Get away from the chatter

I think it helps to be away from lots of chatter no matter where it may be -- whether it's Los Angeles or New York, you name it. I don't want to hear what a lot of other people think. I just want a lot of facts. I want to sit there unaffected by whether it's sunny or cloudy outside or anything of the sort and certainly unaffected by whether the people around me are feeling great or feeling terrible. I just want to look at the facts and see where they lead me..

-- Warren Buffett


I heard this quote on "Marketplace Morning Report" this morning as I zipped down to work. The Oracle of Omaha was talking about why he stays in Nebraska, rather than being located cheek to jowl next to all of the other investors who make their homes in the Northeast, and how he makes his investment decisions.

It struck me as I was trying to work my way down to Golden Valley that Warren's method of making investment decisions has a more universal application for me and (dare I suggest it) all of us as we try to make decisions large and small.

First, and foremost, I truly believe that getting away from the chatter is essential. I can't count the number of times I've allowed "chatter" of friends and family, allies and rivals, church and state, even my own doubts and fears influence my decision-making.  In retrospect, it might have been a lot simpler if I had simply tuned out the chatter, looked at the facts and see where they led me.

I know, I know, tuning out the chatter isn't that easy -- especially when it's the chatter of one's own mind gets in the way of looking at the facts and the direction they are leading.  In fact, my Buddhist friends have developed entire meditation programs designed to shut off the chatter of one's own mind.  That alone suggests how important and how difficult it is to shut one's own neuroses, biases and even hopes and dreams.
 
Then there's the problem of shutting off well-meaning (or not so well-meaning) chatter of people who care or don't care.  How does one do that without hurting feelings, without offending someone, but without giving up who and what you are?  I'm not sure myself.  I do know I've done it successfully sometimes, and sometimes I've failed miserably.  Part of the answer, I suspect, is being willing to listen, but to not make those other thoughts your own or influence your thinking.  It may also very well be that unless I followed the other person's wishes or advice, offense would follow.  That, ultimately, is beyond my control.

(A sidenote: I'm as guilty as the next person about being a chatterer and intruding my own perspective into people's lives.  So, I'm not throwing rocks at anyone.  Indeed, it is a part of being human and wanting to help.  Sometimes, though, it doesn't help, and we need to remember that.) 

The next step is to look at the facts and see where they lead.  Although in the context of the original quote, Buffett used the term "facts" in the most restrictive sense, I am using the word "facts" in much broader sense.

Having emotions is a fact of being human.  So, if I'm making a decision that  requires consideration of emotional states or well-being, then, yes, those emotional states should be part of the fact-gathering process.  Intuition -- that process whereby humans subconciously gather and add up information -- should be considered part of the fact-considering process. And then there's the Buffett version of "facts" -- those dry, objective things that look the same no matter how you turn them in the light.

Does this mean that decision-making need be a ponderously slow process, where we all plod along and never allow ourselves a snap decision?  Of course, it's not realistic, and of course not all decisions are momentous enough to need a slow process.  But maybe we all could use a bit more retreating from the chatter and simply laying out the facts and seeing where they lead.  I know I could.. and I plan on trying... even in the middle of things.

Note:  If you want to listen to the entire Buffett interview, go here.