I took a linguistics course my freshman year of college, where the professor one day handed a sheet of what basically looked like hieroglyphics to decipher. Although the professor didn’t mention it, the first step to solving that assignment was pattern recognition. What symbols are prevalent and in what way? Based on those patterns, what do you think those symbols mean?
On the first day of my private equity job, my boss gave me his two cents on what it takes to be successful in the role. One of the things he mentioned was – you guessed it – pattern recognition. Once you look at thousands of companies and marketing materials from investment bankers, you recognize similarities and trends. As a result, you know what to expect, what to dig into and look out for, and you become sharper on those companies and industries.
When I was in high school, I went through a phase where I was really into “Discourse on the Method” by Rene Descartes. Two key points that resonated with me are: (1) divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it and (2) make each problem that you solve into a rule which can be served to solve other problems afterwards – very similar to what Ray Dalio says in his book “Principles” which I wrote about in a blog post from 6 years ago.
As I approach 30 with ~7 years in the working world, I have my own observations on patterns as well as “rules” and “principles” based on my life. I find that very powerful – to know that I have 30 years of data and experiences from my very own life that can be used to equip myself if I take the time to properly digest, analyze, and interpret them with an open, objective, and self aware mindset.
I enjoy reading my old blog posts because I remember precisely how I felt during those times. When I find myself experiencing familiar situations, reading my past posts gives me a strange sense of comfort and guidance… almost like pattern recognition. Even if what I am going through is novel and unprecedented, I have developed my own way of going about uncharted territories.
To end this post, one pattern I have found to be true time after time: there is ALWAYS a silver lining to EVERYTHING, even if it may not be immediately apparent.
Thanks for reading,
Phyllis
