 10% correction in August, I would have never, in a million years, thought that we would have such a strong October.

Preston Pysh  03:04

And most of that opinion was based on the fact that I thought that the third-quarter earnings were going to come in and be very weak. That was going to drive multiple slower, which is how stocks are traded. But we saw our expectations basically play out, concerning the earnings. The earnings came in extremely weak, which was a result of the dollar, which Stig and I have been talking about for a while.

Preston Pysh  03:25

But the market went in the exact opposite direction. So, what’s important here is that we have no idea what’s going to happen in the short term. We can expect certain things like we expected the dollar to be extremely strong and to have an enormous impact on earnings in the United States. That happened. We saw that play out.

Preston Pysh  03:45

But what we didn’t see was the subsequent expectation that we had, and this was very clear that you have to understand that’s an expectation. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen. We don’t know that was going to happen, but we expected multiples to trade lower with those lower earnings calls. You didn’t see that happen.

Preston Pysh  04:01

What you really saw play out, and this is the way that the market reacted to the circumstances as the dollar got weaker, because the Federal Reserve made the decision to basically extend their dovishness on raising rates, and they kicked it out to November. We now know that they’re going to kick it out to December. So, that change in the Federal Reserve policy made the dollar weaker, which then changed the expectations for the coming quarter, where people made the market go much higher.

Preston Pysh  04:32

So, that was something that I can tell you that totally would have… If I was betting on odds, I wouldn’t totally bet against that. But that just shows you how you cannot make decisions based on what the Feds are going to do next or any of that stuff.

Preston Pysh  04:49

What you have to make decisions on is what yield am I going to get based on the current market prices? And that’s how Stig and I have been talking about this from day one. So, whenever we look at the current market conditions, and we say the Shiller PE is at 26 or 27. That means we expect that you could get a 4% return by owning stocks or equities in the US market specifically. That’s the thing that people need to know. That’s what you need to prepare for. That’s where we’re saying, we think that there’s risk in the current market conditions. That is not a big return at all. You have to be prepared to get that return over the next 10 years if you’re buying into the stock market today.

Preston Pysh  05:30

That’s what we’re saying. That’s what we’re pushing. We don’t know if it’s going to go up or down. We’ve been saying that since day one. But you do have to realize that there is an enormous risk whenever you’re buying stocks, and the prices are high because that means your yield is actually lower.

Stig Brodersen  05:47

Yeah. Interestingly, you talk about yield because of Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. He has been talking about a 4% yield in the years to come. He has this little formula that he uses. He’s saying that he starts with the present dividend yield. This is around 2% at the moment, then he adds the expected earnings growth, and he estimated that to be approximately 5%. So, that would be a 7% total. Then he’s looking at the current PE ratio, and he’s talking about the current PE, and not the Shiller PE. But he’s saying that’s around 20 at the moment, and he assumes they will come down to the story average, which is around 15. So, he deducts 3% for what he calls speculative returns.

Stig Brodersen  06:29

So, he has this very simple equation, which is 7% minus 3%. If you’re saying “If you invest your money in the stock market right now, you can expect 4%.” then he says, “Remember there’s a thing called inflation. I know that we don’t have that much right now. But remember, we have a tax that is called inflation, aside from that you have to pay normal tax, of course.” The thing was very interesting, to hear that from Jack Bogle because he is really a gentleman who knows what he’s talking about.

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Preston Pysh  06:57

And that’s another thing that we’ve been saying this whole time. It is we’re telling you other people’s opinions. So, whenever Carl Icahn comes out with a video, and he puts it out there that he thinks the normal investor should be in cash. We tell you guys those things. We’re not necessarily saying that’s 100% our opinion. We’re showing you other billionaires’ opinions on where the market is at.

Preston Pysh  07:17

And So, I really want people to understand that although the market had one of the best months on record, in the history of the market in October of 2015, that does not change my opinion whatsoever on the amount of risk that I think exists in the current market conditions at all. In fact, I think it makes it actually stronger to have the opinion that I had before. So, I’m not changing my opinion. I’m looking at it purely from a return standpoint. So, this is something that I really want to discuss with people.

Preston Pysh  07:46

So, when I take a look at the time now, which is the end of October 2015. What I want to do with my cash flow because that’s how you got to treat this. How am I going to invest cash flow that exists at this point, right now? There are two different paths you can go to. I can create assets with that cash flow, or I can buy assets with that cash flow. Those are really the two paths you can take.

