Episode Transcript

Note: The following transcript is a draft transcript, and as such, may contain computer-generated mistranslations.

Bruce Langford:

You've written a book called The Four Confidences. So what is confidence? How do you define it?

Ed Latimore:

Confidence is really the ability to act as if what you want is going to occur regardless of the outside conditions that may in fact be to the contrary. It's the ability to move in uncertainty as if you are certain and many people don't have that, they need a guarantee. And the problem with guarantees is, a guarantee is kind of a over-optimization. If we look at action and a longer curve, you can act with very little information, like zero to 10% certainty, or you can act with all of the information like 90 to 100% certainty. When you hear that at first, it seems like the former is unfavorable and the latter is the one that you want to aim for, but really no. Neither of those work because the best opportunities in life come from moving, when everyone else is kind of not sure when to move.

Ed Latimore, Lessons From Life That Can't Be Taught:

And once that certainty is there, then the market becomes saturated. And then there is no value because people know it's a short thing. Right? Think of it like the old Bitcoin craze. When people weren't sure what the heck Bitcoin was, you could get it for nothing. Now that people are like, oh, this is valuable. Oh, good luck. You know, getting a whole coin without breaking a serious parties salary. And I think the best things in life really are like that. We kind of have to take a gamble. I look at dating that way, at least for women, a lot of times. You look at a guy and it's like, does this person have potential because of your weight, so the potential is realized. You're going to be competing against the larger pool.

Ed Latimore, Lessons From Life That Can't Be Taught:

And then they're going to trust you a lot less. But if you look and you go, okay, they seem, you know, they're not a total loser. They're not like in prison or something. But they aren't really fully realized that there are 30 to 40% or realized sort of 30, 40% short are gonna turn to something and you jump on that and you can act, and you can do it confidently, not like waiting for things to go wrong. Yeah. You'll be rewarded. And that's, that's really the value of confidence that allows you to take advantage of, of those moments when people are just kind of sitting on the sideline going, uh, I don't know. And you can go, I know I'll act boldly. I'll seize the day.

Bruce Langford:

Well, speaking of relationships, I know that you've mentioned in some of your books about your partner, Anna, and how she's such a great supporter. And she helps you with your writing and she does proofreading and she just really supports you. And so what was the process like when you found her? Was there ever a struggle that you went through trying to find a person to be a great partner?

EEd Latimore, Lessons From Life That Can't Be Taught:

I think she is a wonderful example of someone looking at a very rough product, unfinished perhaps, not certain if we'd even make it to the end of the race, let alone finish well and going, you know what, I think that's the horse I'm going to bet on. And so there was no struggle. If anything, the struggle was internal because I'm dealing with a person and in my mind, I'm like, okay, I'm still working on things and dealing with things. And perhaps I don't think I bring that much to the table yet, but I knew I would eventually. And one of the things I always say about dealing with her is that I get so used to dealing with a low quality, low caliber that I thought there was something wrong with her when I met her. But you know, as time goes and you just, you learn. It's really like, no, I'm extraordinarily happy in my life and have been for quite some time. And a lot of what I'm able to do is because she lends her support whenever she can.

Tune in to the episode for more Life Lessons That Can't Be Taught by  Ed Latimore.