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    • Nov 3, 2023
    • 3 min read

Learning vs Doing: finding the right balance

Warren Buffett is widely regarded as the best investor of all time.


Unlike many other extremely successful people, he doesn’t spend his day in countless meetings. “I read and read and read,” he says, “five to six hours a day.” This isn’t the luxury of an already-successful person. Rather, it’s the very reason he is enormously successful. He sits down, reads for big chunks of time, and then acts decisively when an interesting investment opportunity comes up.


This work philosophy challenges the idea that success requires high-intensity action. It also raises a question: what balance should we strike between executing on the one hand and learning and thinking on the other? From a different angle: between improving ourselves and cashing in on our current knowledge and skills?


As someone who’s obsessed with learning, these questions really bug me. Over time, I’ve found three principles that are particularly helpful in answering them:



1: Know the landscape

There are many ways of making it in life. The way JK Rowling spends her time is different from how Elon Musk spends his time which is different from how Neil deGrasse Tyson spends his time. Know how the career paths you’re considering following differ in their balance between learning, thinking, and execution.


Then consider your options in light of your natural inclinations. What kind of process and day-to-day routine do you like? Don’t underestimate the importance of considering this. “Enjoy the process along with the proceeds,” warns billionaire Charlie Munger, “because the process is where you live.”



2: Know what season you’re in

After graduating from Columbia Business School in 1951, Warren Buffett was set on working for Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing. So much so that he didn’t even know what would be the salary of the job he went on to secure. “I found that out at the end of the month when I got my paycheck,” he says.


Different career stages involve different priorities. “In the stories of the greatest Masters,” writes Robert Greene, “we can inevitably detect a phase in their lives in which all of their future powers were in development, like the chrysalis of a butterfly.” From Albert Einstein to Henry Ford, undergoing “a largely self-directed apprenticeship that lasts some five to ten years” is an almost-universal law of excellence.


In this period, you need to aim for “the transformation of your mind and character,” he says. Competing priorities–fame, money, power– need to take a backseat. “There are seasons of learning and seasons of earning,” writes entrepreneur Alex Hormozi, “make sure you know which one you’re in.”



3: A little of this, a little of that

Learning and execution are mutually reinforcing.


Theoretical learning can help you make huge leaps in the quality of your work. It keeps you from wasting time figuring out what works on your own (and making costly mistakes along the way).


But execution can also help your learning. In fact, if done right, it can itself be a form of learning. You can read about boxing all day long, but eventually you have to put on some gloves and go get punched in the face. Learning tests theory. It exposes flaws in understanding and creates cognitive maps built upon real world experience.


When they’re mutually reinforcing, you should usually choose both options. It’s not a question of “or”, but of “and” instead. “I am a better investor because I am a businessman,” Warren Buffett says, “and a better businessman because I am an investor.” Similarly, if the goal is to learn, you need to execute. If the goal is to execute, you need to learn.


Always do a little of this and a little of that.


 

Notes

On Warren Buffett’s reading habits: https://fs.blog/warren-buffett-information/



Charlie Munger on the importance of process: “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” by Charlie Munger


Robert Greene on apprenticeships: “Mastery” by Robert Greene



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