Speculation: A game you can't win 💸


Hey friends,

Quick thing: The paperback version of my book, The Inner Compass, is still being discounted from $14.99 to just $9.99. I guess you can call it holiday season pricing, but I don't know how long it'll last.

So if you want to gift it to your loved ones or you just want a copy for yourself, I recommend you get it soon! And if you do, just send me your order receipt to get access to a bonus booklet of daily reflections.

Now onto today's post, which I'm re-sharing because the topic is quite timely.

Finance is something I don’t discuss often, but it’s one of my many interests. That’s because you can’t understand money without understanding behavior, and human nature fascinates me to no end.

If you follow the markets at all, you’re aware of the wild ride that people are taking these days. Excessive risk is a selling point rather than a deterrent, and expectations are either “I lose everything” or “I gain my dreams.”

In today’s post, I want to discuss speculation, and the costs it incurs on the way we think. Because while you might walk away with a nice monetary gain, the mental tax on that gain may not be worth it.

Speculation: A Game You Can't Win


A Thought I've Been Pondering

Here's an excerpt from The Inner Compass I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Intuition needs to be stress tested by reality to earn its reliability. It has to first show you how it was wrong so that you can trust that it’s learned all the lessons required for it to be right. This constant dance between setback and growth is what fuels confidence in your own judgments, which is what gives rise to your resolve.

I've been facing some big decisions lately, and this reminds me that regardless of what happens, my intuition will strengthen as a result. The very act of choosing a path is how you stress test your intuition, and not in the hope that you made the right choice.


A Brief Parting Question

Is there a "trick" you use to think through big decisions? Or some mental tool that helps you sort through your options?

For example, there's that one trick where you flip a coin with "heads" being one choice, and "tails" being another. You commit to going with whatever side it lands on to eliminate any ambiguity.

The trick, however, isn't in the outcome of the flip, but rather in what you were hoping for. What were you hoping for in that split second before you knew what side it landed on? That, as the trick goes, is what your decision is.

For some reason though, I find this unsatisfying haha. So if there are some other mental tools or tricks you use, please send them my way!


As always, hit reply to share any thoughts, to respond to the parting question, or to simply say hello. I love hearing from you.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share this email with anyone who might enjoy it. Have a great rest of your week!

-Lawrence Yeo

P.S. Once again, if you grab a copy of The Inner Compass, send me your order receipt so I can send you a bonus booklet of 30 daily meditations. These reflections have been carefully selected to give you a mindful start to each day.

Just hit reply and let me know!

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Illustrated stories on the human condition.

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