Tuesday 31 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 31-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"When you focus on your problems, you will have more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you will have more opportunities" - Zig Ziglar

Monday 30 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 30-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong." - N. R. Narayana Murthy

Sunday 29 October 2017

The day Albert Einstein feared has arrived

Albert Einstein,Abilities & Qualities - Inspirational Quotes , Motivational Thoughts and Pictures

10 Rich Trader Mental Habits

By Steve Burns
10 Rich Trader Mental Habits

Many new traders are taken out of the trading game through bad mental practices. Here are some things that top money managers and rich traders have shared through interviews and books that may help traders who are making mental mistakes in their trading.

Ten Powerful Psychological Traits of the Rich Trader

  1. They have the ability to admit they were wrong and get out of a trade. They know the place where price proves them wrong.
  2. They have the ability to not only close a losing trade but reverse and go in the other direction with the right signal.
  3. The rich trader is not trying to prove anything about themselves they are focused on making money.
  4. They do not fall in love with an idea, currency, commodity, or stock they will make trades based on price action.
  5. Rich traders know that the market action is their ultimate boss regardless of their opinions.
  6. No matter how sure they are about a trade they still ALWAYS manage the risk.
  7. Rich traders get more aggressive when winning and trade smaller or take a break during a losing streak.
  8. A great trader is one that can admit to anyone that they were wrong.
  9. Rich traders do not believe their own hype, they know they can not really predict the future they can only react to current reality and the probabilities.
  10. Rich traders love what they do, win or lose.
When you are trading with a mindset like that, it is hard to be beaten over the long term. Time is your friend.
www.newtraderu.com

Quote for the day

"If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you." - Fred DeVito

Saturday 28 October 2017

9 Keys To Confidence

By Gia Ganesh

You see THEM all around you:

Walking confidently into a bar and asking someone for their number.

Expressing their views in a company town hall meeting.

Asking the dreaded question to their boss. All these folks are reeking of confidence!! Do you wish you had the confidence that they possess, to do the things they do and say the perfect things they say?

When you hear the word ‘successful’ who comes to your mind first? Someone on TV or real life who seems to feel no fear and says the perfect thing and does things confidently, right? Yes, Confidence is tied to success, and vice versa.

There are several assumptions we make about these confident people.


Firstly, we assume confident people are born that way and possess a natural ability to do or say things that you cannot do or say. They can walk into a bar and talk to someone, because it is an innate ability that they possess. Because of their ‘inborn gift’, they can go anywhere, say anything and do anything.

Fortunately, that is not true! Confidence is a learnable skill. No one was born feeling confident or not confident. We were all born as clean slates. The years of social conditioning and all the other factors make us adopt certain mindsets. Would you be surprised if I told you that you can feel confident this very moment? Yes, you can tell yourself that you need to feel confident right now and you can probably turn it on like a switch. The only difference is that the switch does not stay on forever and will probably flick down in a minute after you adopt that attitude and mindset. The later part of this article will address how to adopt and sustain the confidence mindset.

Another assumption about confidence is that confident people are never scared.
Again, this is untrue. Confident people can be scared like the rest of us; they have the same set of limiting thoughts and fears that make them feel not confident at times. What sets them apart is their ability to rise above these fears and forge ahead despite them.

The third assumption is that confident people are confident in all areas of their lives. This isn’t necessarily true. Someone who is confident to ask their boss for a raise may not necessarily feel confident to ask someone out on a date, or vice versa.

Confidence is not necessarily about knowing all the answers; it’s about being able to move forward knowing that you will figure it out. It is knowing that you can handle whatever comes at you.

Here are some strategies and tips for upping your confidence level to make it ever-lasting. Like with all mind-related work, these tools and strategies will produce results only if they are ingrained in the DNA of your being. That begins with consciously practicing them until living in this way becomes a truly ingrained habit.

1. Awareness of your strengths

Not many of us have consciously taken time to understand our own strengths. Being aware of one’s own strengths is an important tool in boosting confidence. There are many online resources and books to help you find your own strengths. StrengthFinder 2.0 is a great book and also provides an online assessment to identify your top strengths. You will be surprised at how spot on it is. The key for success with this strategy is to identify your strengths and constantly remind yourself of them. Make a a list of these strengths and keep it in a handy spot like your wallet, your work desk, or your mirror. That way you can constantly remind yourself of your strengths and play to them. Playing to your strengths will help in making you feel confident about your abilities and provide a constant boost.

