100.

Venturing into the great unknown.

Mar 09, 2024

Hi.

Reading time: About 13 minutes

This is the 100th post of the Great Unknown! I cannot believe that I have written so many. To think that I have been consistent at writing every week since more than a year is my biggest achievement. I look at all my old posts and laugh at how bad I was when I started out and I am pretty sure I will laugh a year or two from now when I look back at this post as well. Good thing about this is it means I am improving. The more I write the better I get. In the end that is the goal.

Visualize an ethereal scene where an individual is walking up an infinite, sleek staircase that ascends through a vast expanse of dark, dense clouds. The atmosphere is heavy with a sense of solitude and contemplation. The clouds swirl around the staircase, which reflects a faint, mysterious light, giving the impression that the steps lead to an unknown, possibly transcendental destination. The person is silhouetted against the dark sky, their figure small and resilient against the enormity of the natural elements. This image should capture a moment suspended in time, where the journey itself is the destination, and the surrounding darkness is filled with the heavy, silent presence of the clouds. — DALL-E image ‘a person walking into the clouds on an infinite staircase’

A visually captivating scene of a human being venturing into the great unknown of the universe. The human is wearing casual space-appropriate attire, floating amidst a breathtaking cosmic backdrop filled with colorful nebulas, distant stars, and various celestial bodies. The image conveys a sense of awe and exploration, emphasizing the vastness and beauty of outer space. The human appears small compared to the immense universe around them, highlighting the concept of exploration and discovery in the vast expanse of space. — DALL-E ‘venturing into the great unknown universe’

One thing that I want to clear up. Everything I write is an idea borrowed from someone else. There is nothing that I have written about that is original. But this quote from Shane Parrish on originality is what I agree with;

“We don’t necessarily have to come up with all of this stuff ourselves. We can see a better model and adopt it or, the parts of it that will help us along. Giving up on holding on to our own ideas is really important.
I don’t come up with almost anything that’s original. I aggregate and synthesize other people’s thoughts and put it into context for people. I think that those are things that I like to focus on, I have a passion for doing that. I’m doing it anyway because I get a lot of value out of reading, learning, and exploring the world, and I share that with people.” - Shane Parrish

There is one more quote that I resonate with.

“In terms of priority, inspiration comes first. You come next. The audience comes last.”
― Rick Rubin

This priority framework is what I believe is true for me. For me the idea is to learn what I am inspired by. This comes best for me through writing. So regardless of how many people read my post as long as I am writing about things that are inspiring and important for me, I am good.

Since this is my 100th post I thought I will write a little bit about the people who shape me. My ‘gurus’. These are the people who have the most impact on me.

Family

Whether you like it or not the biggest role in shaping you as a person has come in your childhood with your family. Now I do not have the best memory about me as a kid but I do have some memories which I can share from recent times.

Let’s time travel back to Covid. I was done with my 10th standard, I got 90.6% to my surprise. Everyone in the country was in lockdown. The daily routine consisted of sweeping the floor, sanitizing every single thing that came into the household, and of course the mandatory Mahabharat. At this time I used to do nothing. My day started at 2pm and ended at 4am. The entire time all I did was watch tv, eat junk food, play games and have a call with my friends about the lamest things possible. This routine sadly went on longer than the lockdown. I continued doing this well into late 2020.

This was probably one of the lowest times for me because before this I had cricket which was my purpose and driving force. Then lockdown came and I seemed to have nothing.

No physical activity, No healthy food and No productivity. I look back at that time and think it was a genuine waste. I did not do anything I deeply liked. I just filled myself with all the dopamine that was available. It probably even ruined my concentration levels.

In this time, I remember my Mom sat me down and told me to go back and play cricket again. My Mom had told me do you want to be a cricketer or do you want to start studying and become something else in life.

I remember hating my mom at this time. I was very agitated. She told me what I had to hear but did not want to hear. The reality was I had a dream of becoming a cricketer. I had to work hard to achieve this dream. Everyone knew that. So I had to react quickly, and luckily I asked my dad to message my coach whether I can resume my cricket.

Alex Lieberman on X: "35,000. Every day, you make 35,000 decisions. Little decisions like what to wear. Big decisions like what job to take. And every decision has an outcome that changes — Alex Leiberman on X.

