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🥊 Got Grit?
Is grit the key to success? It may be the ingredient but not the whole dish
City Chad
February 02, 2024
Yes. This is the CityChad, your friendly roommate putting your financial house in order. Let’s tidy up the home base!
In this week’s edition:
Markets: 🏎️ Shifting Gears
Article: 🥊 Got Grit?
News: 🇩🇪 Losing but Winning, 🐉 China Takes Action, 🪖 Joe on The Ropes
Chad Of The Week: 🏹 Genghis Khan
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MARKETS: 🏎️ SHIFTING GEARS
We can safely say that the month of January ended better than it started.
Bitcoin led the recovery as it climbed back into the $43K level. Despite all the FUD around the Sells the News ETF event! And the fact that Greyscale is putting so much Bitcoin in Coinbase (presumably to sell it).
Ethereum also posted a strong gain after Standard Chartered analysts deemed "inevitable" the SEC's approval of Ethereum-based ETFs.
Unsurprisingly, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index is once again on the Greed side...
Is this good? Gordon would say so.
Is it really?
Well it is good for sellers. Let’s see what happens to FOMO buyers!
On the stock front, META absolutely crushed it this week. Like we have said before… Don’t bet against Zuck!
Two events to keep an eye on: BTC Halving, and the FED announcing their rate cuts.
Seems like there is a rhyme from our previous editions?
ARTICLE: 🥊 GOT GRIT?
TLDR: Grit in business is often touted as the key to success for self-made entrepreneurs. And teaching it is as tough as making kale salads trendy. But is it all you need to make it? While grit's part of the success recipe, it's not the whole meal. Find out why.
🏋️♂️ What is Grit?
👨🎓 Can You Learn Grit?
💪 The Takeaway
🏋️♂️ WHAT IS GRIT?
Grit is defined in the dictionary as the combination of resolve, determination, and perseverance even against discouraging odds.
No, this is not a Phil Collins’ song. This is about being able to gather up strength and keep moving forward.
Think about the greatest entrepreneurs of history. Jobs, Gates, Zuck. Success did not come on a silver platter.
In fact, it is considered that facing adversity in early stages of our lives might help to build up character and a positive attitude against difficult times.
👨🎓 CAN YOU LEARN GRIT?
Teaching Grit is like trying to teach someone to spontaneously like kale salads – it's complex and not everyone's cup of tea. Although it may be good for them!
Even experts admit we're in murky waters on how to teach this trait. It’s like trying to teach ambition, or how Apollo saw the Eye of The Tiger in Rocky. It’s unrealistic.
Grit is considered a stable personality trait, like being naturally organized or detail-oriented. Trying to change this is as tough as trying to become a morning person overnight.
Sure, our personalities evolve over time, shaped by our experiences and environment, but predicting this change is like trying to guess the next viral TikTok dance.
But is learning grit impossible? Hell, no. There are several ways to do it. And it is probably a worthwhile investment.
😎 THE TAKEAWAY
So, shall you drop everything and become the next NAVY seal of business? #grindset
While it can’t hurt to be gritty, let's not put all our eggs in the grit basket.
Sure, grit gets you through the door of pain, but what about intelligence, creativity, and let's not forget, good ol' luck?
Success is like a cocktail – it needs more than one ingredient. Grit is probably necessary but not sufficient to guarantee success.
And we are not alone in this. Famous podcaster Shaan Puri said it best, its not about working harder, but working smarter. The hardest worker is not always the richest (otherwise all line cooks would be billionaires).
Sometimes, you can have all the grit in the world, but if you're playing the wrong game, the outcome will be sub-optimal.
Keep reading CityChad to learn the right games to play.
NEWS: 🇩🇪 LOSING BUT WINNING💸
The Alternative für Deutschland party got its first defeat since plans leaked about their massive deportation plan.
AfD's candidate Uwe Thrum lost the elections of the Saale-Orla district of Thuringia by a 4.5% difference.
That’s not a lot.
However, the vote seems to just be the prologue to something bigger. The state elections are happening this year, and it is not looking well for the far left alliance currently in power.
AfD could take a huge victory this September.
NEWS: 🐉 CHINA TAKES ACTION
As we mentioned last week, Chinese stocks have not been having a good run for a while.
Comrade Xi is pointing fingers at aggressive short-sellers for this market mayhem. His answer? Making investors chill for a day before they can play the short-selling game.
But here's the twist: while some investors are bailing out, hedge funds are jumping in.
This buying frenzy matched up with Beijing trying to boost confidence in their shaky economy.
Is it time to look at this hurt dragon?
NEWS: 🪖 JOE ON THE ROPES
Apparently the ones to blame are the Iranian backed militia.
This puts tremendous pressure on Sloppy Joe Biden. The man has remained cautious as to where his next fumble will be.
Before this attack, at least 100 attacks to American outposts have been reported by Iranian-backed forces. Biden's response? Radio silence and meek tweets.
The Don was of course ready to punch, ready for November's looming election.
"Three years ago, Iran was weak, broke, and totally under control. Thanks to my Maximum Pressure policy, the Iranian Regime could barely scrape two dollars together to fund their terrorist proxies"
As momentum in the presidential race has been with Trump, it is up to Biden to show some action.
CHAD OF THE WEEK: 🏹 GENGHIS KHAN
Genghis Chad
This was an entry long overdue in a section that calls itself "Chad of the Week".
For those not into history, Genghis Khan went on from being a sick child eating rats for survival to building the largest empire ever known to mankind.
A rough upbringing usually moulds the most ambitious minds.
After his father was killed by Naiman forces, young Genghis was deemed unworthy and abandoned by his tribe.
Not one to surrender, he started to network his way through shamans and minor chieftains, steadily gaining followers.
K-Pop and Ceaușescu as part of the same country
After raising a considerable army, he united the Mongol tribes under his rule, and crushed everyone who dared to question his authority.
Once every Mongol horde was under his command, Genghis resorted to a classic Mongolian pastime: Ransacking and raiding China and Persia.
With a big difference, however.
Genghis wasn’t going to just browbeat them and ask for some tribute. Unlike previous Khans, Genghis’ objective was a full on conquest.
His army was much more disciplined, and versatile than those of his rivals. The regular Mongolian cavalry archer had three horses each, strategically placed around their growing empire. Think of it as Formula 1 cars, soldiers could leave their tired horse in one post, and grab a new one, effectively never stopping to move.
Way before Lollapalooza made yurts cool
Genghis’ army was trained, drilled every day, and paid regularly.
Unlike armies who answered to whomever might be the newest prince or the new big lord, the Hordes answered to the Great Khan.
Our boy Genghis has been portrayed many times as a ruthless, merciless machine of killing. The truth is that he was quite an easy-going guy, as long as you acknowledged his rule. Mongols allowed for freedom of worship along all their empire.
In fact, because the Mongol Empire went almost from South Korea to Hungary, the period known as Pax Mongolica saw society flourish, as trade networks surged across the whole Eurasian continent, assuring safe travels and commerce.
So in a way, Genghis Khan was the father of globalization.
What can we learn from Genghis?
He understood that one does not conquer alone. One needs followers, supporters, and allies. Live and die by the crew.
Pick your battles. Letting the other party get what they want (in this case religious freedom) is a textbook negotiation skill (as long as your objectives are served)
Treat your subordinates well. Don’t half ass it when it come to talent. Treat them and pay them well and you will get that investment back with interest.
Your present or past does not determine your future. If he can rise from eating rats to the ruler of the largest Empire that existed, how far can you make it?
And in the world of politics, that's what makes him our Chad of the Week.
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