"You can't outwork a bad vehicle" Warren Buffett

[GON]

Came across this Warren Buffett quote. Part of the quote dissection really caught my eye and thought relevant to certain vehicles:

"You can't outwork a bad vehicle"

More on the quote and dissection:

Warren Buffett said it best: "Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks."

Translation: Stop trying to fix something that is fundamentally broken.

We glorify "never giving up." But there's a huge difference between perseverance and stubbornness.

If your business model, relationship, or strategy has been "leaking" for years—working harder won't fix it.

You can't outwork a bad vehicle.

The real win isn't patching the hole for the 100th time. It's having the guts to jump ship and find one that actually floats.

 

[burbguy82]

I agree to a point.

With the understanding that when you jump ship, sharks are not waiting to gobble you up. The ship is the means and way to the destination.

 

[GON]

I agree to a point.

With the understanding that when you jump ship, sharks are not waiting to gobble you up. The ship is the means and way to the destination.

When I was interviewing for jobs, a very common question would be asked "what is your greatest weakness"

I suspect it is a trick question, but almost every hiring panel would ask the question.

My response " I am a poor quitter". The hiring panel often looked shocked at my reply. I would further explain, that I don't like quitting anything. I would use fixing a refrigerator as a example m.i would stress I never quit in any repair. Sometimes, the parts and labor to fix a refrigerator are more expensive and not cost effective, when compared to buying a new refrigerator.

Mr. Buffet's comment to me is it is ok to cut bait, when the fishing is not working out..move to New waters, change bait, etc..... or call it a day and do some other activities if the fishing is bad and not going to improve. Of course this is about employment, business.... Not about fishing.

 

[Nukeman7]

Buffet's message reminds me of a philosophy shared by a newly hired Chief Information Officer at my former employer. He emphasized that the company could not grow or remain competitive within the industry without taking strategic risks with emerging technology...and that all risks come with the potential for failure. His mantra was that if you couldn't succeed, you must "Fail Fast" and learn a valuable lesson from the experience.

I always equated the "Fail Fast" philosophy with the following lyrics from Kenny Rogers The Gambler: "You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them. When to walk away and when to run away."

 

[Kira]

The last line is, "Know when to walk away, know when to run"......a stupendous lyric, if you ask me.

 

[vwmaniaman]

Quitters didn't win WWII and quitters won't defend this country.

 

[wander2039]

I did that with the Focus and the S15.. so much waste of time and $$$. Should of just work a little OT and bought something else. More time to handle the other things that I should of been.

 

[ATex7239]

Also akin the sunk-cost fallacy. Just because you have already invested time and money doesn’t mean it’s worth more time and more money.

People and relationships could fall into this category as well.

 

[ATex7239]

Quitters didn't win WWII and quitters won't defend this country.

You’re confusing concepts. Retreating, abandoning ship, and alike are absolutely sound military tactics. One’s used during WW2 and still used today. Conceding the battle or a particular vessel so you don’t lose the overall effort or war is an important strategy. It’s not quitting. It’s being intelligent with time and resources and knowing where to allocate said time and resources. And more importantly where not to.

 

[GON]

You’re confusing concepts. Retreating, abandoning ship, and alike are absolutely sound military tactics. One’s used during WW2 and still used today. Conceding the battle or a particular vessel so you don’t lose overall effort or war is an important strategy. It’s not quitting. It’s being intelligent with time and resources and knowing where to allocate said time and resources. And more importantly where not to.

Aligns with the saying "sometimes you have to lose to win".

GEN MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia in WWII.

"General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines in March 1942 under direct orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to avoid capture by Japanese forces and to organize a new Allied command in Australia. With defenses collapsing, the U.S. government deemed it essential to preserve his leadership for the eventual return to liberate the islands."

 

[KrisZ]

Inspirational quotes, oh yeah that’s the stuff
Is that the secret to success?

 

[Pew]

Quitters didn't win WWII and quitters won't defend this country.

To be fair, 10 million US service members drafted in WW2 didn't have a choice.

Aligns with the saying "sometimes you have to lose to win".

GEN MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia in WWII.

"General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines in March 1942 under direct orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to avoid capture by Japanese forces and to organize a new Allied command in Australia. With defenses collapsing, the U.S. government deemed it essential to preserve his leadership for the eventual return to liberate the islands."

