I was wrapping up work today, thinking about retirement, and stumbled across something called a snowflake analysis.
It is a chart that Simply Wall Street uses to visualize the strengths and weaknesses of a stock.
Here is their snowflake analysis for Apple:
They say Apple’s stock is “slightly overvalued with limited growth.”
I’m typing this on my iPhone 12 mini (discontinued) but still have no clue if they are correct on their ratings. The chart itself has me thinking though.
Digging a bit further I noticed their underlying data, the scores that are reflected in the chart.
Now the wheels were cranking. And those wheels had spokes. And Laird Hamilton was driving.
“I really believe that to have optimum performance you have to have every spoke in the tire. That you need every single spoke. That you have to have good relations with your family, you got to have love, and you got to have good things with the kids, and you got to have friends, and you got to have your health, and you got to sleep well, and you got to be hydrated, and you got to work out, and you got to have your business thing. I think you just have to have all these things to really have balance and I think if one of the spokes isn’t tight, that there’s a bump in the wheel.”
Laird Hamilton, on Joe Rogan Experience
It is also very similar to what Julia Cameron calls a “Life Pie.”
“Draw a circle. Divide it into six pieces of pie. Label one piece spirituality, another exercise, another play, and so on with work, friends, and romance/ adventure. Place a dot in each slice at the degree to which you are fulfilled in that area (outer rim indicates great; inner circle, not so great). Connect the dots. This will show you where you are lopsided.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Notice it’s not a pie chart in the classic sense. It’s not about measuring the size of the slices. We are focused on the crust. We want our pie to be round.
Here is my Life Pie:
These are Julia’s categories, and much like picking your top two, we get to choose what to focus on.
The goal is to become more well-rounded. Literally. Expanding our circle outward. Making sure we don’t have any bumps in the wheel. Bumps in the wheel make for a slow and uncomfortable ride.
What factors are at play for you? Plot those on the chart. You can do it for anything.
Here is a look at my favorite baseball team. Their goal is to win games, and here are some of the underlying factors at play.
Looks a little lopsided. What are our chances of winning the pennant?
Here is a look at my personal fitness.
Strong like the Tin Man. Maybe I should touch my toes every now and again.
Does your company look something like this? Everything looking good except the making money part?
Now that you see where you are lopsided you can identify where to make changes. Where to make your next hire. What initiatives to focus on.
Just one more, from my account planning recently. Here is a customer. What stands out as a little bit odd?
You can see that our performance is good, and retention is solid, but we don’t have brand loyalty. How does that work? Our customers are loyal to their account team but not the firm. That lack of branding hurts our ability to grow past the scale of this account team.
Snowflake analysis can help you visualize the strengths of a company’s stock, a project, your life, or anything in between. Keep in mind, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Too many spokes will weigh you down.
If you try to map your progress towards becoming a professional baseball player, an astronaut, president of the firm, and Dad of the Year, life is going to get difficult. As Matthew McConaughey would say, you don’t want to be making 5 B’s instead of 3 A’s.
Use the analysis to visualize progress toward those areas that are most important. And make sure those are headed in the right direction.
