Seven-Bullet Monday - December 18, 2023

Here is your Seven-Bullet Monday

1. A quote I am pondering:

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now." – old Chinese proverb

Rather than lamenting missed opportunities in the past, we should take action now because it is never too late to start something beneficial. The next 20 years will come sooner than we know, and by planting a tree today, we will have something then to look back on with pride.

2. A question I am asking myself:

"Which of my current habits is least aligned with the type of person I hope to become? 

Because my life's trajectory is essentially built out of my habits, whether good or bad, I need to work on eliminating or at least reducing habits that I don't want to be part of my future. 

3. A book I am reading:

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI – Fei-Fei Li

Fei-Fei Li is best known for creating ImageNet, which significantly advanced modern Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the book, she talks of her journey starting as a childhood immigrant from China, growing up in American poverty, caring for her ailing mother, and ultimately becoming a leading AI scientist. The book parallels her life's journey with the evolvement of AI and details how many of her personal struggles helped her advance a caring and ethical AI future.

4. What I learnt this week

Agnostic Autonomous Haulage Systems are becoming a credible alternative to OEM systems

An agnostic autonomous haulage system by ASI Mining has successfully been trialled in Australian iron ore mining. This technology is notable for its OEM agnosticism, meaning it can convert any conventional haul truck into an autonomous one, regardless of make or model. The project at Roy Hill, which involved transforming their entire truck fleet, consisting of CAT 793F and Hitachi EH5000 haul trucks, to autonomous haulage, is a significant development. It represents a major shift in offering safe and productive autonomous technology to mines that operate more than one type of haul truck.

5. My highlight this week

I had a couple of highlights this week

a. A full-time Conuma Energy Manager starting 

Andrew Uraih, our new Conuma Energy Manager, started this week. This is an exciting time, as we have so many opportunities across our mining operations to be more energy efficient and reduce our emissions. Plus, we can access numerous government incentives to help us on that energy-efficient journey. Welcome, Andrew!

b. Laying down some new lawn for our townhouse

I spent Tuesday removing what was left of the old lawn, collecting some new sod from far, far away and laying it down. Our existing lawn had become a mud patch our dogs were dragging inside. I underestimated the work, which probably should have been a two-person job, but I managed to get it done by early evening, and it now looks ten times better than it was. Here are our two adorable dogs enjoying their new lawn 😊.

c. Wrapping up our 2024 Creeky Blinders men's group year with a fireside dinner

Our young men's group (sic), aptly named Creeky Blinders, managed to secure the coveted fireplace corner at Carderos in Coal Harbour for our Christmas get-together. We had a fantastic evening reminiscing about the two-and-a-half years our group has been running. There was plenty of ribbing, especially of yours truly, and we also had some great discussions about our goals for 2024.

6. Hugh-tips

In the words of Charlie Munger, deserve to be a successful investor 

Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's 60-year partner in Berkshire Hathaway, passed away in November, two months short of reaching his 100th birthday. Munger's quotes are almost as legendary as his investing, so this week, I will share this quote, "To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people." To deserve to outperform the market, you need to know your goals, do the work on your investments, and be both patient and disciplined.

7. My challenge for you this week

Plan for more change next year because the future is coming faster than you think

This year will be known as when AI hit the mainstream, with some 200 million users now interacting with ChatGPT. As much as 2023 brought massive technological progress, 2024 could see double that change and 2025 even more. That means we need to keep up with the pace of change so 1) we don't get left behind and 2) we leverage AI as much as possible. In 2024, I will commit to learning new technologies and AI offerings for a couple of hours each week. I encourage you to do the same!

Have an awesome week