Preston Pysh  08:15

So, whenever I look at, okay, is there anything out there that I can create? Can I create a new product? Can I create a new service? That’s me thinking from an operational standpoint. How can I invest my money in that respect? Then the other option is what assets, that somebody else created, can I buy? And what price are they charging for that? And So, that’s whenever you look at stocks, that’s whenever you look at bonds, that’s whenever you look at any other asset that somebody else created, and you’re asking yourself, what price are they asking me to purchase this at? And what yield do I expect to receive?

Preston Pysh  08:49

Okay, and So, that’s where my decision making occurs at any given point in time. So, as I look at that condition right now at the end of October 2015, and I look at the stock market, I say you know what? I get about a 4% return. I’m talking collectively about the S&P 500. There are other individual stocks out there that will give me a higher return than that. I mean, a perfect example of that would be the oil industry, although I talk about it on the show that I’m a bear because I think, in the short term, it’s going to go down or whatever.

Preston Pysh  09:18

In the long term, and that’s really how you need to look at this as an investor, there are stocks out there that’ll give you a higher than a 4% return. That’s really in the oil industry. That’s in the commodities industry. That’s where I think those picks are located. Now, what return you’d have to really go in and do discount cash flows and things like that.

Preston Pysh  09:37

But collectively, talking really big picture, you’re going to get a 4% return by buying stocks at this point. Then I look at what am I going to get in bonds? I’m going to get about a 2% return by owning a 10-year Treasury. A little higher if I go into a 30 year, okay? So, that’s a lower return. Then if cash… So, if I continue to hold cash, what return is that going to give me? Well, it’s going to give me anything. In fact, that’s going to be impacted by inflation. But inflation is extremely low. It’s at one of the lowest points that you’ve seen in American history. So, it’s not going to get eaten up all that much. So, as I look at all those different options, that’s where my decision making is occurring.

Stig Brodersen  10:15

Yeah, I’m Preston, I really like that you talk about the big picture here because I think we’ve been running this podcast just a little over a year. Things that don’t necessarily change when the year when it comes to the stock market. Again, the real big picture. We’re talking like 5, 10, 20 years, and we put out a podcast every week because we love talking about stocks and the stock market.

Stig Brodersen  10:37

It’s really important that you filter out the noise. So, if you, like me and like Preston, you are reading the daily newspaper, and you’re probably listening to other podcasts as well. You got the impression that you need to do something all the time. Like, So, for instance, you just heard the new earnings from Apple or you saw the new earnings report from Google. Well, things don’t change from quarter to quarter. That’s why Warren Buffett talks So, much about if the stock market was closed for five years, what would you do? And I’m going to say that if I look at the stock market now and look at a year ago, I was more invested a year ago in the stock market, but not much has really changed. I mean, yes, we’ve seen slight changes in the Dow and the S&P 500. But basically, I agree, and we might do another 52 episodes. We were sitting here and say, “Well, the yield is 4%.” And I don’t know what happened to the stock market until then. But that’s really what I’m looking at. I’m not looking at this from week to week, because the moment I start doing that, I know I will lose in the game called stock investing.

Preston Pysh  11:40

Yeah, it might look like we look at it from week to week just because we run a show week to week. We’ve got to talk about something and I think that that’s really important for people to understand. That is when we’re running a show and we’re talking about these things, it doesn’t mean that our opinions really changed that much. I have the exact same opinion as Stig, where I see the market today, I’m definitely much more cautious than I was a year ago, just because of the way things changed. They turned off QE, that was a really big thing for me. The multiples are pretty much at the same level as far as what I expect to get out as a yield.

Preston Pysh  12:13

But I really wanted to stress this point for people So, that they understand my thought process. I am constantly, at any given point in time asking myself, what yield and what return am I going to get by owning asset class X? And what yield am I going to get by owning asset class Y? And how much risk am I willing to assume? So, whenever I would say, let’s look at the equity market, and we think that you’re going to get a 4% yield over the next 10 years? What’s my downside risk in the short term, mid-term around there? I think that there’s a lot of downside risk. I think that the downside risk could be 30 to 50% in the midterm timeframe.

Preston Pysh  12:50

So, those are some of the things that we’re talking about. Those are some of the things that we’re thinking about. I think it’s really important to highlight those. This thing could run clear up to 20,000. It could be down at 10,000  within six months. I have no idea. But I do know this, as those dynamic situations would occur, we will continue to tell you what we think the yield is based on those changes.

