Compounding Knowledge

Hello.

The best investment you can make is in yourself. Be it time or money, put them into use and improve yourself. Yes, it is true.

In issue 7 I wrote how I see investing. I’ll put a brief again for reminder.

Investing has 2 main components.

• Resource
• Expectation

Your most previous, priceless resource is your time. The second most important is debatable, but I consider wealth/money as second most important.

When you invest your resource into something, you do it with an expectation. It can be:

• Wealth creation
• Learning a skill
• Pleasure

We all know about wealth creation. That’s where the term “investing” is used the most.

But it is not the expectation I would put at topmost priority.

It is learning. Knowledge. Striving to be better than yesterday. Realization.

The best part of investing in yourself is you have full control over it. There is absolutely no external factor which can stop you.

When you learn a new skill, the biggest obstacle you will face is yourself. Your mind will find ways to resist the change and avoid the hard work. It is like getting up early in the morning and going for a jog.

But you know how the feeling changes when you start jogging and your body heats up. You feel refreshed. You start to enjoy it. You think clearly and with more clarity.

Learning a new skill is similar. But its your mind that needs a warmup to get its engine running.

And it compounds. The first week will be the hardest. You have to swim against the tide. The second week will be bit easier. The tide calms down.

The third week has little or no waves. And by the fourth week it will be like swimming in calm ocean. That’s the state you want to be.

But wait. It doesn’t just compound to form a habit. The learnings, skills, knowledge you learn builds on top of existing insights you have.

There is a book which has survived a long time. Art of War by Sun Tzu. The first time I read it, I had different interpretations. Then I read it after few months and it seemed like a totally different book. I had new learnings reading the same text!

I am sure if I read it now, I will yet again have new insights. What changed? I changed. During the few months gap, I read different books, carried out different investments, wrote, built a new software and lots of other experience.

Whatever you learn you build it on top of learnings you had before. The base gets wider and wider. Then it starts rising. The more insights you get, the bigger and faster compounding of yourself you will get.

What happens to a building when its foundations are weak but is built large? It falls hard. A shaky foundation is doomed to fall.

It is same with learnings. Learnings with shaky foundations will trouble you sooner or later. It is extremely important that you do not focus on latest trends, advanced knowledge without proper basics.

How do you know your basics aren’t good? Whenever you feel you do not understand something fundamental. Like in mathematics, doing multiplication without knowing addition. Or a quadratic equation without knowing multiplication.

Do not worry. If you are confused where to start. I can help you point to the right direction.

Finally, always remember.

You own this game. It is not stock market which will bring you the biggest and fastest wealth. It is you.

See you next time, hero. 😁