Read the Boring Stuff, Seriously!

Most people assume billionaires have secret information. We think they have access to a hidden group chat or a private report that tells them exactly what to buy and when to sell.

But the truth is usually much simpler. They just read the things that other people are too lazy to read.

Mark Cuban is the perfect example of this. In his early twenties, he did not have a lot of money. He did not have connections. But he had a strategy that he called "Information Arbitrage."

He realized that if he knew more than the person across the table, he would win.

So he started reading. But he did not read business biographies or self help books. He read software manuals.

He would sit in his cheap apartment and read technical documentation for PC software cover to cover. It was dry. It was boring. It was difficult to get through.

But it gave him an edge.

When he walked into a meeting with a client, he knew exactly how the software worked. He knew the shortcuts. He knew the bugs. He knew the features that even the salespeople did not understand.

He used this boring information to build his first company, MicroSolutions, and eventually sold it for millions.

The Information Arbitrage

Information Arbitrage is simple. It means finding a gap between what you know and what the market knows.

If you read the same news headlines as everyone else, you have no advantage. You are thinking the same thoughts as your competition.

To get an edge, you have to go to the source.

Mark Cuban does not wait for a journalist to summarize a new technology. He goes straight to the white-papers. He looks at patent filings.

If a new technology like Quantum Computing or Artificial Intelligence is rising, he does not read the opinion pieces. He reads the technical documentation.

By the time the mainstream media explains a concept, the opportunity is usually gone. The value is in the raw data.

Hunting for Contrarian Data

This approach also helps you spot when the crowd is wrong.

When the news says "Crypto is dead," most people believe it and sell. A reader like Cuban looks for the data that contradicts the headline.

He might look at developer activity. If the price of the coin is down, but the number of developers building on the platform is up, that is a signal. That is a mismatch between perception and reality.

That is where the profit is.

Signals over Noise

We live in a world of noise. We are drowning in opinions.

A "Titan" diet means ignoring the opinions and focusing on the signals.

This means you prioritize primary sources. Do not read an article about a new law. Read the legislation itself. Do not read a tweet about a company’s earnings. Read the financial statement.

It takes more effort. It is less entertaining. It requires focus.

But that is exactly why it works. Because most people will not do it.

The Metric

The next time you are choosing what to read, ask yourself the question that Mark Cuban asks.

"Does reading this give me an advantage over the person sitting across the negotiation table?"

If the answer is no, put it down. Pick up the manual instead.