While writing I started thinking about this question. What if I chose to not play cricket again? And I can’t say anything for sure but I am pretty sure that right now I would not be in a good condition mentally or physically.

I am grateful for these moments where my parents have a serious talk about what I am doing.

I hate it a lot in the moment. Make no mistake of that but time has shown that it has nudged me in the right direction.

My Dad has been my best teacher. He was the one who introduced me to Warren Buffett. I did not know what he does till lockdown. My Dad was a voracious reader but that was about all I knew about his job. Again during lockdown my father sent me a documentary on Buffett. That was the first time I was introduced to him. I was intrigued instantly by the sheer simplicity of his life. He seemed to be living a very stress free life doing what he loves while being a billionaire who is not spending heavy on supercars and yachts.

My dad knows a lot about a lot of different subjects. You can ask him about science, philosophy, economics, psychology, general semantics,culture or end up speaking about finance I can guarantee you he will have something to offer. As I turned 17 I realised this. The importance of being multidisciplinary and also the joy of being multidisciplinary was taught to me by my dad.

He never told me to start reading. But if you are a kid where your father has a few hundred books and he is constantly reading it is kind of obvious that I will at some point in my life try to pick up a book and read.

One day I went up to him and asked him whether he could give me a book to read. I remember him telling me one thing. Treat the book like it is yours. Do whatever you want to. He showed me examples of note taking. The entirety of the book underlined and notes written next to it. There were also symbols which by the way is amazing for note taking.

My Grandparents also play a huge role in my life. My grandad who is 75+ still goes to the factory. His work is physically demanding yet at this age he travels by trains and goes religiously as he believes in the saying ‘ कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।’ meaning You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. My Mama Dada is a creative genius. He makes Ganpatis and reads constantly about spirituality.

My grandmother is also quite hardworking and at the same time loving. She is also a creative genius and has a passion for making rangolis and giving it to most people for free. Which infuriates me as it is so damn good she can make a ton of money. My Mami Baa is a very loving person who even after getting a knee surgery takes care of everyone in the household.

My sister has this unique ability that I have tried to emulate but it is so hard that I fail. It is the ability to be kind and humble to everyone. I do not have the ability to see the good in everyone the way that she does. It’s a good thing that she is there to guide me.

Here’s the thing about my family. None of them have specifically taught me anything other than my father when it comes to investing. They have taught me the major principles of life by leading their life in the manner that they want to teach others.

“Actions teach better than words.”

Bhavin Sir

I wanted to be a cricketer and play for my country. To achieve this dream my father found for me the best coach. Bhavin Sir has been my coach for a while now and even though I am in a different city entirely the things that I have learnt from him are invaluable.

Here’s what I think. Let’s be real I come from a very privileged place and the only thing I think that has kept me grounded is the fact that I played cricket. I played with people who were not as financially well off but were just as passionate if not more passionate about the game than me. I expected life to be a cakewalk as I lived in a bubble. But when i used to play cricket everything came down to reality.

There are millions of people who play cricket in India. The competition to even get selected in the district level is very high. One of my biggest learnings training under Bhavin sir has been that everyone has talent it’s the mentality and hard work that set you apart. You cannot expect to play cricket for 2 hours a day and play for India. You have to play cricket for 2 hours, go to the gym, meditate and visualize, do drills by yourself, etc. and consistently do this for years.

People dedicate their life to the sport. You have to. You compete with millions. I learnt there is no excuse for not getting selected other than a mediocre effort. In hindsight when I look it makes sense. I don’t think that I did a great job in putting my 110%.

I remember when I went back to sir after covid he told me the first and most important thing I lacked was my attitude and fitness. When it comes to fitness I have always been very mediocre. Not giving my best. Not pushing myself. But sir made sure that I constantly and consistently work on my fitness. I started getting into a routine which was really good over time. I changed my diet, my sleep schedule everything. I think by 2022 I was in good shape, I felt fit and at the same time my cricket had improved a lot as I dedicated my life to the sport. I gave everything. I think the only thing that I lacked and still do is the attitude part of it.

I apologize for straying away from my learnings. But to sum it up these are things that I learnt from Bhavin sir. Be patient. The process is what matters short term outcomes may not show the progress. Hard work: My trainer Akib had told me that even at 40 sir wakes up at 3am or 4am to workout as he does not get time during the day. Enjoy what you do.

