In Warren Buffett's authorized biography it states that his maxim is:
BE FEARFUL WHEN OTHERS ARE GREEDY AND GREEDY WHEN OTHERS ARE FEARFUL.
I made note instantly, because I love maxims. Somebody has already figured it all out. Maxims always make it sound easy.
In this case the maxim is all about how become a billionaire like Warren Buffett.
However, while I admire the wily sentiment, I have taken umbrage with the words fear and greed. I'm sure Warren is a really nice man, who didn't mean his maxim to sound as unpleasant as it does, but there you have it.
Fear and greed are enervating words in a moral world. I hear Warren still lives in the house he bought in 1959 (which is more than I can say for the house I bought in 1976), so I assume he's a moral, upstanding kind of a guy. So why fear and greed?
They make a point when it comes to money. They can practically be called synonyms for money, or the pursuit of money.
Maybe Warren is just tired of watching his words.
Maybe he came up with that maxim in dire times, when he was indeed fearful, when all those around him were looking greedy. Maybe he knew instinctively that the blowhards would lose out in the end. Maybe he believes in karma, or in another language, divine retribution.
So when those greedy ones, when their world fell out from under them, why he felt the tingling of greed, like now it was his turn, baby--
That he simply knew he was the good guy, to whom a lot of money should flow--
But along the way he didn't want to be underestimated as good guys often are, so he said to himself--"Let go of fear and get greedy!"
For me though, since the stakes aren't five billion dollars, I came up with this maxim, based on Warren's, for myself, today in yoga.
Wear tights when others wear shorts and wear shorts when others wear tights, because the teacher will always pay more attention to you. And in yoga, that is considered a good thing.