214. the Prepared Mind
“The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well-prepared to receive them” — Joseph Henry
Earlier this month, I completed a somewhat difficult multi-day Himalayan trek called the Goechala trek, in the western Sikkim region of India. It was a challenging yet beautiful trek that I got to do with a bunch of spirited people. For the large part, I was able to rise up the physical challenges of the trek well. Perhaps because of this, at the end of the trek, a youngster came up and asked me how I trained for the trek. I told him that I did not do any specific training for this trek. Before my knee injury, I used to run between 30–50 Kms a week irrespective of whether I was training for a running event. After my knee injury, I ensured that I walk between 25 and 40K a week. I think of walking as a stop-gap arrangement until I get back to running. While I came up short in doing any specific training for this trek — which is a mistake I intend to correct for my future treks, thankfully, my general (non-specific) training helped me get through the day, unscathed.
“Chance favors the prepared mind. The more you practice, the luckier you become.” — Richard Branson
In a world far removed from trekking, Accel has been one the leading venture capital firms in the world. I came across Accel while reading a book on the evolution of VC industry called “The Power Law: Venture Capital and the making of the New Future” by Sebastian Mallaby. The book shattered my loosely developed worldview that VC industry was an intelligently designed field of high finance. Like all things that turn out remarkable, VC industry is also a product of “messy” evolution — notably, not a result of a well-designed foray. In other words, supported by a conducive environment, one thing led to another — as simple as that! Sebastian’s incisive and prescient outlook revealed the key heroes and institutions that ended up playing pivotal roles in shaping the VC industry. One such institution was Accel, founded by Jim Swartz and Arthur Patterson in the early 1980s. One of their guiding investment philosophies was the “prepared mind”, which in turn was based on Louis Pasteur’s famous quote “chance favours the prepared mind”.
“Prepared mind” strategy, as I understand it, essentially boils down to making informed decisions — integrating general competence with specific expertise. In the venture capital world, for Accel, it was about developing depth, increasing focus, being disciplined and informed about the industries and areas in which they may want to invest. They want to be able to commit large amounts of capital swiftly towards an identified opportunity on the back of strong conviction.
“One aspect of serendipity to bear in mind is that you have to be looking for something in order to find something else.” — Lawrence Block
Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet are no strangers to the concept of the “prepared mind”. Not sure if they referred to it formally as such but whenever they get into action, they are known for their speed and size of investment. Without being well prepared, I can’t imagine that they will have the required conviction for such out-sized action. This takes even higher significance because such actions are almost, always, contrarian, i.e., they fly in the face of the prevailing sentiments.
We can prepare for specific events and circumstances and we generally do too. But do we prepare when there is no specific event in mind. If you only prepare for an opportunity only after it arises, you are most likely doing yourself disservice. I think extraordinary success requires that you are prepared for opportunities, in general.
“It’s a bizarre but wonderful feeling, to arrive dead center of a target you didn’t even know you were aiming for.” — Lois McMaster Bujold
As an illustration, take investing. I do not think you should ever let up on keeping your circle of competence sharp. This means that irrespective of whether you have capital to invest or not, you continue to study your chosen industries, companies or financial products. This will allow you to take decisive and consequential actions whenever the right opportunity arises. When it comes to career building, if you are a software developer, irrespective of your current work involving the latest trends such as AI or not, it is critical that you keep up with the trends. Ignoring trends just because your current work does not require them will leave you calloused to new opportunities. With time, you may not even be able to spot or identify opportunities.
I believe that one of the biggest impediments to being generally prepared is the lack of dopamine inducing near-term or medium-term goals. General preparation will eventually be useful but you don’t know when or for what. Without the urgency or pressure from goals, we have to rely entirely on self-discipline to maintain a “prepared mindset”. And discipline without a clear target is never easy. When we start deriving psychological value from the act of doing something rather than a result of doing that thing, maintaining a “prepared mindset” becomes easier. By attaching meaningful purpose to my actions themselves (and not the results of actions), I am able to make some headway in doing the work required to be generally prepared.
Just to be sure, when “general preparedness” is not buttressed by suitable “specific preparation”, the end results may remain below par. One is not a substitute for the other; each caters to different aspects of success — general preparedness for spotting opportunities and building conviction and specific preparation for improving efficiency and effectiveness of action.
Bottomline
“It is the unforeseeable that creates the event.” — Georges Braque
“Prepared mind” is an essential requirement to maximize your chances of favourable outcome. But isn’t this obvious, you may ask? Being prepared will obviously increase your chances of success. If there is an exam or an interview then you prepare for it. If you are expecting guests for dinner, you make the necessary arrangements. But what if a chance meeting takes the form of an informal interview? The “prepared mind” can create possibilities; it can trigger serendipity. It can lead to unexpected doors and specific preparation can then help with knocking and opening these doors.
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Thanks for taking time to read this article. In this newsletter, I share my learnings that could help you improve your decisions and make meaningful progress on your goals. I try to share stuff that I have personally experienced or experimented with.
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