Topley’s Top Ten – March 12, 2020

Author

Matt Topley
March 12, 2020

1.Small Cap Stocks -25%

Small Cap stocks back to2019 lows….Never made new highs on charts.

2.Dow Transports Break Thru 2019 Lows…-30%

Transports never made new highs…

3.Micro-Cap Stocks -30%…Break 2019 Lows.

Micro Cap ETF

4.High-Yield Spread Widening Out.

High-yield spreads hit 600bps.

HYG-Junk Bond ETF -10%

5.Emerging Markets Down Less Than S&P YTD.

EEM emerging marketsdown 1% less than S&P….EFA Europe down the most and more coming today.

6.Government Bond Yields.

6 charts show the coronavirus impact onthe global economy and markets so far

7.One Chart on Slowing The Spread of Infection.

NY Times-Flattening the CoronavirusCurve

One chart explains why slowing thespread of the infection is nearly as important as stopping it.

Mitigation efforts like socialdistancing help reduce the disease caseload on any given date, and can keep thehealthcare system from becoming overwhelmed.Credit…Drew Harris

Found at Abnormal Returns www.abnormalreturns.com

8.NCAA Men’s Basketball Generates Close to $1B Per Year…

NCAA’s March Madness coronavirus plan willcost organization big

Ticket revenue will certainly plunge after NCAA President Mark Emmertannounced plans to limit attendance

The NCAA’slucrative March Madness basketballtournaments will proceed this month without fans in attendance dueto concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak, jeopardizing expected revenuefrom the multibillion-dollar event.

The NCAA’sDivision I men’s basketball tournament generates $867.5 million annually fromtelevision and marketing rights alone, according to the institution’s website. The event composes a significantportion of the NCAA’s yearly revenue. In 2019, the NCAA earned an estimated $933 million whenfactoring in media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships.

Ticketrevenue will certainly plunge after NCAA President Mark Emmert announced plansto limit attendance at the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. Onlyschool officials, essential staff and players’ family members will bepermitted to attend.

9.Dow Averaging 300 Point Swings in Last 30 mins of Trading

TheDow has swung an average of about 300 points in the last 30 minutes of tradingover the past 10 sessions—including Tuesday’s dramatic rally of roughly 400points to end the day. That is roughly triple the average swing recordedbetween 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m., when activity hovers near its lows of the day,for the same period.

10.5 Stoic Lessons On Time Management

American jazz icon Miles Davis once said, “Time isn’t the mainthing, it’s the only thing.” Seneca once wrote that it’s not that wehave a short time to live, but that we waste a great deal of it. We allenvelop ourselves in various forms of escapism, hoping either to postpone ourresponsibilities or avoid them altogether. As addicting as it is, desire is theenemy to proper time management. Poor sleeping habits, unhealthy lifestylechoices, and just plain dissatisfaction are all byproducts of a poorly managedlife.  Epictetus spoke of this too in the Enchiridion, writing “Ifyou are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferringthe day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that youare making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary”

Yes, timemanagement is extremely difficult. It’s a never-ending process of elimination,constantly refining what works for us and what doesn’t. Luckily, Stoicphilosophers like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus allhad valuable insight on how we can manage our time more effectively. Here are 5tips on how to manage your time like a Stoic.

ReplaceProcrastination With Delayed Gratification

“Putting things off is the greatest waste of life: it snatchesaway each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future.”

How often do we mutter to ourselves, “I’ll do it later” or “Eh,I don’t feel like doing that”. It feels good in the moment—sure. But theindulgence of impulsive desire has never been consistent with the teachings ofStoicism.

It’sobvious to us that the Stoics were men of action. MarcusAurelius, the Roman Emperor and talented philosopher still foundtime to write in his journal during the midst of military campaigns andpolitical turmoil. Epictetus too, despite being born into slavery andsuffering from a debilitating leg injury, managed to open numerous philosophyschools and build a legendary reputation for himself. When we procrastinate, weare neither completing the tasks that were assigned to us, nor are we spendingour time fruitfully. Not to mention, we also aren’t present. We’re livingsomewhere in our heads where we physically are not.

Rather than allowing ourselves to put off the important stuff,we can always break our work down into short bursts of energetic action. Anexample, every thirty minutes of diligent work could be rewarded with fiveminutes of phone time. This allows us to momentarily engage in those activitieswe enjoy, but also utilize them as positive reinforcers for productivebehavior. We have to resist those impulses to watch TV for hours, to play videogames all night long, and to waste time in general. If we can learn to delaythe gratification that comes with impulsivity and complete our tasks in atimely manner, we are making far better use of our time. The Stoics knew betterthan anyone—there is no time to waste.

TakeYour Time On Things That Matter

“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunchof grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you thatthere must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen”

—Epictetus, Discourses

Sometimeswe’re forced to rush things. Maybe our boss is putting pressure on us to meetcertain deadlines, or maybe it’s our own internal pressure; our own internaldeadlines. We live in a fast-paced world where everything is an emergency. Butif we truly wish to improve our time management skills, it’s more importantthat we slowdown and be still.

In Stillnessis the Key, Ryan Holiday shares the story of the legendary archerymaster Awa Kenzo. Kenzo famously never taught students how to deliberately aimand shoot at a target. Mastery of the bow only came from masteryof detachment. “The hits on the target,” Kenzo said, “are only theoutward proof and confirmation of your purposelessness at its highest, of youregolessness, your self-abandonment, or whatever you like to call this state”.Time management is a lot like archery in this sense. In order to hit our target(or deadlines) we have to mentally detach from our urge to rush through thingsand turn them around quickly. We have to see our work with an objectively clearmind. Easier said than done, certainly. But it can be done.

