Buffett has a PS photo hanging on the wall of his office.
In the photo, Buffett’s head was put on a baseball player’s body, and there was a matrix of colorful balls marked with numbers. In the documentary, the old man talked about this photo, Kan Kan, and talked about how this baseball player inspired his investment philosophy and benefited him for life.
This baseball player is Ted Williams. He has created many baseball records and won numerous awards. He is called "the greatest hitter in history", "the god of hitting" and "the strongest on the surface".
Why does Buffett take a baseball player as his investment mentor? A sports player, how to teach stock gods to invest money? What is the mysterious connection between the method of sports and the method of making money by investing?
In the 1997 Open Letter from the Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway to All Shareholders, Buffett said:
We (Berkshire Hathaway) will practice Ted Williams-level self-discipline. In his monograph "The Science of Strike", Ted explained his way of strike in detail.
He divided the shots in front of him into 77 squares, each of which was the size of a baseball. Only when the baseball flies to the best grid will he swing and hit the ball. At this time, his hit rate is as high as 40%.
And if the ball flies to his worst grid, that is, the corner below the hitting zone, his hitting rate will quickly drop to 23%.
In other words, if you wait for a good opportunity, you can enter the baseball hall of fame; If you don’t distinguish, you will only become an ordinary athlete if you watch the ball and play.
Why can he become the strongest baseball batter on the surface? What is the doorway behind his personal growth? How to make a novice baseball player get his growth mentality, reduce the number of pits and grow up quickly?
Ted Williams wrote a book about his own way of hitting, and called it The Science of Hitting.
The gap between ordinary baseball players and Ted, the "God of Baseball", was summed up by him as a three-step scientific methodology:
1. Hitting management（to get a good ball to hit）；
Step 2 think correctly（proper thinking）；
3. Practice, practice and practice again（to be quicker with the bat）。
Rule #1: batting managementTake a stick and hit a flying baseball. Do you still need management? Isn’t it enough to see the ball fly over, play hard and try to play your best every time?
Ted, the god of baseball, doesn’t think so In his opinion,When you know what not to play, it is the beginning of real playing.
This principle is similar to my previous reading experience. "When you know what books not to read, it is the beginning of real reading".
Yes, restraint and self-discipline based on scientific management are the essence of the first rule. Ted’s batting management is like this:
1. Identify the ball by divisionTed divided the batting area into 77 squares, each of which is the size of a baseball.
2. Speak with data and know yourself: 77 grids are divided into several different areas, and their technical ability is accurately quantified with data. The red area in the center is the happy zone where he hits the ball, with a hitting rate as high as 40% (the strongest in history, and no one has surpassed it at present), while in the gray area in the lower right corner, the hitting rate drops rapidly, only 23%.
This is a way to speak with data and recognize the boundaries of your ability.
3. Strict self-discipline (discipline, discipline, discipline)Play only the best shots in the best hitting area. Only when the ball enters the strike zone will he swing out.
Rule #2: think correctly
Everyone knows the importance of thinking. From the beginning of entering the classroom in grade one, the teacher has been tirelessly teaching: think hard and think hard.
However, Ted, the god of baseball, doesn’t think so. He thinks that thinking, especially the correct thinking method, is the premise and foundation of effective action.
The right method is so critical that: "If you think in the wrong way, the harder you work, the worse it will be.. "
And behind the correct thinking, it is such a principle:
Sports is also a science.Although it is not a precise science that can be completely quantified, accurately predicted and reproduced by experiments like mathematics and physics.
There should also be a set of scientific methodology for athletes’ personal improvement.Let the athletes’ efforts be more effective, and the efforts can be accumulated and accumulated iteratively.
So, after highly disciplined ball selection, Ted also has his own set of principles when hitting the ball:
1. Improve "observing opponents" to a strategic position;The first ball is absolutely only observed without swinging. He needs to understand the pitcher’s thinking and state that day through careful and keen observation and better adjust his hitting strategy.
2. Think correctly and systematically:On the basis of high-intensity practice, a set of hitting technique methodology suitable for you is refined and summarized.
The Science of Strike, published in 1970, has become a "Bible for baseball players", and ambitious baseball heroes have studied it carefully because Ted has refined a set of relatively scientific, reproducible and practical systematic methodology in this field that is difficult to be scientific and systematic with personal practice and thinking.
Whether it is standing position, hitting angle, timing management, hitting point, mentality adjustment, coping with mistakes, stress management and peacetime exercise, Ted has discussed them one by one and summed up his own methodology. He is really a "meta-problem solver".
The above are some screenshots taken from the book. If baseball teenagers read this pamphlet, they should feel like teenagers wandering in the rivers and lakes in martial arts novels, and suddenly turn to the secret book of Jiuyang Shengong in the cave.
Rule #3: Practice, practice and practice.
The third principle seems to be a cliche, and many people will "cut" it. "In the end, it really tells us to work hard!"
Yes, I still have to work hard.
However, emphasizing efforts does not mean that the method is not good enough. On the contrary, on the basis of basically correct scientific methods, it is the only way for all outstanding people to go all out without reservation, and constantly iterate methods in the process.
For a small number of people, they are smart enough to realize sooner or later that diligence is not the best virtue, but the best strategy.
Really smart people are smart enough to choose to be diligent.Ted, who created the baseball cheats, is the strongest baseball batter on the surface. He gets up at 6 o’clock every day and practices catching the ball 300 times a week. In his own words, "No matter how famous a batter is, no one practices his swing more than Ted Williams."
He is really diligent enough to really practice grinding blisters on his hands. After the blisters are worn out, he will bleed profusely. Then the cocoons on his hands will become thicker and thicker, and his skill will be improved day by day.
Unless we are really talking about the achievements of the world champion level, we don’t have to consider personal IQ and talent. And the relationship between personal efforts and scientific methods, basically sum up:
The real master of learning is the scientific method and the efforts beyond ordinary people.
Ordinary people, methods and efforts are all "average". You know, "just so-so".
Poor scum, the method is wrong, and no matter how hard you try, it won’t help.
The road to the growth of a master is like this: after searching up and down, you get a set of growth methods, but you still have to rely on your own hard training.
Andrew Nieman is a young and ambitious conservatory student in the movie "Burst Drummer". His goal is to become the strongest jazz drummer in history, like his idol Charlie Parker. "I want to be one of THE GREATS !"
However, it is far from enough to get the guidance of the top teachers. A person must be enterprising enough to practice himself to this extent.
I want to be one of the Greats, "I am willing to pay far more efforts than ordinary people and pay 200% sweat and tears". This alone distinguishes the real uncompromising enterprising from a large number of "oral learners".
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