I’ve been asked for “Life advice” a few times recently, which has given me pause for thought. I think advice of this type should really be tailored to individual experience, so I’m a little reluctant to espouse generalities but, I have some ideas - most based on personal experience (so take them with the usual caveats on anecdote) of the nurture part. I’d go so far as to say ignore what I say and go read stuff (which is one of my top pieces of advice).

You may not be able to change your genetics but, outside of a few narrow domains, the interaction with the environment and the culture you create, or find yourself in, are still very important.

One other caveat is that I grew up without internet and its arrival has changed life in ways that were hard to comprehend.

These are my thoughts on being successful:

Immerse yourself deeply in at least two domains, preferably a few more if you are inclined. If two of the domains are not closely related, so much the better.

I was average at Art, but engaged productively with it A-level, gaining an A grade and winning prizes with my photography. I was also well-immersed in clay work when younger and with the broad arts in my teenage years. Art was my 5th A-level when most people did 3 to 4 A-Levels (the remainder of my courses being Maths/Physics/Chemistry-focussed). I also started my interest in theatre and began directing plays at a young age. And later, poetry.  Some of those practices stay with me - a notebook journal that has visual elements. An understanding on how to look at art and poetry. The processes of creativity.

The skills and knowledge of a deep domain are very valuable today. For instance, my friend (who is more gifted than I) has deep knowledge of programming C (as well as many other matters) this skill has provided decades of value. But, being able to cross-silo expertise into other areas can create unique and valuable insights. 

Shallow knowledge is not very useful, especially in the internet age.

I wouldn’t worry too much on how “marketable” this domain knowledge is. Certainly, computer coding in C has a bigger market than poetry, but if you are driven to go deep, it will help you.

Evidence: Tim Harford in Messy quotes several studies and case studies on what he calls slow-motion multi-tasking. Essentially successful creatives go deep on a “hobby” outside of their core domain and also have many on-going projects in different areas. Short blog here.

Be (or learn to be) curious. About everything.

While I think there do seem to be aspects of curiosity that more naturally occur in some people (like me). I also think it can be taught or nurtured to a high degree.

A deep curiosity about why something might be can also lead to deep domain knowledge (see above). It also means you are less likely to be idling time on addictive mobile games but seeking out knowledge on areas you are curious about.

You can’t command people easily too simply work hard at matters they are not interested in or curious about. So cultivating curiosity partly solves both work ethic and domain knowledge.

You also seem to learn better when curious (see study above) and it will lead you to better knowledge and judgements about true states of the world.

I remain immensely fascinated by many things still. It makes my story telling better and it makes my investing better too.

Evidence: States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit (Gruber et al. 2014)  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4252494/

Be (or learn to be) empathetic.

Similar to curiosity, while I think there do seem to be aspects of empathy that more naturally occur in some people, I also think it can be taught or nurtured to a high degree. It’s clear to me that it occurs (and can be taught) to autistic spectrum people - once thought not to be (at least typically) empathetic.

Empathy will help you in relationships of all kinds - romantic, friendship, family, work and even fleeting day-to-day.

Personally, making all types of work and my personal life work has involved understanding and empathy, some times over deep domain experience.

Evidence: Science of Empathy https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5513638/

Read. Read. Read.

I hardly know anyone successful who doesn’t read a huge amount (I think Donald Trump is the only one I know). I suppose podcasts (which I find slow) and other inputs of the modern era would also count. (It goes hand in hand with deep domain knowledge referred to above).

Build and nurture connections.

Social and relationship capital is built in the connections we make with others. Small and fleeting. Long and lasting. (See above on empathy).

But, I think the internet can bring connections to a level I didn’t have while growing up. 

Binding together the ideas of deep domain knowledge, empathy and curiosity will and can lead to building connections with and to friends.

Choosing your friends will be important as the “culture” you surround yourself with is an important factor in your life trajectory. This feels true to me on the micro-culture of your friends as well as the wider culture of your school/work/country.

Evidence: Power of Connections here and Esfahani book.