2. Confidence-competence loop


The more you do something, the better you become. When you first started riding a bike, you faltered and fell a few times. But you kept at it. The more you tried it, the better you got. And one day, you were able to ride successfully without falling, to the point that you now thoroughly enjoy riding the bike. This is the same competence-confidence loop that you can employ in other areas of your life.

Try it during situations that make you feel uncomfortable and not confident. If you hate eating alone at a restaurant, do it every day for the next 2 or 3 weeks. It’s going to feel weird and uncomfortable at first. The first few times you are not going to feel confident and the hour could feel long. But by the end of the third week, i guarantee you will feel more confident. If you fear public speaking, do it enough and you will see that fear disappear. Very soon, you will be delivering presentations with confidence and ease. This is also tied to the next tip.

3. What’s the worst that can happen?

Often times, that little voice in our heads stops us from doing something and asks questions like:

“Am I sure? Does this make sense for me? Am I capable of this? Do I know all I need to know to do a good job? What if I don’t succeed? What if people laugh at me?” and so on.

That’s when asking a simple question like “What’s the worst that can happen?” may offer a different perspective and a potential way to turn that voice off. What’s the worst that can happen when you try to ask someone out on a date? They could say no. Is that the end of the world? Filter your thoughts through the lens of abundance. Try the ‘whats the worst that can happen?’ tactic the next time that little voice in your head starts asking questions.

4. Past successes

“The more you acknowledge your past successes, the more confident you become in taking on and successfully accomplishing new ones” – Jack Canfield.

Jack captures the essence of this strategy perfectly with this above quote. Even small successes are successes to be noted and celebrated. Every small step that is accomplished towards a major goal is still a step to be celebrated. Sometimes we are so lost in reaching the end goal, we forget to acknowledge the little steps that we take and the little achievements we reach on our path to the goal. Each of these successes from your past should be resurrected in your memory often, serving as a reminder about your abilities and again injecting you with a confidence boost.

5. Preparation

For certain tasks, just preparing well ahead of time soothes that negative voice in the head and prevents it from popping up again. Preparing for a speech that you do not feel confident delivering, or a meeting with your boss, or anything that can be prepared for, is definitely a surefire tactic for increasing confidence.

6. Say thank you for compliments

When someone compliments you for anything – for your work, the way you did something, the way you said something or simply for the way you look, how do you react? Do you shrug it off and say ‘it was nothing’, ‘I am not sure why I was given this award’, I don’t deserve it’, ‘I just got lucky this time around’… all these are indicators of weakened confidence.

You do not believe enough in yourself to accept compliments.

Switch out that thinking and start accepting compliments graciously. When given a compliment learn to say thank you comfortably, thanking the person for recognizing your efforts and offering support. It is a display of belief in yourself which repeated consciously over a period of time begins to deeply seat itself in your mind- leading to stronger levels of confidence.

7. Fake it ’til you make it

There are 2 opposing views on this strategy. Some advocates strongly believe that ‘faking it ’til you succeed’ can increase your confidence and thereby increase your competence. The opposing view believes that it is not ethically right to fake it in the first place. I suggest an in-between approach.

You’ve heard of dressing for success. It is a form of faking it ’til you make it. You dress ‘up’ to get the job you want. That does not mean you are not competent or that you are faking it. It means that you want the job and believe you can perform well in that role, and you are displaying that attitude in your external appearances as it relates to the job. You can’t fake being a professional singer if all you do is sing in the shower. But if you are a great singer with true capabilities and experience, looking for better singing opportunities, using a little ’embellishment’ is not wrong. In fact, you are not even faking it at that point.

8. The power of affirmations

Affirmations are simple, positive, and specific statements written in the present tense with the sole purpose of changing one’s thoughts. These sentences help in strengthening and reinforcing beliefs you need to achieve success. Affirmations practiced faithfully rewire the brain and help us break negative thought patterns. The best thing about affirmations is that there is no limit to the number of affirmations you can create and say- and each affirmation can be unique for you and for the thought pattern you are trying to break.

