No Small Boy Stuff, Investing Wisdom from Nassim Taleb, plus ChatGPT Prompts We're Using

**Sam Parr** (0:00)
What's up, Sam? You like the fit?

**Shaan Puri** (0:03)
Where did you get that?

**Sam Parr** (0:04)
Our boys at Jambi sent it over, the No Small Boys Stuff Christmas Edition.

**Shaan Puri** (0:18)
You know, it's pretty funny, I actually used the phrase, No Small Boys Stuff, like kind of a lot.

**Sam Parr** (0:22)
Yeah, I remember the guy who tweeted it. I think his name was Bengali87. And this was back in 2022, he said, best business slash entrepreneurship podcast out there, big money that is, No Small Boys Stuff.

**Shaan Puri** (0:36)
I loved that. And that's basically the phrase that we use for this podcast a lot, No Small Boys Stuff. But frankly, I kind of used it a lot in my life. Like, I don't know, man, that's small boy kind of stuff. Like it's sort of like in succession where they say, you're not a very serious person. It's kind of like that.

**Sam Parr** (0:52)
I also use the phrase, but I'd never say it.
Cause saying it to me feels so cringe, but I think it like a thousand times for every one time that I say it. And every one time I say it, it feels so awkward to me. It's like saying, it's like saying, just do it in the Nike slogan way or something. Like you don't really want to say that, hey guys, this, you know, in the fourth quarter, we check, Nike, baby, just do it. And then they'll be like, what, why are you saying slogans at us? But I do think it a lot. It's actually meaningfully affected the trajectory of my life is to use this phrase. And because there's so many situations where there's like a little small boy response, ooh, I'll behave like a little small boy in this situation. Or.

**Shaan Puri** (1:32)
Yeah, that phrase and what Amjad said recently about what will make the better story, that has had a fairly meaningful change. Just in, you know, it's only been a few weeks, but like I think about that actually a lot.

**Sam Parr** (1:44)
He also said something else where he was talking about, he was basically so comfortable with this like 10-year plus odyssey that he's been on building this. And we're like, wow, you've been doing this for so long. And wow, you did this for years before you had really any recognition or any funding. And he just kept going. And he was just like, yeah, I persist. And he was just like, yeah, he's like, I think that's what I do. He's like, I didn't really think about it that consciously, but like I'm pretty comfortable pushing the boulder for a long time up the mountain. And I realized like, I guess that's my like competitive advantage. Like I'm in it for the long haul. And I'll just persist is like, and we were both like small like, yeah, quick intake of breath.

**Shaan Puri** (2:27)
What do you want to start with today?

**Sam Parr** (2:29)
All right, I got a good story for you. So there's this great Nassim Taleb quote or tweet where he Taleb who wrote Black Swan and anti-fragile is kind of this like contrarian thinker.

**Shaan Puri** (2:40)
Would he like a successful hedge fund investor? But he was successful because he had an interesting life philosophy and then he became like a thinker. Is that his story?

**Sam Parr** (2:49)
I believe so. I believe so. I believe he's like a successful trader and part of his success, unless I'm mixing him up with somebody else, part of his success was that he noticed that humans are, we would rather win frequently in small amounts and then lose a bunch when we're wrong. It's like gambling. It's like playing craps, right? One roll of dice, you made a little money, two rolls of dice, you made a little money, but eventually you roll a seven and it wipes out the entire board, all of the chips go away. But he's like, humans are more comfortable with that versus he was willing to bleed a little every day and look stupid every day for years. But then when his big short, when his big bet pays off and his contrarian bet pays off, he makes all the money in one day.

**Shaan Puri** (3:34)
Got it.

**Sam Parr** (3:35)
I think that's his story. If it's not his story, his book is talking about the guy who does that. So I can't recall if it's him or if he's the author, or he's the author and the hero of the story.
Okay. So Taleb tweeted this thing. He goes, I conjecture that if you gave an investor the next day's news 24 hours in advance, he would go bust in less than a year. This is basically the back to the future premise. So I don't remember the movie Back to the Future, but what's his name, Biff or whatever?