We oughtto keep in mind that slowing down is consistent with our guiding doctrineof living according to nature. Nature demands that certainprocesses take extended periods of time. Like the growth of a redwood tree, oras Epictetus pointed out, the blossoming of a fig. When we feel like we need torush, it’s already too late—we have failed to properly manage our time aroundthat task. Rushing is sometimes inevitable of course, but we’d be ignorant tonot take Epictetus’ advice and slow it down on the important things. Qualitywork takes time. This is the way it has always been. But we can manage our timemore effectively by focusing on the things that matter and moving fasterthrough the things that don’t. Simple as that.

Pausingis Important

“We must go for walks out of doors, so that the mind can bestrengthened and invigorated by a clear sky and plenty of fresh air. At timesit will acquire fresh energy from a journey by carriage and a change of scene,or from socializing and drinking freely. Occasionally we should even come tothe point of intoxication, sinking into drink but not being totally flooded byit; for it does wash away cares, and stirs the mind to its depths, and healssorrow just as it heals certain diseases.”

Time management often becomes difficult because we fall into aroutine. We’re always on the go, always striving for something. And while thishustle often feels like productivity, it’s not sustainable or a great way tospend our time. So how do we get off the hustle train and recharge? By learningto manage our strategic breaks. The mind needs rest from the demands of theday, and if we neglect to give ourselves those much-needed pauses, we’re boundto burn out. Not to mention, constantly working forces us into a kind of hazewhere we’re only thinking about what we have to do next—and that’s not living.

We’vetalked about the power of journaling and habitual reading before, as both are great ways topause and recharge. But it doesn’t have to be just those two. Going on a walkis also an effective way to break up one’s work. Many people find that gettingup from their desk once a day and taking a brief walk can do wonders for theirwork-related stress and anxiety. Listening to music and working out are alsogreat options—whatever separates you the most from your work.

Seneca’s words are urging us to pause not just for effectivetime management, but for our own well-being. We must resist the urge to be inconstant motion and remember to reenergize. Reading, writing, walking, nomatter. All that matters is that we stop the madness that is work and lookaround every now and then.

Master TheThree Domains Of Time

“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past,neglect the present, and fear the future”

Seneca believed that time was divided into three parts: the past(which is unalterable), the present (which is transitory), and the future(which is uncertain). Contemporary time management strategies almost alwaysinstruct students to formulate their schedules in accordance with the future.That presentation you have coming up? Make sure you put it in your calendarthree months in advance. Make flashcards for it, and practice them three nightsa week leading up to the big day. Seneca’s words help us understand that thefuture is not all that matters. No, the modern Stoic must master all threedomains of time.

With regard to our past, we have to learn from it. All thoseother times where we tried to write out a schedule for ourselves, or used anorganizational app, or bought a cool daily planner from the dollar store—weshould remember them all and how they didn’t work for us. That way, we won’twaste time trying those things out over and over again.

In thepresent, we must remember that it is transitory. Time is constantly movingforward, aging us and bringing us closer to death. Effective time managementmeans keeping these thoughts at the forefront. Knowing that time is passing usby, we value it more. We cut out the BS that doesn’t help us grow, and we double-downon the things that do. This is how we become great time managers.

Finally,the future. On the back of every Premeditatio Malorum challengecoin is the inscription “Exile, Torture, War, Shipwreck”. The words comefrom Seneca, as he insisted that focusing on the worst possible outcomeprepares our minds for whatever the day may bring. We can’t spend all of ourtime worrying about the future. Then, of course, we’d be neglecting thepresent. But we should always look to the horizon and anticipate what it willbring. Master the three parts of time, and in doing so we’ll dramaticallyenhance our ability to manage our time.

GuardYour Time

“People are frugal guarding their personal property; but as soonas it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing inwhich it is right to be stingy”

Here, at this very moment, time is passing. We can’t chase itbecause it will always outrun us. We can’t move it backward, or forward italong any faster than its already moving. The amount of time we have iscompletely and utterly out of our control—but the way we spend our time remainsours.

Seneca once wrote that it’s not that we don’t have enough time,rather we use the time we have wastefully. We fail to treat time as somethingof value even though it’s our most valuable resource. An interesting comparisonmight be those who spend all of their money foolishly and still complain abouttheir financial struggles. We look at those people and think “how wasteful ofthem” even though we do the same exact thing with time.

As we try to build our time management skills, we ought to keepthis example in mind. Every schedule we make, every tactic we employ—it allmatters. We human beings are day trading the most valuable commodity that lifehas to offer, and many of us are too preoccupied with the distractions of lifethat we fail to recognize this until it’s too late.

Conclusion

We are the masters of how we spend our time. Everything we do,each and every day, is a choice. The truth is, everyone struggles to managetheir time and we all have an enormous amount of responsibility. But we don’thave to be a slave to stress, anxiety, and unpreparedness.

Rememberto deploy these Stoic principles: Opt for delayed gratification, take your timeon things that matter, pause once in a while, master the three parts of time,and treat time as the ultimate commodity. The more strategies we experimentwith, the more refined our schedules will be. Thus, the more refined our lifewill be.