Eulogy Virtues vs Resume Virtues

Which ones are you after?

You clearly know that I too watched John Wick - Chapter 4. And boy, was I entertained? You bet !!!  The action sequences, the background music, and the cinematography were delightful. Especially the scene with Killa (Scott Adkins) at the casino table. That was a smoking hot scene.

The image here is from the last scene of the movie. The tombstone reads “Loving Husband” because that’s what John Wick had asked Winston (owner of Continental New York in the movie franchise) to put there. This was an interesting end to the non-stop killing machine that the protagonist plays.

It got me thinking about our tombstones (if we had one). What would that read?

• CFA

• Banker

• Entrepreneur

• Sales Professional

• C Suite Executive

• Biggest, Richest, Smartest 

None of these should go up on our tombstones because all of these are resume virtues i.e. goals we chase for want of professional and economic growth. These are aspirations that serve as means to a desired end. These are borne out of the insecurity of our childhood days when we had very limited resources, when many didn’t believe in us and treated us like nobody, sometimes even a loser. These are our responses of defiance to our critics but does that give it enough firepower to be put up on our tombstones?

A definite NO for me. I hope it's a NO for you too ❌

The ones I would actually consider for my tombstone would belong to the list below -

• Wise

• Calm

• Loving

• Peaceful

• Insightful

• Tenacious

• Thoughtful

But even these virtues fall short of what I’d love to be consistent with for the remainder of my life, and that is “Wildly Curious”.

Yes, that’s the one for me.

“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” ― Walt Disney Company 

The reason this resonates with me is that it feels like the back door through every obstacle that I could face. It’s like in Matrix, Keanu Reeves opens a door and it leads him out of the enemy’s line of sight, or right where he wanted to go.

Curiosity is a potent tool that could be used to lethal effect by anyone keen to find a breakthrough or build domain expertise. I have a friend who is one of the highest-paid voice-over artists in India and he was recounting the number of hours he spent watching History & National Geography Channel to build his vocabulary and mental frameworks for effective speech. 

He would stutter in his early days, but was dogged enough to practice speaking for 3 years with a rich vocabulary and eventually created immense success for himself. You too might have just heard his voice somewhere in the last 24 hrs, if you are in India now and exposed to audio or video ads. More power to him.

I am reading James Dyson's autobiography now and you will be amazed to know that he has earned billions of dollars through his inventions in the consumer goods category, without ever having a formal degree in engineering or sciences. He spent one year (1965–1966) at the Byam Shaw School of Art and then studied furniture and interior design at the Royal College of Art (1966–1970).

It was his mentor, Jeremy Fry that instilled in him an engineering sense that makes one tinker with stuff to find what works and what doesn’t. This proved to be a turning point for Dyson’s approach to building things and making a difference in the very industries he entered, no matter how intense the competition. Provided below is an excerpt from the book ‘Against the Odds’ -

My last post elaborated upon the benefits of building a reading habit. But satisfying one’s curiosity could be met via so many avenues today -

• Youtube Premium (the free version is terrible with its ads and interruptions)

• Seminars/Webinars (I just signed up for one by Sahil Sharma tomorrow on Small Cap Investing in India)

• Training Bootcamps (I was thrilled to receive the confirmation email from Flame University for my application to Sanjay Bakshi’s course on Business Analysis & Case Studies)

• Certifications - I have applied for Level 1 Nutrition Coaching from Precision Nutrition and it begins in September

Money, Health, Relationships, Corporate Success, and Entrepreneurial Breakthroughs - all have back doors and can be accessed by anyone with the hunger to find a solution to an obstacle they face. But it needs a curious mind - that would first accept that there has to be a way around this roadblock and that a solution can be found or engineered.

Having a curious mind allows one never to get sucked into the valley of despair, from which there is no return. Having a curious mind allows one to soldier through the toughest of obstacles. Having a curious mind fills one up with hope and optimism.

And hence, “Wildly Curious” gets to go on my tombstone. That’s the eulogy virtue I aspire for. 

I will let David Brooks summarize the context of this piece (taken from Morgan Housel’s post) -  

Resume virtues are things like income, job title, and the size of your house. Eulogy virtues are things like being helpful, being loved, being honest, and being remembered.

An irony is that many people aspire for the latter, but put all their effort into the former.

People spend their entire lifetime chasing resume virtues, and eventually regretting that they devoted so much time and attention to it.

I just hope you don’t add a number to that statistic.

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I am in India now to celebrate my parents and my wedding anniversary. Also looking forward to attending a friend’s wedding in Kharghar, Maharashtra. Add to these celebrations, the running around for property hunting, and dining at our favorite places. Too much to do, in a very short time ⏱

These will keep me low on reading for the next 10 days, but it sure won’t derail me from tweeting or writing my newsletter ;)

Sending you loads of love and luck from my city 🔮

Manish