By Henry Munns.
Recently I’ve been asked by a few people whether my passion for climate change is ‘just a phase’. I don’t blame them; it certainly seems like one. Within the space of a few months, I went from having a comparatively basic understanding to having read more than twenty books, listened to over a hundred hours of podcasts, and written multiple articles on the subject.
Perhaps it is a phase. It is quite likely that over the coming months my passion for climate change will wane. It’s a sombre realisation that something you are so interested in might fade into the background. I’m sure everyone reading this has been in that situation also.
From an early age, persistence is put on such a pedestal; I can picture it plastered on the wall of my kindergarten classroom next to a cartoon of a climber summiting a steep mountain. The school my sister attended for ten years even had the motto ‘per aspera ad astra’, meaning ‘through hardships to the stars’ – slightly cheesy but I understand the intention.
Confronting those doubts, has actually made me want to continue with my interest in climate change. It is definitely a worthy cause, could lead me to interesting career paths, and I find it fascinating.
However, I am prone to phases and obsessions. But as I’ve grown up, these phases have become more productive. I’ve been through a behavioural economics phase, and a quantitative finance phase, among others.
Why am I saying all this?
Looking at the very early stages of my career, I believe that my tendency for obsession and phases, has become the most important character trait that I possess.
When you’re starting out, your value depends on these four main factors: how smart you are, how well you work with others, how hard you work, and what you know. The first two are, for the most part, set in stone. You can improve how you relate to others over time, and experience in the workforce certainly helps, but progress can be slow.
That leaves your work ethic and your knowledge as the two criteria that you can materially influence. Yet, from what I’ve seen, the latter is severely undervalued by young people. My experience tells me it really matters what you know. Knowledge gives you direct value, increases respect, and sets you apart from the competition. Most importantly, knowledge makes you confident — the impact of which cannot be understated. What’s more, diverse knowledge fosters a nuanced perspective, allowing for better judgement.
So, how can we accumulate diverse knowledge?
Learning follows the law of diminishing returns. Early on, you can learn a lot in a short-space of time. But the more you learn, the harder it is to learn more.
This is why phases are so valuable. Whilst you’re in one, you become obsessed with the subject; as a result, your learning curve is steep, as seen in the above diagram. By contrast, passive learning, often received in education, is far slower, more akin to the black curve.
By timing the demise of a phase well you can capture the early steepness of the curve and exit before you hit diminishing returns. Provided you move quickly onto the next phase, this style of learning can massively accelerate your accumulation of knowledge. For someone prone to phases, moving on comes naturally.
The specialist or the generalist?
Having said all this, persistence is still extremely valuable. Scientists, engineers, and doctors all dedicate their careers to specific subject areas. What makes them so valuable is their persistence in the accumulation of knowledge in a chosen field.
Nonetheless, striving to be the ‘expert’ isn’t necessarily the best choice for everyone and many people can’t sustain interest in one particular pursuit for their entire career. It is no wonder people make more career changes than ever before. In many careers, diverse knowledge and experience is extremely valuable and can be a valuable tool.
My advice is two-fold:
Firstly, ask yourself whether you are prone to phases? With that in mind, are you going down the right career path?
Secondly, foster your obsessions – immerse yourself as deeply as you can while your passion still burns. But if needed, allow it to fade away. Moving on does not negate the original interest, and the knowledge can be useful for future endeavours.
By inhibiting someone’s willingness to step into that obsession, you’re also inhibiting their ability to step into obsessions that matter. Moreover, bungled, irrelevant, and niche phases only build on each-other, making you more interesting. Diversity isn’t a bad thing; it’s the best thing. I’m lucky those around me have, for the most part, fostered my phases, no matter how irrelevant.
Considering the original question, perhaps someday I will lose my burning desire to learn all about climate change. But just because the fire ceases to burn does not mean I have lost passion or fascination.
I still want to pursue this as I believe it is one of the most important issues of our time and is one I feel I can have a significant impact on. It may just fade into the background just enough that I can turn my attention to something new. I truly believe that something new will not only add value to both this interest and future ones. This might make it, ‘just a phase’ but I welcome that possibility with open arms.