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Random stuff - pending connections
In a 2003 speech given to Stanford, Steve Jobs said: "You can't connect the dots looking forward”
In my early days studying the great investors, a lot of things surprised me. But one thing that really stuck out was the broad scope of different topics they immersed themselves in.
Science, philosophy, psychology, history, spirituality, health, biographies, fiction even.
But why?
Jobs continues: “You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
All my curious friends, this essay is about the rationale behind reading a diverse set of books. (It expands on an earlier post on reading)
I started my journey as an investor by picking up books, primarily in the fields of investing, finance, and economics, as one would naturally do.
Although it was necessary to grasp a basic understanding of what I was dealing with, looking back, the books that impacted me the most were books clearly written for other purposes than to teach a rookie about investing.
Somehow our creativity can make random stuff highly relevant in framing our thinking – especially in hindsight.
Some examples include:
Psychology will teach you about how biases and emotions impact investment decisions.
Neurology about how neural activity can impact risk-taking.
Physics about chaos theory, the exploration of complex systems, which defines the financial markets, to say the least.
Health about how physical fitness can play a role in the cognitive function that goes into researching a new company.
History about the patterns that portray fear and greed in the markets.
Investing is a fascinating phenomenon. On the surface, it appears to be about numbers and formulas, but if you dig a little deeper and look through the right lens, you'll see reflections of a wide array of subjects.
14 years prior to the Stanford speech, Jobs gave a speech at Reed College:
“I was forced to go to humanities lectures—it seemed like every day. I studied Shakespeare with Professor Svitavsky. And at the time, I thought these were meaningless and even somewhat cruel endeavors to be put through. I can assure you that as the patina of time takes its toll, I thank God that I had these experiences here. It has helped me in everything I’ve ever done, although I wouldn’t have ever guessed it at the time.” (italics added)
Steve Jobs, one of the greatest designers and entrepreneurs of all time, credited his humanities lectures and Shakespeare for his success. But he couldn’t have known at the time.
We can’t foresee what impact a certain obscure experience will have on us down the line. Or how that one really weird story from a book on our grandma's shelf will affect us. I don’t think we should obsess over bizarre information, though, but rather bookmark it in the back of our minds and label it with some curiosity for how it can interact with future information.
Exploring different fields of knowledge helps to see different ideas in a new light, and it sparks our creativity to apply different ways of thinking to our own work.
It can help us see things more clearly, or remember them better.
Plus, it makes for independent thinking.