The key to finding success with affirmations is through repeating the affirmations on a consistent basis, preferably multiple times- and saying them with conviction. Give this a power boost by standing in front of the mirror and saying these affirmations as you look at yourself. Some examples of affirmations for boosting self-confidence are:

  • I have confidence in my ability to do whatever I set my mind to;
  • I am discovering more wonderful things about myself with each passing day;
  • I truly like myself and this helps others to accept me for who I am;
  • I believe in myself completely;
  • I believe that I can achieve anything I want;
  • My ability to conquer my challenges is limitless;
  • My potential to succeed is infinite;
  • I acknowledge my own self-worth; 
  • My confidence is soaring.
9. Gratitude

In today’s fast paced society, we are generally lost in the daily grind of life and the tendency is to focus on the negative and the bad things that make life a challenge at times. We forget to think about and appreciate the positive. Appreciating each and every small blessing in our lives becomes a task taken for granted and we even forget that those little blessings are in fact blessings that make our life beautiful in some way.

Another great habit to form is the habit of making time to be grateful.
Start a gratitude journal and spend 2-3 minutes every night expressing 3-5 things in your life that you are thankful for. Write them down. The power of the written word has been constantly proven to be stronger than the spoken. What you are grateful for every night need not be something profound. Small things like the smell of freshly baked cookies, hugs from your kids, to big things like a promotion at work, or an hour of uninterrupted reading could be things to be thankful for. Some days, I am just thankful to be alive- healthy and kicking. There is no limit to the number of things you can be grateful for. Make this a daily habit and see a tremendous change in your attitude to people and life. You’ll also see your confidence surging ahead when you realize what a great life you have.

As mentioned earlier, all these strategies and tools involve conscious effort and repetition until they become ingrained into your life. But the effort is well worth it when you see a constant upsurge in your confidence levels.

What other strategies do you use to up-level your confidence?

Source: www.lifehack.org

Quote for the day

“Pay no attention to what critics say. A statue has never been erected to a critic.” – Jean Sibelius

Friday 27 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 27-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.” - Carl Jung

Thursday 26 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 26-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"Seek the best in everyone you meet. Seek the worst when dealing with yourself." – Sasha Azevedo

Wednesday 25 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 25-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

“The more you acknowledge your past successes, the more confident you become in taking on and successfully accomplishing new ones” – Jack Canfield

Tuesday 24 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 24-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

“Look back upon your life and ask: What up to now have you truly loved, what has raised your soul, what ruled it and at the same time made you happy? Line up these objects of reverence before you, and see how they form a ladder on which you have so far climbed up toward your true self.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Monday 23 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 23-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

“Nobody is going to do your life for you. You have to do it yourself, whether you’re rich or poor, out of money or making it, the beneficiary of ridiculous fortune or terrible injustice. And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard. No matter what is unjust, sad, sucky things befall you. Self pity is a dead end road. You can make the choice to drive down it. It’s up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out” – Cheryl Stryed.

Sunday 22 October 2017

5 Key Elements of Quality Companies

Quality of a company is reflected in its ability to deliver superior returns on capital invested while treating stakeholders in a consistently fair way. This ability should be deep rooted and hence sustainable. Quality of a company can be characterized in two specific dimensions – Quality of a business and quality of management. Followed are the 5 key elements of quality companies you need to analyze before opting to invest.

Profit Pool Industry


Profit Pool is the aggregate level of absolute profit earned by all players in a sector. It helps one understand the long term potential of the sector. Very high profit pool player are good quality companies for a long term investment. Over the years statistics show that profit pool of companies benefit long term investors.

Value migration

Value migrates from outmoded business designs to new ones that are better able to satisfy your key priorities. Value Migration results in a gradual yet major shift in how the current and future Profit Pool in an industry is shared.

Competitive landscape

Businesses with low competitive intensity are more favorable for investors in a long term investment philosophy. Competitive intensity is not solely a function of the number of rival players in a business. Thus, in the Cement sector, competitive intensity is relatively low despite a large number of players. On the other hand, competitive intensity is high in sectors like wireless telecom and tyre, despite a handful of players. If a company enjoys return on capital higher than industry average the company has an Economic Moat over the competition.

Managements with integrity, competence and growth mindset


Quality management is one which has competence and can be seen in the industry leading margins they command. Quality management is also characterized by a rational capital allocation policy. Management drives the potential in terms of quality of a company. The integrity of the management towards leading the growth of company makes a vital point.

