Learnings from Mohnish Pabrai

Things that I learned when I read and heard more of Mohnish Pabrai.

Those who don't know, Mohnish is an Indian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist with more than $130 Million of net worth.

There are a lot of things to learn about investing too, but these are things that I learned about life.

• Inner Scorecard

Once Buffett explained to Pabrai that how he and Charlie Munger have an inner scorecard. Instead of worrying about how others judge them, they focus on living up to their own exacting standards.

One way to tell whether you live by an inner scorecard or an outer scorecard, said Buffett, is to ask yourself, "Would I rather be the worst lover in the world and be know publicly the best, or the best lover in the world and be known as the worst?"

Pabrai and one more investor named Spier reeled off a random list of inner-scorecard exemplars: Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, Steve Jobs, and leading investors such as Buffett, Munger, Ted Weschler, Li Lu, Bill Miller, and Nick Sleep.

Pabrai observed, "All the guys who reached the pinnacle, that's the only way they got there."

He is so driven by the inner scorecard, that he has no fear (not even 1%) of what will people think. And I think it is something courageous to do.

He says, I am not concerned if people think I'm stupid or people think I'm smart or whatever else, I think all that is not very relevant to me.

• Power of simple ideas

Intelligent people are easily seduced by complexity while underestimating the importance of simple ideas that carry tremendous weight. Cloning is a very simple idea. But when you apply a handful of simple and powerful ideas with obsessive fervour, the cumulative effect "becomes unbeatable."

The problem is, most people dabble half-heartedly.

Pabrai says that it won't work. "You've got to give 10000% or not at all!"

"Take one idea. Make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. This is the way to success"

- Swami Vivekananda

The way he focused on just one simple idea of cloning and that transformed his life. It is very important to stick to a simple idea.

• Life is a game

Another thing that is very clear from many examples that I read about him is that he doesn't take things too seriously. He doesn't get much affected if the market is crazy or not in his favour.

He takes life as a game. He plays it and no matter he wins or loses, he moves on and plays another game.

"Once you have a sense that life is meaningless, what should you do? Not fuck up life for other people. Leave the planet a better place than you found it. Do a good job with your kids. The rest of it is a game. It doesn't matter."

• Success won't help you Grow

"I think every time for everyone, we don't grow with success, it is the failures that help us grow. Success really doesn't teach you anything. You just feel good and life is great, but you don't really grow as a person with success. So, I'm always grateful for the failures. The rough times, the tough times, they are the ones that really, in the long run, give you a lot of dividends, and so we should be very grateful for all the failures and stumbles that we have"

This is what he said when someone asked him a question about his biggest mistake.

He helped me realize that it is not only common to fail, but it is also the only thing that will make me grow. It is an essential thing to have.

If I am not failing, I am not growing.

If I am not failing for some time, meaning I am not growing. I am playing too small to grow.

The first time, I got access to be empowered by failure.

• Care about how the gloves fit on You

"I think what makes me alive and what makes me excited is a process of feedback-driven mechanism where I do any activity, I ask myself how I feel about it, what did I like, don't like."

If it doesn't excite or makes him happy, he leaves it.

"I don't really care what other people think. I care about how the glove fits on me"

"Pay very close attention to what excites you, what irritates you, what upsets you, and what energizes you. Things that give you a lot of energy, you want to increase them big time in your life. And things that are draining you, you want to get rid of that. Don't worry that the world doesn't need another painter, or doesn't need another poet, or whatever else. Just pursue what gives you the most joy, satisfaction, and growth. And be very deliberate when things happen, when you do something. Go back and look how you feel about that experience."

• Keep Digging

"What I find a lot with other humans is, they'll read a book, it's interesting for them, but they'll move on to something else. I think what you have to do is, if something grabs you, it means it's hitting something in your psyche or whatever, you have to be willing to go down that rabbit hole, and you have to be willing to go down that rabbit hole till you get to the end of the rabbit hole and have satisfied yourself that, okay, I want to be in this rabbit hole or no, this is not for me, let me keep walking."

"I think the willingness to just dive into something that you encounter when you're just kind of scanning the radar is an important thing to pay attention to."

I think this is very important for me to practice.

---

Credits:

The One Percent Show podcast by Vishal Khandelwal and Richer Wiser Happier book by William Green