Learn how to communicate effectively

There are at least two levels to learn this at. First, the art of one-to-one or small group conversation. Here the advent of mobile phones has been a disadvantage, so needs more work. This also comes down to having strong social skills. (And even if not top quartile, a passable level is still useful - look at Bill Gates - who has many of these things, but had to be forced to learn a moderate amount of social skills and then public speaking).

Essentially, you need to be able to cultivate the ability to listen and comprehend well and respond (with empathy).

The next level will be the ability to communicate ideas or persuasions through public speaking. High level rhetoric may be beyond most people, but a decent skill level is within everyone’s grasp and is important.

There is another level in the small-medium group communication class which depending on how your life proceeds you may also want to be skilled in - although with many similarities to the above two categories.

The ability to influence and tell stories is a vital skill in persuading other people. It goes hand in hand with the above, and without it, it can leave your deep domain knowledge as less useful as you can’t communicate it to others.

Less obvious is that it can be taught and learnt to a large degree. (Yes, the ancient Greek had whole important works dedicated to rhetoric and communication).

Evidence: Supposedly, the job survey evidence puts this as the soft skill employers want. I think it’s a little weak, but it seems obvious to me that communication is vital.

A few more personal musings…

Learn how to cook food you and others will love. 

Everyone eats, not everyone knows how to cook. The ability to cook a wide variety of dishes will be: 

• good for your health. Cutting out processed foods, takeaway etc. will be good for you.

• good for forming strong social networks and conversation. If you cook for friends (and more) you engage with one of the most ancient forms of human bonding.

• teach you about other cultures and history, if you decide to be even a little bit curious as to how your recipe and foods came about.

Cooking has been an important part of my life and has created important bonds with many of those close to me, or even only in passing.

Learn how to make physical things or craft in the real world.

I would count cooking as a form of making. I would count many creative arts, like poetry, also as acts of physical creation - drawing, crafting, as well. Ditto gardening, knitting, building - soldering electronic circuit boards, carpentry, sewing and so on.

There are plenty of skills embodied in the learnings of a physical act and it grows brain skills in a different domain to almost whatever you’ve decided to do as your primary domain.

I’ve learnt many ideas on what makes things work by being engaged in physical creation like art, gardening, crafting. These learnings are quite different and thus useful plus there is deep satisfaction in making items by your own hands.

Prioritise experience over objects/consumerism

Buy experiences with your money over throw-away items. Experiences live longer and more positively in the memory and contribute to greater happiness. There’s a fair amount of strong research on this.

Evidence: Atlantic pop science article overview plus key Psych study.

Learn to think for yourself

This seems self evident but I find much of what many people tell me is flat out wrong.

One recent example, in a conversation with someone who was a sustainability investor of soughts, he claimed 5 “facts” and studies, which I knew simply to be wrong and he would have had other around him believe him, if I hadn’t said what I thought was wrong, and why and where you could find information to check yourself. It could have been awkward (but see social skills) I used a lot of humour to deflect (!)

Think that you are running your own race, or playing a game with your own rules. Not another person’s race.

Don’t think about your learning or your life trajectory as a competition with others. 

Sure, work and products and the like will all be about competition. But, many domains won’t be about competition and you might want to think about the route you are taking as your own path.

No one I knew at school was squeezing in Art A-level between double Maths. I don’t know any playwrights who are also successful investors. Often, it may help to think about taking your own path and not worry about everyone else.

Travel.

The last one for me was to travel and live for a time in other cultures. This really exploded many assumptions I had (see my time with the Wana Tribe) and gave me a much larger view point on the world. Maybe  in today’s connected world this is less important, or perhaps, it’s even more important now to go and really find out what things are like.

Finally, also feel free to ignore all advice that doesn’t seem helpful.

Other advice:

General Job/work Advice from 80,000 hours

This is a super summary of work orientated processes and ideas you can use.

Paul Graham (start up founder of Y Combinator) on how to do what you love (2009) but still insightful:  http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html

My Grants programme

If you are interested in a micro-grant for positive impact check out my programme.