Pursuing greatness with compounding knowledge and practical thoughts

I’ve realised that my true passion lies within the pursuit of continuous learning and self-improvement. I’m driven by a deep curiosity about the process—the journey—of becoming great. What does it really take? Is it truly about discipline and the consistent completion of simple tasks every day?

I believe that people can achieve anything that they want but not everything they want (a notion borrowed from Ray Dalio). My goal is to prove that it’s possible for anyone, regardless of their starting point. While factors like genetics, wealth, and connections can play a role, I’m convinced these obstacles can be overcome and that these notions are generally limits that people place on themselves. It’s never too late to start.

To explore this, I’m developing my own framework for success, which I will follow and document every step of the way. I’ll track how long it takes, all while maintaining a life that I love—proving that personal fulfillment and greatness don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I’ll also note what could have sped up or slowed down the process.

Through this journey, I hope to show that if an ordinary person like me can achieve greatness, then others can, too. If I succeed, I aim to pass on a learning system that others can use to reach even greater heights. And if I fail, I’ll document where things went wrong and what the biggest challenges were.

I have been inspired by several mentors who are my heroes and witnessed firsthand that greatness is possible. These heroes include:

My parents who are exemplary examples as they created a decently sized business after immigrating at a young age (early twenties) from another country with nothing, no money, no education, no skills and could not even speak the language.
My mentor from my job. I will not name him, but he is ranked first in our profession and taught me many things, the most important being that you can be the best in a competitive field, but still be a great human being.
Kobe Bryant - I do not know him personally, but how he perceives and approaches the world has taught me things that has changed my own life. One story that sticks out is - when asked about his work ethic he replied along the lines of ‘I see these guys come in and work at (lets say 8am) in the morning and I know that if I start work at 4am every single day, that I will be gaining an advantage over them that over several years will be an advantage that they can never catch up to.
This made sense to me because it showed me that its not only about hard work, but also about smart work and understanding the competition. He had to study what his competitors were doing, and just do a little bit more than them every single day until that compounded to a point where his competitors could not catch up. He did not just blindly work hard (because you could still be working less than everyone else), or put in so much work that your body or mind burns out. It was strategic - just a decent enough margin more than everyone else.
I have many many investors that I learn from but the two that have inspired me the most thus far in my career are:
1. Peter Lynch - One up on wall street taught me you did not need to be a finance professional to be an investor and that changed my life as someone with no family history of finance and just starting out his commerce studies.
2. Charlie Munger - Buffets lesser known partner who has a personality that reminds me a little of myself
3. Jack D Schwager - While not so much about himself as an investor, he is the writer of the Market Wizards series which I have listened to over and over again. The key lesson I learnt is that you do not need a specific personality to be a successful investor, but you need to develop a strategy or investing style that suits your personality.