Preston Pysh  13:13

So, let’s say the market falls through the floor and it goes way down. We will then be saying things like, “Yeah, I think you’re going to get a 10% yield based on the current market prices.” If the market goes way high, we might start saying, “Oh, we think you’re going to get a 3% yield based on current market prices.” That’s the way we’re looking at it. We’re looking at it from a pricing mechanism as time changes and conditions change. So, that’s really important for you to understand as an investor.

Preston Pysh  13:38

The patience piece of this is just truly one of the greatest assets that a person can possess. you look at great investors and a lot of these billionaires, they are So, patient, they know that the underhand pitch is coming, and they’re waiting for it. Let me tell you, they’re not getting sucked into a sucker’s rally by no shape of the imagination here. They’re waiting for the underhand pitch. They’re going to blast it out of the park when it comes. So, that’s something else to understand as well.

Stig Brodersen  14:04

I know that there’s a lot of micro investors out there. When I say micro investors, I’m talking about the picking of your stocks and looking at financial statements just like Preston and I. But Preston, I, we also love to talk about macroeconomics. So, we might be saying, as the situation is right now, China just cut interest rates for the sixth time since last November. you might be thinking, “Oh, So, what does that do to my yield? And how can I interpret that? And what does it mean to the dollar and all these  things?”

Stig Brodersen  14:31

And I think it’s interesting, I’d love to talk about it and a lot to explain what I think will happen. But basically, if I do have to revert what Preston was saying before, you need to look at this big picture and talk about what is the deal. because Europe is doing something with QE or China’s cutting interest rates, well, if you holding S&P 500 in your 401k, don’t think about it. It’s not that important to you. It doesn’t really change anything, but if you want to learn or really understand the market mechanism, that’s really what we’re here for. Definitely not tell you what to do or what not to do in the short term.

Preston Pysh  15:07

Yeah, I think for a lot of people, they might be surprised to hear me say that. I think Warren Buffett is one of the greatest reactors of all time. He’s totally reacting to the conditions that he served. I think when people call him the Oracle of Omaha, they send out this connotation that he’s predicting things and he’s really not predicting much. He’s really a great reactor to the conditions that he served. As the market goes way down, he’s like, “Okay, now I’m getting this yield. I’m reacting to the conditions that I’m served. I’m going to capitalize on that.” And that’s really important for people to understand that he’s really being very reactive to what everyone else is doing. “Okay, now they’re moving into this that drops this yield down, that’s a buy. This over here is now a bad yield. So, I’m going to stay away from that.” And that’s really how he’s looking at things.

Preston Pysh  15:56

So, not to drone on, but right now what we’re going to do is we’re going to transition into the book. So, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” This is one of those books that if you are in college, you’re in high school or you’re a young investor, and you’re wanting to maybe be a business leader someday. This, in my opinion, is one of the most vital reads that a person could ever have because this is going to give you the foundation that you need to make great decisions as an individual.

Preston Pysh  16:25

This book not only applies to business, but it also just applies to just general, everyday life, and how to be a better person. I can’t endorse this book enough. I know I say that about a lot of books, but this is truly one of those books that if you read it, you will become a better person.

Preston Pysh  16:46

What Stig and I are going to do is we’re going to go through these seven habits that he outlines in the book, and just briefly discuss it. You know, a lot of this stuff might sound pretty obvious to people, but sometimes the most obvious stuff that you hear or you read is the hardest to put into application. I think that’s where people listening to this and people who read this book are going to have the greatest challenge. That is not comprehending it or getting through the book, it’s going to be actually applying what they read and what they learn, and intuitively know is the right thing to do. So, without further delay, let’s go ahead and break this down.

Preston Pysh  17:24

So, the way that Covey goes through this book is he breaks it into three different categories, with seven habits, amongst those three categories. So, the first category that he has is titled Private Victory. This Private Victory category has the first three habits inside of it.

Preston Pysh  17:42

According to Covey, an independent person is proactive, centered on correct principles, driven by values, and capable of organizing and executing around priorities of integrity. To achieve this, he says that we have to be proactive, and that’s habit number one. He’s saying that these highly effective people have to be proactive by taking full responsibility for themselves, and for understanding that their behaviors and actions are the results of all their choices combined.

