Kazuo Inamori: "The people closest to you will influence the direction of your life."
Improving yourself doesn't necessarily mean pushing yourself to do more every day.
Sometimes, what matters more is who you surround yourself with, what books you read, what ideas you follow over time, and what kind of information enters your life.
Because in the end, we are gradually shaped by what we consistently engage with.
What books you read, whom you talk to, and what issues you focus on long-term—all these slowly change your judgment, perspective, and choices.
But I increasingly realize that so-called "being close to excellent people" isn't simply about finding someone better than you and imitating their lifestyle.
What truly matters is observing, reading, and interacting with outstanding individuals—understanding the paths they've walked—and then reflecting back on yourself.
Reading is a low-cost way of "living with great people."
A single book often condenses decades of someone's experience, thinking, and judgment.
You might spend just a few hours reading it, yet see a path someone took years to walk.
That’s why I’ve always believed reading is valuable.
Yet the real value of reading lies not in "how many books you’ve read," but rather in this:
Some words may seem reasonable when you first read them; years later, you suddenly understand them deeply.
These two experiences are entirely different.
Certain truths only become clear after you've lived through them.
My own journey in investing has made me especially aware of this.
When I first entered the stock market, all I saw were daily fluctuations in numbers, hot topics, news, and opportunities.
I followed the market up and down, and paid a heavy price for my mistakes.
Back then, reading Buffett and Munger seemed simple:
circle of competence, long-term holding, moats, valuation, patience...
It felt like I understood each point.
But later I realized:
Understanding the words doesn’t mean you truly grasp their meaning.
Only after experiencing market volatility, chasing gains and cutting losses, enduring waiting periods, and missing out on opportunities did I slowly begin to understand what they really wanted to convey.
Only when you start realizing you don’t need to pay attention to every stock, don’t need to seize every opportunity, and don’t need to react to every market fluctuation, do you begin building your own judgment.
Before, with thousands of stocks before you, you saw "opportunities."
Later, after research and time, you might see only a handful of companies.
This isn’t because the world has shrunk.
It’s because your judgment has grown stronger.
You finally know what matters to you and what doesn’t.
Perhaps this is the greatest growth in investing—not finally finding that one perfect stock, but gradually forming your own circle of competence.
Information is abundant; what’s truly scarce is judgment.
Today’s challenge isn’t limited to investing.
We’re bombarded daily with endless information.
Someone succeeded in starting a business, an industry boomed, a young person made a fortune, an ordinary person achieved a life turnaround through some method…
Short videos, social media, and content platforms constantly push these stories into our feeds.
We originally just wanted to find something valuable, but easily fall into comparison without realizing it:
Why can others succeed while I can’t?
- Did I pick the wrong industry?
- Should I switch directions?
- Should I also create content?
- Should I learn AI?
- Should I invest in a trending sector?
We think we are gathering information, but in reality, we might be being led by it.
Because information itself doesn't make judgments for you.
Information is getting cheaper; judgment is becoming more expensive.
What truly matters isn't reading every piece of information, but knowing which ones deserve a place in your world.
One important outcome of judgment is making the world smaller.
Once you truly know what you're searching for, the outside world remains vast—but the things relevant to you grow fewer.
And that's actually a good thing.
Observing outstanding people isn't about copying them.
Recently, I've seen some discussions about Ben Thompson.
He began writing about technology and business, later founded Stratechery, and has consistently written for over a decade, developing a highly distinctive analytical framework.
What interests me about his journey isn't just "how much money he made" or "what secrets to success he discovered."
What's truly worth studying is:
How did he get here step by step?
He was already working in the fields of technology and business, having long-term accumulation in this industry; then he started writing, gradually transforming his past experiences, knowledge, and judgments into content; and through long-term and continuous writing, forming his own methodology and readership.
So, when you extend the time frame, you will find:
He didn't suddenly discover a magical new path.
He continued on the original path, bringing his past accumulation to the next stage.
This has been very inspiring to me.
Because we tend to only see the result of someone, but ignore the path behind it.
When seeing someone succeed, we ask:
"How did he do it?"
But perhaps a more worthy question is:
- "What did he accumulate before success?"
- "What did he persist in?"
- "What did he focus on?"
- "What did he give up?"
And the most important question:
"What of these do I have?"