Innovation and transparency

Quality companies not only think innovative but also implement innovation in terms of their products, processes and relative selling approach. They bring businesses to the new age. They are always transparent in their dealing and provide adequate disclosures. Such companies are usually trustworthy and honest.
Source: www.motilaloswalmf.com

Quote for the day

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.” - Helen Keller

Saturday 21 October 2017

The 5 Categories of Financial Ratios

By Joshua Kennon

Financial ratios can be a great tool in your analysis toolbox as an investor. They can help you gauge the strength, profitability, efficiency, and quality of a business from a variety of different angle, as well as monitor changes in the firm's core operating metrics over time. This can help you both offensively, looking for opportunities, and defensively, seeking to protect yourself whether you own the stock, invest in the bonds, or somehow expect to enter into a real estate investment with the business, such as a landlord doing a sale-leaseback transaction with a major drug store or restaurant chain.

It's important that you memorize the most important of these financial ratios. It helps to mentally classify them under five major categories.


Leverage Financial Ratios


The financial ratios that give you an idea of the leverage inherent in the business, such as the debt-to-equity ratio or other ratios that allow you to see a company's capital structure, along with the potential benefits and risks of such a capital structure and how it compares to those of competitors in the same sector or industry, are what I call leverage financial ratios. It helps to put them in context with a complete understanding of the variables at play in a DuPont ROE analysis of a firm.

Liquidity Financial Ratios

Liquidity financial ratios that show the solvency of a company based on its assets versus its liabilities; things like working capital per dollar of sales and the current ratio. In other words, it lets you know the resources available for a firm to use in order to pay its bills, keep the lights on, and pay the staff.

Do not underestimate the importance of liquidity as a lack of it has caused even highly profitable businesses to go bankrupt. 

Operating Financial Ratios


This category of financial ratios show the efficiency of management and a company’s operations in utilizing its capital, especially through the cash conversion cycle in pursuit of profit.

In the retail industry, this would include metrics such as inventory turnover and accounts receivable turnover. Companies that consistently have superior operating financial ratios often possess something known as franchise value.

Profitability Financial Ratios


A firm's profitability financial ratios are designed to give you an idea of how lucrative it is relative to some particular metric. A firm that has high gross profit margins from a sustainable business from a core product like bleach, laundry detergent, or chocolate, to provide an illustration, is going to be much harder to put out of business when the economy turns down than one that has razor-thin margins. Likewise, a company with high returns on capital, even with smaller margins, is going to have a better chance of survival because it is so much more profitable relative to the shareholders’ contributed investment. Of particular importance are return on equity and return on assets.

Solvency Financial Ratios

The final major category of financial ratios new investors should know are meant to give you a reasonable idea, to the extent it can be predicted from the historical financial statements, the chances of a company being unable to cover its obligations when liabilities are subtracted from assets.

Even the most wonderful business can be in danger of wipe-out if it is undercapitalized and lacks the equity to absorb any challenges should the economy enter a recession or depression.

Realize that Financial Ratio Are Only the Beginning

As useful as financial ratios are, they can't tell you everything. Imagine you were considering investing in a horse and buggy manufacturer when Henry Ford came out with the Model T. The historical income statement, balance sheet, and financial ratios wouldn't have told you what you needed to know as the business you were examining was on the brink of suffering a significant decline in income. On the other side, imagine looking at the incredibly ugly financials of what was then called Apple Computer, now just Apple, prior to the return of Steve Jobs from exile when he transformed the business he founded, taking it on a run that ended up resulting it in having the world's largest market capitalization.
Source: www.thebalance.com

Quote for the day

"Look, the point is there's no way to be a hundred percent sure about anyone or anything. So you're left with a choice. Either hope for the best or just expect the worst." - Sarah Dessen

Friday 20 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 20-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough." - Og Mandino

Thursday 19 October 2017

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Ten Ingredients That Make Great Traders

By Steve Burns

Here are ten things I believe are needed to be a great trader. It will surprise some that predicting, having conviction, reading a balance sheet, or stock picking is not on here. Over the long term the trading game is on over the long term through proper risk management, mental discipline, and the ability to create and follow a wining trading system. Everything else is just noise.

Ten Ingredients That Make Great Traders:


1. 
Passion for trading: Only passion can fuel the work ethic needed to do all the homework that leads to success.

2. Goal oriented traders succeed: If you know why you are trading and the goals you want to accomplish you may just get there.

