My Circle of Competence

For a long time, I thought some of my natural tendencies needed fixing.

I thought I needed to become more outgoing.

I thought I needed to network more.

Talk more.

Be an extrovert.

Show up more.

Stand out more.

In short, I thought I needed to become someone I wasn't.

But real-life experience taught me otherwise.

And in the process, I learnt something far more important.

There is a curious tendency in all of us.

We often admire qualities in others that we ourselves do not possess.

An introvert wishes he were more outgoing.

A brilliant engineer believes he should be better at sales.

A skilled manager feels compelled to become an entrepreneur.

A deep thinker wishes he had the charisma of a public speaker.

Perhaps because we assume that success lies somewhere else.

We believe that what we don't have is somehow better than what we already have.

This is perhaps why Warren Buffett's idea of the "circle of competence" has always appealed to me.

As he once remarked,

"The size of your circle of competence is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital."

He was speaking about investing. But the principle seems to apply equally well to careers, businesses, and perhaps life itself.

The interesting thing is that we rarely admire people for staying in their lane.

We admire entrepreneurs and assume every professional should start a business.

We admire extroverts and quietly wish we were more like them.

We admire people on stage and forget that some of the finest work in the world is done quietly.

There is nothing wrong with admiration. The trouble begins when admiration turns into imitation.

My own experience was no different.

Over time, I realised that I am more of an introvert.

For years, I thought that was something I needed to fix.

I joined networking groups.

Attended meetings.

Made a genuine effort to become more outgoing.

But I wasn't enjoying it.

It felt forced. It wasn't me.

So, I stepped back.

Similarly, I discovered that I enjoy writing.

Putting thoughts into words comes naturally to me.

I can happily spend hours doing it.

On the other hand, I never really enjoyed creating videos and spending time on camera.

I tried. But it always felt like work. Hard work. 

I mistook these for shortcomings.

And at different stages of life, I tried hard to overcome them.

But over time, I realised that I was fighting my own nature.

And I found myself returning to the same things that came naturally to me.

Things I genuinely enjoyed.

Things that gave me energy rather than drained it.

Reading. Thinking. Writing. Researching. Investing.

Quietly. In solitude.

That's my “Circle of Competence.” And now, I stay within this.

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-- Pady