Capitalism visualized

Did you know that the average person knows about 30,000 words? The human brain is incredible. It also shows us how much potential we have when we have our backs to the wall. I learned Japanese before I learned English, so I had to scramble to catch up in kindergarten, but I probably only learn one word a day now.

Did you know that 42% of college grads never read another book after college? They just learn the basics of their job then look forward to their weekends and try to coast to retirement.

Learning is like exercising for the brain, and most people can’t consistently go to the gym so I get it, but learning is better than the gym because your gains never plateau which is a concept that’s difficult for most people to conceptualize.

A lot of people gripe over how CEOs earn more than 300x the average employee, but I think it’s fair because CEOs provide 300x the value. These are the people who decided to keep learning at the same voracious pace as we all did as kids learning to speak our first language. After decades of learning at that pace, you easily know more than 300x the average worker.

Most people can’t grasp this, because the gains aren’t visual. Elon Musk looks like your middle aged barber so why should he earn so much?

Imagine your job were to move crates off a cargo ship by hand and you were paid per crate moved. Well if you gained a ton of muscle you might be able to double your pay, but then you’ll plateau there. Continuous learning is like if you were able to grow more arms, then wings to fly, then eventually have crates levitate with your mind. If you’ve ever worked with the top performers at your firm, they’re producing at this level.

I truly feel that the greatest investment of time a person can make is investing in their mind through continuous learning. The ROI over time isn’t linear it’s exponential. This doesn’t just apply to work it applies to life. The things I’ve learned are starting to compound and overlap in other areas and I’m starting to see how all of the dots connect like Neo seeing the matrix. I’m finally seeing the world clearly for the first time and it’s incredible. I feel like Dorothy walking out of her house in technicolor. You need to experience this.