3. Perseverance: If you never quit only time separates you from success.

4. Resiliency: The ability to come back from drawdowns may be the secret to trading success.

5. 
Back testing systems: Doing the historical studies before trading a strategy speeds up the learning curve and side steps a lot of learning through real losses.

6. Understanding your edge: Trade only when your edge is present is crucial to out performing the traders that lose money.

7. Great traders understand that a winning system has to have either bigger wins than losses or a high winning percentage with equal sized wins and losses.

8. Keep losing trades as small as possible is essential for profitable trading along with leaving profitable trades open ended to the most upside possible.

9. Flexibility allows a trader to take the signals the market is giving while sticking to the conviction of opinions can lead to huge losses.

10. Disciplined use of a trading plan is crucial instead of the ups and downs of making decisions based on emotions.
Source: www.newtraderu.com

Quote for the day

"Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe." - Mitch Albom

Tuesday 17 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 17-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"Just as a small fire is extinguished by the storm whereas a large fire is enhanced by it - likewise a weak faith is weakened by predicament and catastrophes whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them." - Viktor E. Frankl

Monday 16 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 16-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence." - Aldous Huxley

Sunday 15 October 2017

10 Things to Give Up in Exchange for Happiness

By Tamara Star

I’m told happiness is a choice.

Unfortunately we complicate our lives to the point of being unable to recognize happiness when it appears before our eyes.

So how to clear the slate? Here are 10 things you’ll need to give up in exchange for your happiness.

1. Give up caring what other people think of you.
I know it seems counter intuitive as we humans are primal pack animals that don’t want to be cast from the village, but spending time worrying what others think, is a waste of energy. You’ll never please everyone and it’s none of your business what others think of you.

2. Give up trying to please everyone. Unless you’re living life to the beat of your own drum, your tribe won’t be able to find you. Be the best version of you you can be, and you’ll naturally attract in the people that are supposed to surround you.

3. Give up participating in gossip.
100 percent of the time, those sharing gossip with you will gossip about you. Believing gossip is like gambling everything on a horse sight unseen. It’s naive.

4. Quit worrying. Where thoughts go, energy flows. Worry is investing time and energy in something you don’t want to have happen. Learn to let go and trust.

5. Let go of insecurity.
When we take ourselves too seriously, we think everyone else does too. There is one version of you on the planet. Be it, own it and quit worrying about it. No one really cares or watches you that closely.

6. Stop taking everything personally.
Truth is, most people are too consumed with their own life to really consider what you’re doing. As my first boss said so well: “The world doesn’t revolve around you. Most people’s reactions have nothing to do with you, so let it go.”

7. Give up the past. We’ve all been hurt, we all had parents that made mistakes and we’ve all been through hell. You didn’t listen to your parents when you were younger, so why are you still listening to their voices in your head now? Every experience in life has taught you something or made you stronger.

8. Give up spending money on what you don’t need in effort to buy happiness.
Living simply allows the space for life to flow. We complicate our lives by spending too much money and filling our home with “things.” Less is truly more.

9. Give up anger. Anger burns a hole in the hand of the person still holding on to it. Move it out once and for all.

10. Give up control.
Control is an illusion. We live in an out of control world. Learn to embrace the new and welcome change; otherwise you’ll grow old through your own rigidity. Learn to let go.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Quote for the day

"Investigate what is, and not what pleases." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Saturday 14 October 2017

Quote for the day

"Courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Friday 13 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 13-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"Don't downgrade your dream to match your reality. Upgrade your faith to match your destiny." - DeVon Franklin

Thursday 12 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 12-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence." - Jon Kabat-Zinn

Wednesday 11 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 11-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire

Tuesday 10 October 2017

Monday 9 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 09-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." - Nelson Mandela

Sunday 8 October 2017

Self-Made Billionaire Jack Ma Says You'll Need This 1 Rare Skill to Succeed in the Age of Machines

There's a new kid on the block, and it's about to take EQ and IQ to school.

By Marcel Schwantes

Thanks in part to Daniel Goleman and Adam Grant, the debate for years seems to be fixated on what's a better predictor of job and career success -- IQ or EQ?