Preston Pysh  18:13

I think it’s really important that whenever you think about what a human does all day long. If your essence, your decision-maker, at any given point in time, if you could hit the pause button and crack somebody’s head open, you know what they’d be doing, they’d be making a decision, they’d be making a choice. They’d be choosing to be doing a podcast, they’d be choosing between getting in their car and driving somewhere.

Preston Pysh  18:40

And what people don’t realize is at any given point in time, you’re choosing between really an infinite number of possibilities. For example, I could say, “Hey, Stig, I’m going to stop recording. I’m going to go out of my car. I’m going to get on the plane and I’m going to fly to Hawaii for impromptu vacation today.” I could do that. I know that sounds totally random but what I’m trying to express to you is that at any given moment in time, you have an infinite possibility of choices that you can make.

Preston Pysh  19:08

What a lot of people don’t realize is the get polarized and they think of things in binary. They often think, my choices to do the podcast or not do the podcast. But what you really have is an infinite array of choices at your disposal. When we’re talking about this first habit, we’re talking about the ability to make a decision and be proactive in the infinite array of choices that exist.

Stig Brodersen  19:31

I love that you say that we always make a decision. I think a lot of people, especially when it comes to stock investing, can’t just say, “Well, I don’t know what to do. So, I’m probably not going to do anything.” But guys, it’s a decision. It’s not a neutral decision saying, “Okay, I don’t like making mistakes because I don’t do anything.” It is an active decision not to do anything and it might be the right one. It might be the right one not to do anything, but you always, as Preston was saying, make a decision.

Stig Brodersen  20:01

He’s talking about two simple concepts. The first one he called the Circle of Concern. The second one he calls the Circle of Influence. We all choose to be either one of those two circles. The way to think about these circles are like, what can you do about it? Do you think as an owner or as an employee? And if you think like an owner, as you should, you’re thinking about what can I influence? Too many people think about what they can’t influence, but he’s saying is that it’s okay to start small. What can you influence in your own life, what is important to you? And as you start doing that, you will also experience that your circle of influence expands and you can influence more and more things in your life. Again, by being proactive. He’s bringing this very interesting example of if you want to see if you are or people around you are in one of those two circles. He’s saying that which words do they choose? Do they choose words like “I will.”? And let’s look at the alternatives. That’s really if you’re in the Circle of Influence. Or are they saying, “I don’t know if this is really right what I’m doing? I try to do something that’s probably going to work.” That’s really when you’re in the Circle of Concern. That’s where you don’t want to be.

Preston Pysh  21:19

So, let’s go ahead and move on to the second habit, which is under this first veil of Private Victories. That second habit is Begin With the End in Mind. I really like this because this is talking about where in the world is it that we’re going, and what’s my mission and what’s my goal? And really writing those out.

Preston Pysh  21:40

So, in the book, he provides this example where he went to this hotel, and people were working at the hotel and the service at this hotel was just extraordinary. He was asking certain people at the hotel, where is this at? And the person would literally come from behind the counter, walk him over there and say, “Sir, this is where it’s at. If you need me to assist you in any other way, just let me know.” And he just really owned the situation.

Preston Pysh  22:05

So, Covey was so impressed by the way that this hotel ran its management and its service that he went back. He said, “What makes you guys so successful? Why are you guys so service-oriented? Why are you So, good at it?” And the guy took him back behind where the employees were working. He said, “Look up at this sign right here. This is our mission statement for the hotel.” And he read the mission statement. How did you develop this mission statement? And that gentleman said, “Well, every employee in the hotel got together and we developed the mission statement collectively.” Covey was very impressed. So, then he started talking to the individual. He says, “You know, what? If you go down to even the team level, the lower management level, each one of them has their own mission statements, which they developed themselves and they’re all nested within the larger mission statement.”

Preston Pysh  22:52

And what he was really getting at with this story was how important it is to begin with the end in mind by knowing what’s my end state. What is it that I’m trying to achieve here? So, this is really the second habit. This is what he’s talking about by writing the scripts of your lives, looking first at the outcomes, the ends that we want to achieve. Then envisioning the end, and how you help get to that point and what the means are to achieve it.

Stig Brodersen  23:18

Then he talks about the third habit, and that is called Put First Things First. The way to think about this, according to Covey, is the difference between what is urgent and what is important. What he’s talking about is that way too many people thinking about this is urgent. This is something I need to do. But it’s not important, meaning it’s not something that would really develop them as people.

