#11: Life Throws You A Curveball, You Win the Game with Multidisciplinary Thinking

Some of the greatest thinkers, writers, and investment masters of our lifetime consider investing a multidisciplinary endeavor.

This means you've got to understand everything from how a mutual fund works to how you can buy fractional shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

You might not invest in every asset out there, but you’ve got to know that it exists and what it can do for you.

That’s only possible if you take time to learn about the markets, companies, their industries and sectors, and their founders.

Learn about how a company is born. Where great ideas come from. How to go from an idea to global domination. The most recession-proof industries. If you don’t understand a SaaS company, you go learn about SaaS. You start from the basics.

If you don’t understand angel investing, network with some angel investors. You might have studied English Literature in college, but today you spend most of your time learning how to trade and be a smart investor.

This is multidisciplinary thinking.

Investing, however, isn’t the only reason why you need to become a multidisciplinary thinker.

Our world is one of the most uncertain, scary, rapidly changing places to be in now (not like we have many options with us, do we? After all, living on Mars is like a distant dream.)

The job you have today could be gone tomorrow. The industry you’re working in today could collapse 10 years from now.

You might officially retire at 60 but may die only at 90. That’s 30 years of your life that you need to plan for.

How are you going to spend those 30 years? Doing gardening? Taking care of your grandkids? Travelling every six months to a different country? Sure, it seems like a plan. But, there’s still a lot of time you will have to account for. You can’t crib about it saying you’re bored.

My point is that the day you stop learning, you stop growing. You stop living.

The day you stop being curious, you are headed for a collision with boredom and a potential lack of enthusiasm for life.

I’m not being morbid; it’s the truth. Many people can spend their entire lives working at the same job and staying happy and content. That works for them.

But would that work for you? Take a few minutes (or even a few weeks) to think about it.

If even a tiny, tiny, really tiny part of you doesn’t crave that life, if you want something more, and if you have a zest for learning and growth, then you’ve got to cultivate a multidisciplinary mindset.

Don’t be caught unprepared when AI comes for your job. Why not prepare for your future before it hits you in the face?

As a multidisciplinary thinker, you’re giving yourself the chance to enjoy growth, learning, purpose, and meaning even when you’re 70.

You won’t complain to your kids that they’re not spending time with you. You won’t have to deal with empty nest syndrome. You won’t keep depending on your kids to take care of you.

You will have your hobbies, your passions, your mission, your purpose. Isn’t that amazing?

That was the easy part: convincing you why you need to have a multidisciplinary mindset. Now, how do you cultivate it?

Start by being naturally interested and curious about everything. Science, tech, liberal arts, economics, philosophy, poetry, spirituality, history.

You name it, you should learn about it. Now, when I say learn about it, I don’t mean getting a Ph.D. in the subject. But keep your mind open to the new concepts, the new terms, the applications of it, the types of companies or cultures where that learning could prove useful.

Keep your mind agile and active. Keep it a student for life, and you won’t regret it.

The more you read, the more you spark ideas. The more you open the doors to opportunities. Opportunities other people didn't even think of.

I might sign up for a course in SaaS marketing today and reap the benefits a few years from now. You never know.

Remember this: No learning ever goes waste.

Take it from an ex-software engineer and ex-journalist. When people ask me if I regret spending four years of my life studying computer engineering, I say NO.

If I hadn’t exercised my mind with coding all those years ago, I wouldn’t be able to write a thought leadership piece on cyber security today. I can because I’ve trained my mind to absorb, absorb, absorb.

I never say no to learning something new. That’s how I've trained myself over the years. If I can, you can.

Talk to more people outside of your function, your role, your industry, your company. The more you will learn.

By living in your bubble, you’re limiting the opportunities coming your way. If you’re happy with this, I get it. But like I wrote earlier, if there’s even a cell in your body that craves learning and growth and adventure, don’t limit your thinking.

You can change your life trajectory from linear to messy, curved, crooked, zig zag. Linear is boring. Messy is exciting. Zig zag is adventure and growth. That makes for a life well-lived.

Here's a quote I came across recently:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

I have sailed away from the harbor plenty of times. I have done things, left things, switched things, and haven’t regretted it even for a second.

Could I have earned truck loads as a software engineer? Absolutely!

But do I regret the adventures I have been on? NO.

Do I regret the twists and turns my life has taken? NO.

Have I faced anxiety, uncertainty, sadness, anger, frustration while making my career pivots? Absolutely!

But that’s what life is. Life will keep throwing you curveballs. You’ve got to be agile and open to new learning to catch those curveballs and play the game.

This is what works for me.

I’d love to hear what works for you.

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Photo Credit: Dragos Gontariu from Unsplash

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