I'll be back from a nice family vacation later today and will be LIVE on The Morning Show Friday morning.
Miami is fantastic this time of year. I highly recommend a good vacation, if that's something that you can afford to do.
There was a time in my life that I couldn't afford this kind of thing, so it makes me appreciate it so much more. Many of you already understand this. Some of you will one day.
I wanted to check in and share a few things I've been thinking about while I've been away this week.
One thing that certainly stands out is just how great it is to stay off twitter while you're way with your family.
If you want to make sure you're a bad father, one way to solidify that is to spend all your time tweeting during family vacations.
I kid. But this is definitely a luxury that I couldn't understand in my younger days.
There is an incredible team at Allstarcharts, including Steve Strazza who has been Director of Research here for 5 years. He'll actually be LIVE trading today at 945AM ET and I highly encourage you to check that out here. He's been killing it for us, in case you hadn't noticed.
I think it can be really valuable to just take a step back sometimes and observe. To quote the great philosopher Yogi Berra, "You can observe a lot by just watching".
I would encourage you to do the same. It becomes quite obvious very quickly that some people are crazy.
Imagine how sad you must be to spend your days calling people out and trolling those who are way more successful than you are, and so much more wealthy than you'll ever be, instead of just focusing on your own business and/or portfolio?
People are watching you. Your employees and partners have to go to sleep at night knowing that their "leader" lacks all self-control and doesn't know how to act like a civilized person.
That has to be hard for everyone involved.
Thankfully, it becomes even more obvious how mentally unstable some of these folks are, when you step away for a week and just observe.
I have young traders and investors in their 20s and 30s who work for me, as well as others who come to me for advice all the time.
What I like to do for them is point out the ones who are a great example of how NOT to act.
Rather than focusing all my advice on the people to emulate, I like to show them what happens to those who constantly make bad decisions, because they're too weak to control their emotions.
At this point, I've been on Twitter for about 17 years, believe it or not, which is crazy to think about. In fact, they don't even call it twitter anymore. I think it's just "X" now, or something like that.
I've never gotten it too bad. People mostly just leave me alone because I follow price. So it makes it harder to troll someone who just points out facts.
I also have a pretty quick trigger on the block button. I only block the people who have proven that the world is a much better place without them in it. So it's nothing personal.
I really like Twitter. I've met so many life long friends on this app from all over the world.
The way I learned it, when I first logged in right around the great financial crisis, is that facebook is for the people you know, who you have nothing in common with. Twitter is for people you don't know, who you have a lot in common with.
As it turns out, that was absolutely 100% spot on.
Thank you to whoever taught me that back then.
Something else that's worth mentioning is that you don't owe anyone on twitter anything. It's a free social media app.
Go on there, share ideas and make friends. But no one on there is paying you. There's nothing you need to give to anyone there. Feel free to come and go as you please, and if they don't like it, then too bad.
It's a beautiful world out there. Go out and explore it. Go meet up with some of those people you met on the twitter. I highly encourage it.
And lastly, just remember that people are watching.
Your employees, your partners, and your potential partners. They're watching your behavior.
If you act like a child, then don't be surprised when people start to distance themselves from you. As they should.
As someone who has had multiple life changing liquidity events over the years, I can tell you for a fact that they're watching your every move.
After big deals get done, I get the inside scoop from the other side about how we got there. My composure, consistency and respect for others comes up in all those conversations.
And I'm not perfect. Far from it, in fact. But I don't take twitter too seriously, and you shouldn't either.
Have fun with it. I know I do.
I've been on this app longer than most. And I'll tell you what I mostly use it for.
#1 I just tweet things out that make me laugh. This is a very selfish endeavor. If I can make myself chuckle, then it's a win.
#2 When I'm in a new city somewhere around the world, I get awesome restaurant recommendations.
And if you want to get to know me personally, I'm usually around hanging out at the bar at various investing conferences throughout the year.
I'm pretty easy to find. Come say hi. And many of you do. I love you for that.
I'll be back on twitter sometime this week probably. Or maybe not.
I don't even know. It doesn't matter that much to me.
I'll be back when I'm back.
But as a "Twitter OG", as the kids call it these days, I can tell you for a fact that it's best to not take it too seriously.
I watch people get very angry on there every day. All they're doing is sharing with the world how miserable their lives are and how sad things are for those around them.
Pay attention. You'll see.
Don't be like them. Try to enjoy yourself instead.
If you find that you're not getting value from the app, then leave. I find that some people are not mentally stable enough to be let out in public, yet alone a public forum like twitter.
There's a lot of value on the app - that I can tell you for sure
I probably wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for twitter. I wouldn't have as many friends as I do. And I wouldn't have learned as much about the markets as I have over these 17 years.
It's a great app. But don't forget to keep the most important things in perspective.
Health. Family. Business. In that order. I learned that from Phil Pearlman, who of course, I met on Twitter.
Go take a walk on the beach. Go jump in the ocean. Go hug your family.
