How To Improve Yourself
A not so complicated guide for complicated 20s or maybe even 30s
Hello đ,
I thought of doing a slightly different kind of post today.
I wanted to share some of the inputs which I gave to my 23-year-old cousin a few weeks back.
These inputs could work in your 30s too, but I felt they are more suitable for people who are starting their careers.
Letâs begin
If you have not yet checked my last post on valuation Shriram Housing Finance (SHFL), check here.
I tried explaining what might go inside the heads of Private Equity Players while doing an acquisition of a company in finance space.
I did try my best to explain concepts in very simple framework. Donât get overwhelmed with numbers and graphs. đđ
My cousin visited me a few weeks back.
He works in a software company and is a Java developer đŽđ„±
We had a chat over how he can improve his career, and I shared a few of my learningsâboth about life and moneyâover the course of the last decade.
I felt why not share it if anyone else might be interested too.
I thought what if I were to write myself a letter from the future, what would I tell myself.
May be something like this.
1. Get a Mentor
Life is too complicated.
And for a person in his/her early 20s too confusing.
I am not at all saying that I have attained âBuddhahoodâ but imagine the kind of time cumulatively wasted by humanity by going through the same experiences over and over again
This is a stupid endeavour.
It is like walking through a dark alley, and almost every single soul born on this planet has passed through the same alley, but no other bothered to put some lights on.
The sad part is people have tried, but the âLights were lit only for the seekersâ.
Seek the light.
Find a mentor.
Have 2 mentors.
One who is at least 5 years elder to you and the other who is a decade older to you.
You will get two perspectives.
One would be closer to the current world (it would be practical too), and the other could be more wisdom oriented. More on the lines of mistake to avoid.
Mentors are not supposed to be your friends. They are supposed to be âTeachersâ.
You seek guidance on the challenges you face. It could be about how to grow your career. It could be about how to prepare for interviews, too.
The younger mentor will give you practical answers, the older mentor will give you answers which will give you a 10-year perspective.
Both are important.
Finding a good mentor is a challenge. People are of different kinds.
The most critical part is the act of finding one.
But donât worry. You will find one.
Intention matters.
Intention creates change in your thoughts, and induces bias for action.
2. Choose Your Cheerleaders
You need to be extremely careful with the kind of people you hang out with.
If you hang out with people who are always seeking comfort, you will become a couch.
If you hang out with people who never wish to learn anything new, you will become a dud.
If you hang out with people who suck your energy, you will become exhausted.
If you hang out with people who are toxic, you will become poisonous.
It is extremely critical to find people who are your cheerleaders.
Why do you need cheerleading?
Well, you have your society and relatives to âbooâ you all the time. Find people who are energy givers and do away with people who are energy suckers.
In your work and personal life, you will find ânâ number of such energy suckers.
Let the vampires be only in the twilight.
3. Startups over Corporates
There are just two ways to grow at the start of your careerâJoin a corporate (defined as a mature company) or Join a startup (defined as SMEs, or a company in early to mid-phase)
Given two options, prefer a startup.
You may have comfort of time with corporates, but the time spent rusts your ability to learn, if you are not careful about your role.
At a startup, you will need to be the jack of all trades, and you will become master of some.
At a corporate (at most corporates, if not all), Your learning will be boxed.
People who are boxed can teach you only about boxes. For them, a rectangle is the only known shape.
It is better to learn how to speak with a client, learn how to get a customer and make a sales pitch, or work with different teams to solve problems than clocking 9 to 5 daily.
3. Understand What is a Business
You are your own business.
You get salary for the service you provide.
Your expenses are the cost of running your businessâliving expense etc.
The savings in your account are your profit.
Your reinvestments are the skills you learn to grow your salary.
Understand what are operating expenses, what is operating profit margin, what are net profits, what are profit margins, what is your sales/reinvestment rate etc
These terminologies may seem daunting.
But, once you understand it, you understand the language of business.
Business speak language of accounting, you need to know just the basics to converse.
4. Learn Poker â Think In Bets
There is a very famous book by Annie Duke called Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions.
The book, in my opinion, is overrated, but the message is not.
When you bet your money on an outcome, you will have the following range of emotions: anxiety, fear, sadness, or elation based on the outcome of your hand.
It is the money betting part which puts your skin in the game. If no money is bet, then you wonât have an attachment to the outcome. If no attachment, no emotions.
If no emotions, how will you learn to deal with them once you feel them in uncertainties of your life.
Learn Poker. Feel emotions.
Understand them. They are mere characters in your journey from Dadar to Navi Mumbai.
They will get down when their time comes.
5. Meet 52 People Per Year
Meeting people is hard.
Taking time out harder.
Finding people to learn from hardest.
But, there is another way.
Read a book by a few authors in the fields of behavioural economics, philosophy, business, self-help, and finance.
The logic is very simple:
The authors are trying to tell you their experience and learnings of almost a lifetime, in a book they might have worked for more than a year or two, for a few bucks.
This is the highest Return on Investment you can ever get.
When we read, another person thinks for us: We merely repeat his mental process - Aruthur Schopenhauer
Their return is the impact they made on your life, your impact will be being amongst those 52 people to impact someone else in future.
Return on Life is the impact you make on people.
6. Invest The Leftovers
The salary you start off will be not much.
After all expenses are taken care off, invest the rest.
Take any good mutual fund or invest in an index funds.
Just keep on investing in your early 20s. Invest and forget it.
The small investments you do will keep on piling up. By the time you get to your 30s, the value of this pile would become a very significant amount.
You can guide your money better, if you want to learn to invest by yourself. If not, take S&P 500 or Nifty 250 and just keep on investing.
However, understand how the money works too. Money is the single greatest invention of mankind after fire.
It is not difficult to understand the workings of money.
Remember:
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
And, The greatest every trick the money managers have ever played was to make you believe you cannot learn about the money.
I hope you find these points helpful.
See you in next post.