I sometimes wonder if I am a little slow 🙂
Recently, when a friend was explaining some data science concepts to me, every once in a while, I would just ask him to stop.
We would sit in awkward silence for half a minute, and then, almost imperceptibly, I would find clarity emerging.
When learning anything nuanced, I sometimes have to let it pickle in my head for some time. Only then am I able to connect the dots and firm up my mental model. That is when I get to understand things from first principles.
I remember learning valuation from Prof. Aswath Damodaran’s lectures, and many times, I played a snippet over and over again, until I understood it.
I sometimes do wish that I understood everything in a snap, but it is not something I can change.
However, in the real world, this isn’t a problem because life is not a rapid-fire quiz. You almost always have the time — what matters is, can you build clarity?
If you have also faced these struggles, don’t worry. It is perfectly fine to pause for a few minutes as long as you understand things from first principles.
Take the time you need. Speed can never substitute for clarity.
– Rajan