I had 2 years where I worked hard under him and it is a time which has set me up for life. I don’t see the time that I spent there as a failure because I did not become an international cricketer but I see it as a success for it acting like a base for my entire life. I learnt how to handle failure best when I played cricket.

The only regret I have is leaving cricket. If circumstances were different it would have been fun.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger

As I wrote before that the first time I saw Buffett’s documentary I was intrigued. He seemed to have almost no worry in the world with a lifestyle of coke and a simple house. Since then I have read a lot about Mr Buffett and Mr Munger. Both of them believe in simplicity being better than complexity. They have approached life that way. They have also been so successful because they could be rational when other people could not. I learnt how important emotions are and how important it is to acknowledge the fact that we act idiotic. They have taught me how to approach life. Look at it backwards. Avoiding stupidities is the best way to become successful. This is easier said than done.

I can write a whole post or book on what I learnt from these two but one thing that I have been looking at constantly over the past few days has been Charlie Munger’s talk on how to guarantee a miserable life.

The 7 principles that he talks about are so important yet so simple. There is a quote that reminds me of the genius that Buffett and Munger have:

“Most geniuses—especially those who lead other—prosper not by deconstructing intricate complexities, but by exploiting unrecognized simplicities.” - Andy Benoit

Prof Sanjay Bakshi

Prof. Sanjay Bakshi teaches two courses: Behavioral economics and Cases in Investment and Business analysis. I have had the luck to attend both. In both these courses I have learnt a lot. The best thing about these courses are his energy. I cannot quite describe what it is but he has a vibe which is of a person who is teaching something he is super passionate about and at the same time has very good understanding. He started his behavioral economics course saying, ‘Not a year goes by where I don’t succumb to the biases I teach.’

The course left me with a lot of curiosity. I have written about the biases that he has taught as well and most of my knowledge of these biases have come from what I learnt in his class. He taught me economics assumes man is rational and social psychology tells us man is irrational. So we have to combine both the disciplines to understand how the world really works.

He has one part in the lecture where he teaches us the importance of focus and concentration. He made us listen to Swami Sarvapriyananda on flow.

I heard this again recently and it honestly serves to me as a reminder how our generation really lacks the power of focus. People struggle to read 10 pages let alone 20. I think in the age of social media the biggest competitive advantage for people is to have the ability to do deep work.

This is what I gathered from Prof’s class.

Prof has a saying which stuck with me.

“There are many ways to succeed, but only a few ways to fail.”- Prof Sanjay Bakshi

Prof. Vishal Khandelwal and Shane Parrish

Prof. Vishal Khandelwal teaches a course called Value Investing Blueprint. The website that is created is inspired by two websites safalniveshak.com and farnam street. The inspiration to write about mental models and the relation to sports and investing of these big ideas was from Prof Vishal Khandelwal. I have been watching his podcasts and reading his blogs since 3 years now. I have learnt a lot but similar to my father even Prof Khandelwal is a person who is multi disciplinary. He uploads content on investing as well as philosophy of life.

Shane Parrish is the founder of farnam street. He also writes about mental models. Most of the mental models that I have written about have been found either from farnam street or Prof Khandelwal. Shane Parrish wrote an amazing book recently as well named ‘Clear Thinking’. Again there is a lot to learn about human nature through a lot of big ideas from that website. I remember reading about the story of a CEO who got fired because he could not take bad news which had to be dealt with. It showed our biological tendencies of how leaders don’t liked to be questioned and humans are wired to think that they are always right.

[Quick question: Try and answer the question of why CEO resisted to change by using mental models (feel free to comment down)]

I have a lot of ‘gurus’. It is a genuine pleasure to know that these people have improved the quality of my life and will continue doing so till the time I die. It is an amazing thing to realize the impact that these ‘gurus’ have on our lives and this post has just served as a reminder for me that anything that I do is more or less inspired by them.

This is my humble attempt to thank them by addressing how they have helped me.

I know this post is probably too long for everyone to read, but this post was just a joy for me to write. If you read till here thanks for reading, and I must say good job at reading a post with around 2800 words.

Thank you,

Samvit.