A lesson about greed and ego
Recessions and economic downturns are tough. They also provide us a lot of examples to learn from. I came across one such story today. ABC news reported the rise and fall of Florida celebrity broker Carlos Justo. Click this link to learn more about how Carlos went from 20 million dollars net worth in 2005 to being bankrupt and 12 million dollars in debt in just a few years. For me the story was of a guy who became a millionaire from a janitor and is back to ground zero. But more than anything it is about him not giving up and having the will to come back. I wish him all the luck.
There are many lessons to learn from his story,
- Be humble: When everything is going right for you, you tend to lose touch of reality. You might feel that you are the smartest, richest and the most intelligent guy around. If you ever feel this way, do a reality check. Fortunes can change on the fall of a hat. It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: “And this, too, shall pass away.” How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction
- Avoid greed: During the DotCom boom, a lot of people became paper millionaires from companies that didnt make a single dime in profit.But they were greedy and didnt sell shares. They wanted more. In the end they were left with worthless stocks. Similarly a lot of investors get greedy during boom times and expect unrealistic returns on their investments.
- Realize what you are good at and don’t get distracted: Carlos mentions that “My business is selling real estate and I decided to become an investor, that was really my downfall.” We have seen the same thing happen with many sports celebrities too. Realize what you like doing, become good at that and then stick to it.
- Own up: OK, so you screwed up. Own it up. Its always easy to blame it on someone else or circumstances. Take responsibility for your failures.
- Confront your demons: It’s always easy to give up and accept failure. But a real man decides to face his fears and overcome them. I have seen that the experiences that I cherish the most in life are the ones when I was completely beaten down, but I held myself together and fought back. Even today when I am faced with a difficult situation, I look back to those experiences and they motivate me to overcome challenging situations. Remember it is darkest before dawn.
What did you learn from the story. Please share your experience on the post through your comments.
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