If you're keeping score at home, a person with high EQ (emotional intelligence) knows how to work well with others -- customers, bosses, coworkers, vendors, etc. -- and how to understand people and their emotions. IQ is high knowledge, the kind you need to keep pursuing for learning, memory, focus and problem-solving.

In the meantime, a virtual unknown contender is steadily rising through the ranks and making headlines: LQ.

LQ? Yes, it's a thing and it has a formidable spokesperson in Alibaba Group founder and chairman Jack Ma: "If you want to be respected, you need LQ," the leader of the Chinese internet giant said at a recent Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York.


LQ Explained

"And what is LQ? The quotient of love, which machines never have," said Ma.

He believes no matter how smart machines are becoming, the world's biggest and most pressing problems will be solved not by machines, but by smart humans with the capacity for compassion, understanding and, of course, love. To Ma, this is the human secret weapon that will outthink machines and drive progress.

"A machine does not have a heart, [a] machine does not have soul, and [a] machine does not have a belief. Human being have the souls, have the belief, have the value; we are creative, we are showing that we can control the machines," he said. Ma speaks about the need to pursue a globalization that is humane.


Jack Ma's Love Machine

First of all, if you're new to Jack Ma, consider him the head of the "Amazon of China," a self-made billionaire (currently worth US$46.4 billion) known for his rags-to-riches story that catapulted Alibaba Group to its current ranking as the 6th largest retailer in the world, according to Forbes.

And he's been campaigning for LQ and a higher love in business for a few years now. Some examples of its benefits:

At the Apec CEO Summit in Manila in November, 2015, Ma shared LQ in a conversation with Benigno Aquino III, then-president of the Philippines. Convinced of its competitive advantage in business for his own country, the president quipped, "The love quotient enables the Filipino to go really to the needs of the client that he is talking to, which is not available elsewhere."

Introducing LQ to an audience at a South China Morning Post conference in Hong Kong in December, 2016, Ma challenged Chinese corporate leaders to "go beyond tapping a high IQ and even a high emotional quotient (EQ)" when dealing with conflict, rivals, and resistance in foreign markets.

Conflict avoidance is a hallmark of Chinese companies for cultural reasons, so Ma didn't mince words about breaking old habits to break into new markets.

"We're afraid of confrontation. So, when it comes to a vital moment, we back out," Ma said. "In a business, when you're growing up, you're always in a conflict. Progress is how to solve problems in a conflict situation."

He explained a high LQ as the supreme method for adapting to a new and noble way of doing business.

"You can become a money machine, but what's the use of that?" said Ma. "If you're not contributing to the rest of the world, there's no LQ ... Your love is you have to be principled. That's the bottom line."

Ma says that even if one possesses high IQ and high EQ but lack the LQ, "you will not be respected." He adds, "Respect the future, respect the young people."


Take-Aways

While the concept of leveraging your "love quotient" for business is still somewhat cryptic and largely undefined, Ma's advocacy for entrepreneurs to focus on solving big problems through more loving solutions has enormous potential

As I investigated Ma's interpretation and understanding of LQ for this article, I came upon several take-aways that I'll leave for my readers:
  • Love by being a teacher to the student. A good teacher always expects his students to do better than him. This is what Jack Ma learned in his entrepreneurial journey.

  • Love by always endeavoring to know who is better than you and choose to learn from and work alongside that person unselfishly.
  • Love by sharing your knowledge and expect the other person to be better.
  • Love by always hiring people who show potential to be better than you are. Then love some more by training them, disciplining them, and supporting them.
  • Love your teams (as leaders) and coworkers despite differences of opinion, and respect them with dignity in the journey toward a common goal or mission.
  • Love by respecting and honoring other generations outside of your own.
  • Measure your success (or your company's success) not by your worth but how many problems you solved and how many people you helped in the world. This is the bottom line of your love quotient.
Source: www.inc.com

Quote for the day

"Until you cross the bridge of your insecurities, you can’t begin to explore your possibilities." - Tim Fargo

Saturday 7 October 2017

Quote for the day

"Lack of time is actually lack of priorities." - Tim Ferriss

Friday 6 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 06-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble." - Harrington Emerson

Thursday 5 October 2017

9 Stressful Things You Need to Stop Tolerating--If You Want to Be Successful

Don't tolerate anything that stresses you or gets in the way of your success.

By Lolly Daskal

There are many things that can stress us out, especially when we want to create our own success stories.

