![]() Mozart tells him, “You’re too young to do symphonies,” but the guy retorts: “Yes, but you were 10 years old when you were composing symphonies.” In a 2019 interview, he recounts a story he frequently tells young people who come to him, asking for advice on getting rich:Ī young man goes to see Mozart, and he says, “Mozart, I want to start composing symphonies.” Mozart asks, “How old are you?” and the guy says, “22.” He’s 96 years old, a billionaire, and the person Buffett credits most for his success. ![]() Macro-AssiduityĬharlie Munger is the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s company. Assiduity comes in two flavors: There’s the kind that makes you see through the first semester when you want to quit after the first week and the kind that lets you finish each slide deck, exercise, and class in order to do so. When you call someone for 365 days in a row, part of the magic is getting them to keep picking up - and that takes more than brute force.Īssiduity is deciding to do the right job the right way and then committing to stick with it until it’s done. Jerry mostly prided himself in his persistence, saying that, “The person who makes it is the person who keeps on going after everyone else has quit.” That’s true, but I think Jerry did more than that: He also showed great care and attention to what his target’s needs were. Eventually, he did, and the shows in large arenas he subsequently organized became the innovation that made his career. The late talent agent and movie producer Jerry Weintraub provides a good example: For 365 days in a row, he called Elvis’ manager, asking to take the King of Rock ’n’ roll on tour. Merriam-Webster defines assiduity well with a three-word catchphrase: persistent personal attention. Imagine a dog fighting to keep his bone - he’s unrelenting. Unlike words such as ‘diligence,’ ‘concentration,’ or ‘ambition,’ it includes a sense of stubbornness. It describes an attitude of great attention, care, and effort to what one is doing. The word ‘assiduity’ made its first appearance in the 16th century. Ultimately, I gained a lot of confidence from all this hard work, confidence that then helped me achieve bigger goals and exceed my own expectations - and that I rely on to this day. ![]() With each long work day came a sense of accomplishment, and the more days I racked up, the more I started seeing myself as a gritty person. If you had listed everything I would do and accomplish that year in advance, I would have said, “Impossible!” Looking back, however, as hard as it was, I feel incredibly proud of overcoming all these obstacles. In the words of German singer Farin Urlaub: “Life is not Home Depot, and there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Having cruised through high school on little to no studying and with good grades, I had finally arrived in the real world - and it was tough. That first semester was a real wake-up call. It was a nightmare, but in the end, we passed all of our exams. We compared our notes, shared solutions, and stared at the programming console until the code finally worked. ![]() Working on the same problems or completely different ones. Luckily, in Germany, attendance isn’t mandatory for most classes, so we skipped what we could and, instead, focused on getting things done.Įvery day, we went to the library, sometimes as early as 6 or 7 AM, and worked like hell. In order to cope, we did what most cornered animals do: we fought. None of us knew what to expect, and, facing such a crazy workload, we were, quite frankly, scared shitless. While my friends and I didn’t know the first thing about these topics, we also had to code a new mini program each week, hand it in, and present it to a tutor. In our first semester, we had seven subjects, ranging from math to economics to programming to materials science and business, each with a big final exam that determined 100% of our grade. I remember adding all my lectures, tutorials, and seminars to my schedule and realizing: If I attend all of these, I’ll spend 40 hours a week just getting input - and I won’t have done any studying or assignments yet. In 2010, I dropped myself into a 60-hour workweek by accident: I started college with no idea what would hit me. ![]()
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