To Win The Game, You Must Adapt To Change
“Above all, live with change and adapt to it.”
Change isn't the exception in life, it’s the rule.
And those who can learn fast, pivot quickly and position themselves to gain from rapidly changing circumstances eventually win.
If you want to quit the “rat race” and become independently wealthy, you must learn how to adapt to change.
Most People Don’t Want to Change.
Life is change. It’s a constant flow of beginnings and endings.
Meditation makes this very clear. Everything that has ever happened to you - every experience in your life - has begun and ended. And now you are here reading these words.
Despite this, humans don’t like change. Most of us desperately resist it and will fight to maintain the status quo of our lives.
You are battling against mental biases (shortcuts in your brain) that make change difficult. Things like confirmation bias, commitment & consistency bias, loss aversion, and social proof all work to keep you moving in the direction you’re already going.
Physics is also working against you. Newton’s first law of inertia states that “if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force.”
The same is true of your life. Best-selling author, Ed Latimore, writes:
“The law of inertia applies to all things. It's easier to stay in motion and it's easier to stay at rest. Change is a real MF'er.”
The irony is that change is going to happen anyway, whether you want it to or not. As Charlie Munger says:
“Those who will not face improvements because they are changes, will face changes that are not improvements.”
Change is uncomfortable but necessary. You must do something different in the present to get a different result in the future. To change your outputs, you must change your inputs.
Change Means Constantly Investing In Yourself.
Most people reach a certain age and plateau. They stop learning and pushing. They “settle.” And there is nothing wrong with that if that is what you want out of life.
But, if you want to build wealth to free up your time, you must constantly invest in yourself. You must push yourself outside your comfort zone little by little, every day.
Latimore talks about this in his article, 1 year to change your life in 10 simple steps, writing:
“Small changes, consistently made over time, make the biggest difference in your life. There is almost nothing that you can’t be, do, or have if you’re willing to be patient and to do the little things, every day, that will eventually compound.”
This is harder than it sounds. Very few people are willing to get uncomfortable every day. It takes effort and intention. And you have to know exactly why you’re doing it. But if you’re motivated, you can take advantage of any situation.
Here’s Naval Ravikant in an article called Finding Time To Invest In Yourself, talking about pushing to learn no matter where you are in life:
“Take on new challenges and responsibilities. Find the part of the job with the steepest learning curve. You want to avoid repetitive drudgery—that’s just biding time until your job is automated away. If you’re a barista at the coffee shop, figure out how to make connections with the customers. Figure out how to innovate the service you offer and delight the customer…You can get a lot out of almost any position. You just have to put a lot into it.”
Lean Into Confusion.
If you wake up in the morning with the intention to lean into the steepest part of the learning curve, you’ll eventually get confused. And that’s great! Because confusion is a feature of self-improvement, not a bug.
Confusion is a signal that you’re growing. It’s uncomfortable and frustrating, but it’s the clearest sign that you are changing your life.
Having recently left my full-time job, I deal with confusion all the time. There’s no one telling me what to work on, how to manage my priorities, how to spend my time, etc. I must decide it all for myself, and it’s not always clear what decision I should make. This is all part of learning how to build something of my own.
Confusion is the barrier for entry for autonomy. So lean into it. It just means you’re pushing yourself into new territory.
Eventually, if you keep digging and working, things will soon make more sense.
To Win The Game, You Must Rapidly Change.
The world is constantly changing around you. And those who can boldly change their position when they see an opportunity (or change course to avoid disaster) have the best chance of getting wealthy.
Felix Dennis, the late founder of Maxim magazine, writes in his book How To Get Rich:
“Boldness? The most successful generals or admirals in military history shared one characteristic: they were willing to ignore orders and risk utter disgrace in order to exploit rapidly changing circumstances. When the chance came, they recognized an opportunity, weighed the odds swiftly and placed their lives and careers on the line to snatch a victory.”
The key phrase here is “exploit rapidly changing circumstances.”
Everyone has a plan. But that plan quickly flies out the window if conditions change. That’s what great admirals and entrepreneurs understand - you must adapt on the fly to win the game.
The future is always uncertain. When you get new information that’s relevant to your circumstance, you must be willing to adjust your course.
It’s Never Too Late To Change.
No matter where you are in life, you can learn to change. You just have to want it.
It does get harder as you get older though. One reason for this is that it’s difficult for any one of us to admit that we’ve been going in the wrong direction for so long.
Here’s Naval writing about this in How To Get Rich: Every Episode:
“When we’re in our 30s, 40s and 50s, we already have a lot invested. We have a lot of obligations. Those are the years we’re earning; people are relying on us. We don’t want to change, because we don’t want to admit defeat.
But that’s when it actually can be the most fruitful. It may be the most difficult pivot: You have a 9-to-5 job; you have a family relying on you… Even if applied piecemeal, these principles can guide you—regardless of what stage of life you are in.”
Through all of my 20s, I thought I wanted to conquer the corporate ladder.
I worked my ass off for the company that employed me, got a “Sr. Director” title, and made sure I was on the “V.P.” path. I didn’t even know there was any other path to explore.
But then I read about the ideas of wealth creators - the same ideas I explore every week on this blog. And I literally changed my life.
I started investing. I started looking for asymmetric bets, positive black swans, and ways to build leverage.
And most recently, at the age of 31, I quit the corporate ladder to try and build another path.
No matter how old you are, it’s never too late to change. I know because I did it.
Yes, I have support. Yes, I have a safety net. Yes, I have a partner willing to let me try. I have a lot of things other people don’t have.
But you, as well as anyone who reads my blog, knows I put in the work. Because it’s all here for you to read.
And you can put in the work too. It’s never too late.
Start now.