Stig Brodersen  23:40

Let me just come with a really down to earth example here. So, I am a professor and I have a ton of students. unfortunately, I see way too many students sit and text during classes, which is not okay in my classes, just so for all my students. So, what I’m telling them is that this is not important. I have never ever gotten any chat messages on Facebook, which I couldn’t check an hour later. They’re completely confusing what is urgent and what is important.

Stig Brodersen  24:11

What Covey’s saying that you should be focusing on what is actually not urgent, but really what is important to you. So, for me, that would be something like developing new products from a business. That’s really important to achieve my goals.

Stig Brodersen  24:25

Now, the interesting thing is this. If I don’t sit down today and develop new products from a business, nothing will change tomorrow. That’s where a lot of people are mistaken because if nothing is changed tomorrow, why shouldn’t I just be sitting or texting, checking Facebook, whatnot? but in the long run, you will penalize yourself for not focusing on what’s important and I think that was probably my most important takeaway from this habit of Put First Things First.

Preston Pysh  24:53

And I say this phrase a lot on the show, what is the critical variables? And the reason I like saying that is because really gets at this point of Put First Things First. How are you trying to achieve that second habit of your end state? critical variables are those things that are vitally important and critical to the success in the end state of what you’re trying to achieve. I think that that’s what Stig is explaining here is let’s say you’re in class, yeah, you can send a text or you can be checking your Facebook or whatever it is. But you can do that an hour later. You need to prioritize, you need to figure out what’s the critical variable for me to get an A on the test. Well, if I listen to my teacher, during this portion of it, my odds of getting an A on the tests have just gone up by a much higher probability.

Preston Pysh  25:39

So, find those critical variables. Find those things that are going to help you achieve your end state. Those are your means to successfully lead to the ends that you want to achieve. So, that was really the first of three categories is those first three habits that we just discussed.

Preston Pysh  25:55

The next category that we have here is titled Public Victories. This encompasses habits four, five, and six. So, the first habit within this public victory category is Think, Win-Win. I totally agree with this habit. I’m sure if you’ve listened to any number of our podcasts, you’re going to know that Stig and I have a very strong opinion of what a win-win is. It really comes back to our firm importance on the idea of reciprocity in the law of reciprocity, but I’m going to throw this over to Stig to have him explain some of this.

Stig Brodersen  26:30

I think the most important takeaway is that if something is not a win-win, you should not even start building a relationship with that person. I think way too many people think in terms of, if I win, then someone else has to lose. Covey actually brings this horrible example from a good friend that he had, who actually sold his $8,000 car for $50 because he was getting divorced. That way, you don’t have to hand out $25 to his soon to be ex-wife. Simply because it was not about winning, it was about for her to lose. He didn’t mind losing himself. He just wanted another person to lose. The minute you start to think in terms of win-lose, whether or not you’re conscious about it or not, you bring your ego into it. That’s not how to be effective. You have to remove your ego and think about how is this good for both of us.

Preston Pysh  27:22

All right, So, that was habit four. The next one under this Public Victory category is habit number five, which is Seek First to Understand Then Be Understood. When you talk about this, this is So, important because what he’s really saying here is, “I need to understand the other person I’m interacting with, way before I need to understand my own position.” And this for a lot of people is the exact opposite of how they operate. I mean, literally the exact opposite. Most people are well, “This is my interest, this is what I want.” And they don’t, even for a second, consider the other person’s vantage point. Let alone put the other person’s vantage point first. That’s what he’s getting at here.

Preston Pysh  28:04

He’s saying, “When you’re having an interaction, you’re having an exchange with another person. It is So, important to say, what is it that they want? What vantage point are they looking at this situation from? And let me not just understand it, but let me internalize it. Let me try to place myself in that situation.” And what this really comes down to is a word called empathy.

Preston Pysh  28:26

I think empathy is one of the most important things for a person to possess, to become intelligent. I think empathy and knowledge and intelligence are So, closely aligned that I almost use the words interchangeably because it’s that important. I am definitely not the best person at this, but I can tell you that I know that it’s vitally important to be empathetic and to try to understand the other person’s vantage. How much of any little bit of success that I’ve had has been a direct result of being empathetic and trying to understand the other person’s position… because you can maneuver in a completely different way. you can understand and capitalize on experiences because you understand the other person’s vantage point.