Unfortunately, most of us end up tolerating some of our own bad habits, even though they cause much of the stress we experience.

So what are the stressful habits we need to stop tolerating? Here are the worst:


1. Toxic relationships.

Stop spending time with the wrong people. Life is too short to waste time on people who are toxic. The people in your life should support you, help you, and lift you up. If not, they are likely causing you uneasiness that you don't need and shouldn't have to tolerate. To succeed, you need relationships that will make you feel good about yourself.
2. Lying to yourself.

Everyone lies--that's a fact--but lying to yourself can cause unnecessary concerns. If you want to be successful, you have to take chances and risks, and above all, you have to be honest with yourself.

3. Not parting with the past.

You'll be less frustrated with yourself if you can let go of the past. You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the old one.
4. Settling for less.

A surefire way to cause stress in your life is to start putting your needs last and keeping them on the back burner.
5. Believing in perfectionism.

Trying to be prefect only provokes anxiety. The real world doesn't reward perfectionists; it rewards people who get things done and make things happen.
6. Holding on to your fears.

If you're scared of making a mistake, you'll never succeed. Doing something and getting it wrong is 100 times more productive than doing nothing at all, so don't allow your fears to get in the way of who you are meant to be and what you need to accomplish. Every success story has a trail of failures behind it; every mistake can lead to success.

7. Cutting yourself down.

Stop talking down to yourself--trust me, there are enough people who can do that job that you never have to do it yourself. Change your small-minded thoughts to big-picture goals and build yourself up instead of cutting yourself down. Refuse to lower yourself or your standards; instead, constantly raise yourself up.

8. Accepting your own excuses.


Sooner or later, you'll realize that excuses don't get you what you want. And if you want success, you're going to have to take things into your own hands and make it happen. Excuses cause tension, while power creates determination.
9. Being jealous.

Don't be concerned with who may be more successful than you. Instead, concentrate on beating your own records and surpassing your own goals. Success is a battle between you and yourself, no one else. Make it worth your while; make it about you.

At the end of the day, don't have tolerance for the things that stress you and stand between you and your greatness.
Source: www.inc.com

Quote for the day

"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." - Gautama Buddha

Wednesday 4 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 04-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"When there's a disappointment, I don't know if it's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure." - Pema Chodron

Tuesday 3 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 03-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." - James Madison

Monday 2 October 2017

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 02-Oct-2017

Quote for the day

"A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times." - Lord Acton

Sunday 1 October 2017

20 Truths about Trend following

  • If traded properly, you will have lots of small losses, a few small gains, and a few big winners.
  • You will have to accept that your opinion or beliefs about what might or might not happen count for nothing.
  • Often, a new trend will start seemingly for no obvious reason.
  • Trends have a tendency to persist, until they don't.
  • You do not need to understand the fundamentals behind a stock, commodity or other instrument - however, you do need to have a method of determining whether price is trending or not.
  • You never need try to pick a top or a bottom in a market.
  • In strongly trending phases, markets can persistently stay overbought or oversold for several months.
  • Every so often, traders pronounce that trend following is dead. Usually, this occurs just before a major trending phase begins.
  • Being able to effectively follow price trends means you need to have the ability to follow a simple set of rules about when to enter, and when to exit.
  • Because you will suffer lots of small losing trades, you need to have rigorous risk control.
  • You need to accept that individual markets can move from from trending to non-trending phases (or vice versa) at any moment.
  • Every so often, price will move in a particular direction much further than anyone can believe.
  • There are only two theoretical price targets when trend following - infinity when going long, and zero when going short.
  • Once in a profitable trade, there is only one price level you need to concentrate on - your trailing stop. Everything else is noise.
  • Your stop methodology should be able to identify when a trend has finished.
  • Trading with the trend is conceptually very easy to understand, but psychologically very difficult to master.
  • Patience and discipline are key components of a successful trend followers' armoury.
  • Trend following encapsulates the principle of cutting losses short, and letting winners run.
  • Trend following is boring - depending on your chosen timeframe or parameters, you could go through significant periods of time without any entry signals being given.
  • Some of the most profitable periods for trend followers are when they do absolutely nothing, other than let existing trades play themselves out.
Source: http://www.thetrendfollower.com

Quote for the day

"Don't look for someone who will solve all your problems; look for someone who will face them with you." - John Spence