Dan Koe is the same: seeing the path, not copying the result.
There are many similar examples.
For instance, Dan Koe.
You can read his articles, study his content system, observe how he builds his personal brand.
But reading his articles doesn't mean you will become Dan Koe.
Because you don't have his experience, ability, interests, era environment, and life path.
Everyone's success has its own path dependence.
So, the truly valuable learning is not:
"He did it this way and succeeded, so I should do it this way too."
But rather:
"Why was this path effective for him?"
"What are his advantages?"
"What did he accumulate in the past?"
"What are the methods and what are actually his personal conditions?"
"What should I draw from it if I were like him?"
This is a completely different learning method.
Not copying others, but borrowing others to understand oneself.
What we truly need is "the same kind"
I increasingly believe that human growth roughly has two important paths.
One is reading.
The other is finding those who are on a similar path to you.
You can have some form of communication with them through their books, articles, interviews, speeches, and works.
I like to manage my "life portfolio" using “stock position management”.
1、Focus on technology and the frontier: Li Shanglong, Cathie Wood
They keep me focused on the future.
I will remind myself: Don't just stand in the present and view the world, but also try to see what is happening in the future.
2、The anchor of investment: Buffett, Munger.
When the market is rising, they remind me not to get carried away.
When the market is falling or I encounter setbacks, they remind me of patience, time, and long-termism.
They taught me that: It's much more important to study the company and find the good ones you want to follow than to focus on the fluctuations in stock prices.
3、Regarding assets and liabilities: "Rich Dad Poor Dad".
It may have a more daily impact on me.
When consuming, I remind myself:
Is this an asset or a liability?
It doesn't stop me from consuming, but it adds an extra layer of thinking before consumption.
4、Regarding personal brand, independent websites, and writing: "Naval's Handbook", Dan Koe.
When I started building my own website and writing blogs, and faced uncertain outcomes, I would think of Navar and Dan Koe.
This made me believe that I could gradually turn my knowledge, experience, judgment and long-term accumulation into my own assets.
My "position" would change.
As my age, experiences and cognition changed, what I believed in today might also be revised in the future.
I would adjust my position at any time: I could increase my holdings, or reduce them.
They will remind me at any time and any place. They will call me out.
This might be what I understand as "being close to excellent people".
The path itself is a form of identity.
We always think that growth means constantly seeking new opportunities.
- Change industries.
- Change projects.
- Change lifestyles.
- Chase new trends.
But those who truly achieve great success sometimes don't keep changing paths.
He merely takes the little things accumulated yesterday and brings them to today;
Then brings the little things accumulated today to tomorrow.
After one year, three years, or five years, those seemingly ordinary accumulations will gradually form something that is difficult for others to replicate.
Because it is no longer just knowledge.
It contains your experiences, judgments, failures, interests, personality, and the issues you have long been concerned about.
- The longer the path, the more it becomes a capability;
- the longer the capability exists, the more it becomes an identity.
So, of course, we should get close to outstanding people.
But "getting close" is not just socializing in real life.
Reading a good book is getting close to an outstanding person.
Studying an outstanding creator is getting close to a way of thinking.
Carefully observing an investor is getting close to a judgment system.
And long-term writing is constantly getting closer to that part of yourself that you haven't fully understood yet.
Ultimately, we are not becoming someone else, but becoming ourselves.
We do not learn from outstanding people to become them.
We do not read to accumulate a beautiful book list.
We do not study successful cases to find a replicable shortcut.
The truly valuable learning is:
See others → Be touched → Return to oneself → Review one's accumulation → Judge what one can do → Correct one's direction → Continue on one's own path.
My stock market investment experience, my blog writing...
Where this path takes me is not important.
What matters is that I keep moving forward.
Without the ups and downs of the stock market, without paying the tuition fees, without reading those books, without slowly digesting those words over time, I might never truly understand Buffett and Munger.
Without starting to write, I would not accumulate these valuable pieces of information and knowledge that support me on the journey.
Some understanding can only come from experience.
Others can inspire you, but they cannot live your life for you.
Others' success can show you the possibilities, but they cannot take on the time for you.
Others' paths can help you avoid some detours, but they cannot become your path.
So, what truly matters is:
"By seeing him, have I had a clearer understanding of myself?"
But ultimately, we still have to go back to our own path.