Preston Pysh  29:10

I know in writing we’ve written a couple of books. So, in writing, one of the first things they tell you is to know your audience. That’s really what this is. That is when you’re going to write something, So, many people write for their own ego or write for themselves, and they don’t even consider who’s my audience who’s reading this, what’s their vantage point? And when you do that, and you cater to that, you’ll be amazed at how successful and how highly effective you’ll become.

Stig Brodersen  29:34

Yeah, when you listen to someone, do you agree or disagree? Is that your first thought? And then the second thought is that do you think about what to reply to? And I was thinking, “Yes, and yes.” And obviously, because there is no such thing as the world like there is Stig’s world and there is Preston’s world. There was no like one objective truth. Before you can even start to connect with another person, you have to understand their view of the world first. I’m definitely guilty as charged when he’s talked about all the mistakes we make when we communicate with other people. He’s saying there were So, many courses in communication, couldn’t come up with a course in listening. That was basically what he was talking about with this habit.

Preston Pysh  30:20

I’ll tell you doing this podcast is probably one of the best examples that I’ve been able to noticeably see myself of not trying to understand the other person’s opinion first because sometimes we record the podcast, we go back and we edit it. Whenever I’m listening to myself, there are times when I’m like interrupting people, and they’re making a fantastic point and I’m thinking about things only from Preston’s vantage point of what my next question was going to be or whatever. I get So, mad at myself whenever I would hear that in the editing process or just going back and listening to the tape, especially when somebody has like such an amazing point and I’m like throwing something totally in a different direction. It’s like why did you do that? Let them talk. That’s exactly what we’re getting at this. You really need to understand the other person first. Let them talk, stop trying to come up with your counterpoint or your changing opinion. now in the future when people hear me do that, they’re going to be like Preston’s not obeying habit number five. He’s just thinking about himself.

Preston Pysh  31:20

All right, So, habit number six is the last habit under the Public Victory category. This is called Synergize.

Stig Brodersen  31:27

So, the sixth habit is synergizing. That’s all about how to value the differences you have with other people because it talks about the importance of not thinking, “I need to find people that exactly like me,” because you can’t develop if you don’t meet people that have differences in opinion. Now, that doesn’t mean that you have to be very, very different. It means that you need to have the same first three habits. He’s saying that if you are looking at people that as you are proactive if they put first things first and they begin with the end in mind. If you had those three habits locked down, it really doesn’t matter how different you think about the world, that will only help you in terms of your personal growth. He talks about how synergy can really make things happen that you couldn’t do by yourself. I mean, I think we all know this very simple example when *one on one is three. That’s really the concept he’s talking about here.

Preston Pysh  32:24

And I think, just really fast. I think that one of the important things about synergy is just having great communication skills. People that can listen, people that can communicate effectively really have this ability to synergize their teams and create this flow of information amongst people. People that lack communication skills and maybe create an environment of fear around them, they just really have a hard time creating that environment with habit six.

Preston Pysh  32:51

So, let’s move on to the last one. This is the final habit. This is in its own category, which is the Renewal category and the title of it is Sharpen the Saw. What he’s getting at with this is becoming more effective as a long-term process. It requires an ongoing commitment to renew yourself, your body, your heart, your mind, your spirit, all those things to actually put all this stuff into practice and to do it effectively. To do it in a way that compounds and grows upon itself as time matures. That’s the hard part. That’s really the hard part. Because here you are reading this book and you’re saying, “You know what, I agree with all that stuff. I agree with all those habits. That’s fantastic information.” And then three months from now, it goes by the wayside and you forget about it.

Preston Pysh  33:41

And So, I think that’s what he’s getting at with habit number seven, Sharpen the Saw, is get the tool out, sharpen it up, reread. That’s one of the reasons you guys need to sign up for our list is because you can get this executive summary. You can reference this. It’s a couple of page documents, you can go back and you can quickly reference this that reinforces these ideas and you can remember it. It’s something that you could do quarterly or whatever you would think would be led to your most effectiveness. referencing this and sharpening your saw, So, to speak.

Stig Brodersen  34:15

It’s the most important one because it’s the foundation for really maintaining the six other habits. Really nothing more important than for you to still compound your knowledge. I got to say that from reading a book a week, I hear, especially for one, some of those, let’s call them personal development, personal growth books, a lot of the principles are really the same. But even though I read perhaps two of them a month, I still benefit from them, because I find myself not applying what I’ve just learned, if I’m still forgetting what I just heard. Sharpening is always really to develop yourself and to do something that you don’t use to do to come out of your comfort zone.

