The Best Asymmetric Information Is What You Know About Yourself
“No one knows more about you, than you... Asymmetric information at its finest.”
You know yourself better than anyone else. What you know about your talents, habits, likes and dislikes, worldview, and motivations is information no one else has.
This asymmetric information gives you an advantage over the rest of the world… if you can only find the right realm to use it in.
Asymmetric Information Means You Know Something Other People Don’t.
Asymmetric information is just info that one party has in an economic transaction that the other party doesn't have. And the right information is valuable.
Suppose you’re an investor with special technical knowledge in solar energy. Your technical knowledge gives you special insight into a new and growing company. Using that insight, you purchase stock in the company from a seller who doesn’t have the same information you do.
Soon, the stock is worth more than you bought it for as your insight plays out and the company becomes more valuable. Your asymmetric information was an advantage in the transaction. It was valuable.
What You Know About Yourself Is Valuable.
The most basic form of asymmetric information is what you know about yourself. You may think it’s a given that everyone knows their own talents, habits, likes & dislikes, etc., but they don’t.
It’s very hard to see your own character attributes and even harder to be honest with yourself if you do.
That’s why it’s always a good idea to ask someone. Or better yet, ask twenty people what they think you’re good at. You could even build a challenge network of people offering you radical transparency and honest feedback about your talents.
Here’s what I know about myself: I can be obsessive. I’m an “all or nothing guy” - once I fully commit to something, I take it all the way. I’m disciplined and patient. I’m a good writer. And I can delay gratification.
Only once you know what you’re good at and what you like doing, can you start narrowing in on areas where you have an advantage over other people.
Operate In Areas Where Your Gifts Give You An Advantage.
Charlie Munger says that the most important question you can ask yourself is this: “Where should we devote our limited time in life, to achieve the most success?”
Charlie’s answer is to operate in areas where you've built up useful skills and knowledge that give you an advantage over others.
For example, my skillset (listed above) is almost perfect for long-form writing. I’ve been working on the same 100-page movie script for six months with my wife. And it’s been the best six months of my life.
When you find the right thing to work on that compliments your skills, it won’t feel like work.
As Naval Ravikant says, it will look like work to other people, but it won’t feel like work to you. It will feel like play.
The person who knows what they enjoy doing has a natural advantage in that domain over someone else who doesn’t enjoy it as much.
That’s why author Stephen King thinks the whole idea of structured “rehearsing” or “practicing” is meaningless. Anyone who is rehearsing for the sake of putting in the hours will not be successful. They’ll eventually be passed by the person in the same domain who is playing creatively because they enjoy it.
Here’s King explaining this in his book, On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft:
“Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. Even when no one is listening (or reading, or watching), every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy. Perhaps even ecstatic. That goes for reading and writing as well as for playing a musical instrument, hitting a baseball, or running the four-forty. [Practice] will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing these things and have an aptitude for them.”
If it feels like work or feels like an obligation to do something, go find something else.
Find The Right Domain, And Then Keep Going.
Once you do find something you really like doing and that looks like work to other people, just hammer it for years and years. That’s how you take advantage of compounding your skill AND your relationships in your industry.
Remember, the greatest gains come at the END of the compounding period. That’s why you have to stick around long enough to see the rewards. It takes patience, but it shouldn’t matter too much if you’ve found the right domain.
Here’s Naval Ravikant reminding us that we won’t get rich quickly:
“Everybody wants to get rich immediately, but the world is an efficient place; immediate doesn’t work. You do have to put in the time. You do have to put in the hours, and so I think you have to put yourself in the position with the specific knowledge, with accountability, with leverage, with the authentic skill set you have, to be the best in the world at what you do. You have to enjoy it and keep doing it, keep doing it, and keep doing it. Don’t keep track, and don’t keep count because if you do, you will run out of time.”
Don’t quit before the reward. Don’t switch industries if you’re finally getting traction. Keep hammering the thing you’re great at and keep compounding.
Eventually, with equity and leverage, your effort will pay off.
Thanks for reading.
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SOURCES
King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft (A Memoir of the Craft (Reissue)). Scribner. Kindle Edition.
Jorgenson, Eric. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. Magrathea Publishing. Kindle Edition.