I am always intrigued by the question of “what are your interests?” I ask myself this question often. I also throw this question to others. One business school student answered: “my interest is to find an investment banking job.” Well, he was not really answering my question.

Many people see their short-term goals as their interests. This is a mistake and I believe this is why many high-achieving people don’t feel happy (even after they have attained their goals). By not seeking to know their own interests, people end up spending their entire life doing things they don’t like and they don’t care.

I believe “what are your interests” is an important question to be answered. I also believe the answer to this question probably is not a fixed one but will morph as time goes by.

Ok, but how? How can I figure out what my interests are? And as my interests may change, how can I keep answering this question throughout my life?

Personally, I have grappled with these questions a lot. With great confidence, I argue it is impossible to figure out one’s interests by just sitting still and “thinking.” Human beings are like computers: we are both a piece of hardware and software. Without interactions with the outside world, there is no way we can acquire, understand and appreciate new experiences.  Imagine you ordered a new computer and it got delivered today — do you expect it to show you your latest work email right away or immediately start loading your favorite PC games? Of course not. Your computer needs to connect to the Internet (be exposed to the outside world), download software programs (gain new experiences) and then it can start performing tasks (know how to do things).

And that brings to my second point — we must keep doing new things. Every new experience is an attempt to figure out what gives me energy, what drains my energy. By repeating this process again and again, we will come to one or more “aha” moments of “I love this” or “I have this.” Stated another way, we will not be able to say “I love doing XYZ” until we have tried “XYZ” or something close. And the prerequisite to this is — I must have tried a lot of things.

This line of thoughts eventually led me to realize something bigger — “it’s a volume game.” A newborn baby will not be able to tell his or her favorite dish until he or she grew up and tried many buffet dinners. It’s about the “volume.”  Similarly, I won’t be able to figure out my interests until I have tried a lot of differently things.  It’s a volume game!

This idea probably applies to a few other areas:

• A money manager generates new ideas by studying new companies and new markets and even switching to new investment styles from time to time.
• A great company lasts by rejuvenating itself with a new culture.  Think Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, AMD’s Lisa Su and PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi.
• A happy person usually is open minded.  He or she is consistently reading new books, meeting new friends, trying new food and/or travelling to new places.

So, if you don’t like the book you are reading, stop reading it and move onto the next one.

If you don’t like your current environment (city, job, etc.), change it.  If you cannot change your environment, leave it behind and you move on.

If you don’t like what you are doing right now, stop doing it and start doing the next thing.  What’s the next thing?  Stop over-thinking — there is always something there alive in your head speaking to you, even when you are asleep and dreaming!  Just do what it says.  Don’t settle.  Be experimental.  Keep doing.

It’s a volume game.

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