Preston Pysh  34:54

Yeah because it’s the one that leads the long-term success and when you read this, you have short term successes because you buy into it. But how do you put measures in place that effectively guide you to keep going down this path of effectiveness? You know, if I was going to provide an example… So, I have a son, he’s three years old, and we go on walks all the time, where we walk up the street and there’s a gentleman that lives a couple of houses down. He has these trains outside and my son loves it. I mean, absolutely loves to go on these walks to go over to Mr. Jim’s house and see the trains. I’ll come home and my son will be like “Mr. Jim’s! Mr. Jim’s!” And so, when we’re walking up to Mr. Jim’s, it’s probably a half a mile away. on that walk, my son just wants to keep diverting and going off the path, literally off the path, and just gets confused and goes over there, goes over here.

Preston Pysh  35:49

I look at that as such a symbolic reference to knowledge, creating habits for yourself that you actually want to retain, and you have that parent that is guiding, that individual saying, “Now you need to stay on the sidewalk, we’re going to walk down here. Remember, you want to go see Mr. Jim. You don’t want to go chase after the rabbit.” Those things.

Preston Pysh  36:10

I know in my personal life, reading and studying, and doing these two books a month, is really that parental guidance for me to try to stay on that path, and to try to guide me and not get too distracted. So, that’s really important. It’s almost like a lifeline for me to continue to develop my education and to read self-help books. Not because I’m getting necessarily new information, it’s reinforcing and creating those habits, So, that it gets to a point where it’s just automatic.

Stig Brodersen  36:43

So, really, my final point here to end up this book is when Covey talks about developing the habits. He’s saying that the Chinese bamboo tree doesn’t show anything in the first four years. I think that’s how he needs to think about habits. You might not see short term results, but in the long run, you will see the most beautiful development you can ever think of. While I know that sounded really non-Stig like to say something like that, but that’s a really beautiful quote.

Preston Pysh  37:13

I actually got a tear in my eye. Now, it’s a fantastic quote. I agree with you one hundred percent. I really enjoyed doing this episode. I think that this is really important stuff. I think that it’s something that is going to ultimately lead to just enormous success for people if they actually put this stuff in the application. That’s the hard part and you’re not going to see results tomorrow. It is going to take years of successful implementation of these ideas to really turn the corner and go in that direction of excellence and really being effective as an individual.

Preston Pysh  37:50

So, I highly recommend the book. The name of the book is “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” You can see why it’s like one of the number one sellers for self-help books in the entire world. Sign up on our list, we’re going to send out our executive summary of this for free and we’ll send out our executive summaries. We don’t send any spam. We really appreciate our audience. Stig sent me a message today that said that something like our podcast was in the top 15 worldwide for business podcasts. I am So, humbled by that. I can’t even begin to describe how humbled I am by our audience and putting us in that position because, man, that’s just crazy. I can’t even describe how good that makes me feel about what we’re putting out there. We really want this show to be all about you. We want to be talking about the things that you want. So, make sure that you guys continue the emails. I know. It’s getting a lot harder for me to respond to every email that we get.

Preston Pysh  38:46

We’re trying and I apologize if you’ve sent me a message or Stig message and we have not responded to you, I seriously send my deepest apologies that I have not gotten to your email. The harder ones for me to respond to are the ones where people send me a stock ticker and say, “Preston, what do you think about this stock ticker?” Those are very difficult for me to respond to because I get So, many of those. But that’s why we have our forum. That’s why we have So, many smart people on our forum, the WarrenBuffettForum.com, to discuss those finer questions of an individual stock. Please put your questions there if it’s something like that. But truly, thank you, everybody, for putting us in that position to have such a strong performance on our podcast. It really means the world to us. So, thank you, everyone. We’ll see you guys next week.

Outro  41:24

Thanks for listening to The Investor’s Podcast. To listen to more shows or access to the tools discussed on the show, be sure to visit www.theinvestorspodcast.com. Submit your questions or request a guest’s appearance to The Investor’s Podcast by going to www.asktheinvestors.com. If your question is answered during the show, you will receive a free autographed copy of The Warren Buffett Accounting Book. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. This material is copyrighted by the TIP Network and must have written approval before commercial application.

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