Life Advice From Warren Buffet

The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

I came across this nugget in a Youtube Video featuring Warren Buffet. He is speaking with the MBA students at the University of Florida to give some sage life advice.

As Buffet begins his address to the students, he starts by asking the students, ” If I granted all of you the right to buy 10% of one of your classmates for the rest of that person’s lifetime, who would that student be?”

In a world where most are endowed with reasonable intelligence and drive, Warren Buffet says we wouldn’t pick a person based on IQ or grades. Instead, we would look for someone honest, generous with solid leadership qualities, good people skills, etc. Intuitively, we would identify that one student by looking for all the positive attributes we value and admire. 

Warren Buffet then adds a twist to the mind game. He says, ” in addition to picking up the one person to own 10% for the rest of their lives, you also have to pick one classmate to go short, someone you would bet against.”

Here, it would not be someone with the lowest IQ or lowest grades. Instead, you would start thinking about the person who turns you off for some reason or another. Most likely, you’ll pick someone who is egotistical, dishonest, cuts corners, and has a host of other negative qualities that you can list.

The key message that Warren Buffet gives the students is this. Most of our behaviors are habitual. Therefore, if we are conscious, we can inculcate in ourselves the positive traits of people we admire and shun those behavior traits that we dislike in others.