Matt Tanase

how radical are you prepared to be?

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Where creation lives

“There are certain people that are always going to push limits. And ‘fuck it’, gets you across that line. That ability to push past the rules. A lot of people like it safe. You don’t get credit for being safe in life. You didn’t take any risks. Well to take risks, you’ve got to go ‘fuck it’. Most men who met their wives, it was a ‘fuck it’ before they went up to her. It was a moment where: ‘she won’t talk to me, but fuck it. I’ve got to just take the risk, put myself past what I’d normally do.’ And there are certain people in life, that live in the realm of the edge and everything else is boring. How do you do it? I cannot possibly. You see mountain climbers, those mountain climbers are saying ‘fuck it’. It can hurt you or it can harm you. You can say ‘fuck it’ and kill yourself. You can say ‘fuck it’ and ruin your life. You can gamble too much. It’s that danger, it’s that edge. And in...

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A framework for speculation

From Wikipedia:

Speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of capital investment along with the return on the principal sum. A person or entity that engages in speculation is known as a Speculator.

I just finished reading The Zurich Axioms. With a dubious origin in Swiss banking traditions and designed for investors, it consists of 12 major and several minor ‘axioms’. It’s a quick read that I found surprisingly relevant, because we’re all speculators. A startup, a stock, a new job, a relationship, a shortcut to avoid traffic, a hand of poker - we constantly make choices. Tiny investments of time, money, intellect and emotions from which we expect a positive return. The axioms better those investments by outlining simple risk management tips and building a framework for speculation. I recognized several as generalizations internalized through experience, but more...

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