Macarthur took the gamble in moving the defenses of the Philippines to Bataan peninsula because he was too infatuated with them instead of staying with a more fortified and defendable position on the coastline like originally planned. The Bataan death march was the result of that and consequently abandoned his men. Macarthur also constantly got into fights with Admiral Nimitz and did not get along with the US and other allied generals of the European theatre, so they left him in the Pacific. He was ready to expend American lives to completely liberate the Philippines and the islands along the way compared to the island hopping campaign of Nimitz.

 

[KrisZ]

Aligns with the saying "sometimes you have to lose to win".

GEN MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia in WWII.

Easy to say when you’re not the one in the trenches.

 

[ATex7239]

Aligns with the saying "sometimes you have to lose to win".

GEN MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia in WWII.

"General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines in March 1942 under direct orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to avoid capture by Japanese forces and to organize a new Allied command in Australia. With defenses collapsing, the U.S. government deemed it essential to preserve his leadership for the eventual return to liberate the islands."

Ships have life rafts and life jackets, some planes have ejection systems, parachutes have primary parachute cut away systems, and back up parachutes. Sometimes you gotta know when to cut your losses and try something else.

If somebody wants to sink their life savings and all their free time into a broken down vehicle, so they don’t feel like they are “quitter“ then so be it. Work/spend your guts out. I don’t care.

 

[ATex7239]

Easy to say when you’re not the one in the trenches.

I am not a fan of MacArthur in my readings of him as a leader. Not a fan at all.

That said I think we are going a little bit astray here. The idea is not to sink human effort and resources into a broke system or objects.

 

[KrisZ]

I am not a fan of MacArthur in my readings of him as a leader. Not a fan at all.

That said I think we are going a little bit astray here. The idea is not to sink human effort and resources into a broke system or objects.

Agreed, but then again when gen MacArthur said those words, he wasn’t referring to broke systems, but to the realities of war. So why bring up quotes that pertain to warfare? Because it sounds good?

And that’s really why I don’t like when people quote famous people and make it seem like it’s some sort of sage wisdom or that it makes it more valid for some reason, when in fact it’s just common stuff.

Every ordinary person is capable of recognizing effort vs value added. Some are more stubborn than others and we all have different priorities and see value in things differently.

I don’t need to see a famous quote to tell me what most of us already know.

I’m sure Mr Buffet himself was guilty of not adhering to his own advice many times, just like any of us.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Mr. Buffet's comment to me is it is ok to cut bait, when the fishing is not working out..move to New waters, change bait, etc..

Cutting bait is a better analogy.

Relative to investing the saying sell your loosers and hold your winners is more appropriate even while most people do the opposite

The "bad car" analogy doesn't work for me. Cars are fairly predictable, unlike fish, equity markets, people.

 

[ATex7239]

Agreed, but then again when gen MacArthur said those words, he wasn’t referring to broke systems, but to the realities of war. So why bring up quotes that pertain to warfare? Because it sounds good?

And that’s really why I don’t like when people quote famous people and make it seem like it’s some sort of sage wisdom or that it makes it more valid for some reason, when in fact it’s just common stuff.

Every ordinary person is capable of recognizing effort vs value added. Some are more stubborn than others and we all have different priorities and see value in things differently.

I don’t need to see a famous quote to tell me what most of us already know.

I’m sure Mr Buffet himself was guilty of not adhering to his own advice many times, just like any of us.

Sure. But people in general have poor said/do ratios. It’s easy to talk about something or to tell someone else to do something and it’s far more difficult to actually do it yourself. If most people were able to easily understand and adhere to simple financial concepts and tasks then folks like Buffet and Ramsey wouldn’t be so popular.

 

[KrisZ]

Sure. But people in general have poor said/do ratios. It’s easy to talk about something or to tell someone else to do something and it’s far more difficult to actually do it yourself. If most people were able to easily understand and adhere to simple financial concepts and tasks then folks like Buffet and Ramsey wouldn’t be so popular.

That why I asked in this thread if reading inspirational quotes is the secret to success.

We all know it’s not. Successful people are not successful because they read a quote somewhere or went to a seminar on how to be rich or successful, but because they have the drive and are independent thinkers.

 

[4wd]

Sure. But people in general have poor said/do ratios. It’s easy to talk about something or to tell someone else to do something and it’s far more difficult to actually do it yourself. If most people were able to easily understand and adhere to simple financial concepts and tasks then folks like Buffet and Ramsey wouldn’t be so popular.

Love the commercial where the guy has been talking about a kitchen remodel for so long that others finish his sentence