Modern Day Polymath: How to Learn Better, Study Effectively, Master Skills, Build Habits & Become Smarter

Why Personality Matters

The internet.

What exactly is it?

Can you touch it?

Nah...

It’s an information storehouse. A library that you can access at will.

The internet is like a category 5 hurricane. It’s a storm that’s powerful enough to decimate the concentration levels of your mind.

That’s why so many people are lost.

They enter this storm without so much as a life vest. That’s why they are floating all over the place.

‘Can I tame the internet?’

Yes.

You can tame the internet by becoming a polymath. More specifically, a personality-based polymath.

‘What’s a personality-based polymath?’

A personality-based polymath is someone who leads with their personality first. This requires us to understand what personality is.

We are often given a weak definition of ‘personality.’ A definition that leaves us with more questions than answers.

But something so important to our life should be digested scientifically:

A personality is a field of forces.

These field of forces include our memory, desires, intellect, and sense of self.

At any point, we can alter our personality. Yet, for some reason, humans have a very static view of personality.

‘Why do you think they have a static view?’

Because a static view helps on a societal level, but not on an individual level.

On a societal level, a personality test can help understand where others are, and group them effectively to make meaningful decisions.

But the more you narrow down to the individuals, the less accurate a personality test becomes.

That’s when what seemed static becomes dynamic.

It’s like the Newtonian world and the Quantum world.

On a Newtonian level, the world around seems predictable and easy to measure. But the more you zone into the tiny world of Quantum, everything becomes a field of forces.

It's the same with personality.

Thus far, we only have a Newtonian view of personality. If we can unlock a Quantum view, that’s when the game starts to change.

‘How do I unlock a Quantum view of my personality?’

You unlock it by looking at the person across the mirror.

Picture yourself as having 2 bodies.

The mental body and the physical body.

The human is very similar to a word.

For example:

Apple.

What do you see?

‘An apple.’

Be more specific.

‘I see the scribbles which create A-p-p-l-e.’

What else do you see?

‘An image of an apple in my mind.’

The scribbles of A-p-p-l-e is a symbol for your physical body.

The image created by the scribbles is a symbol for your mental body.

The more you understand the mental and physical components of you, the more you understand your personality.

‘Um, Armani?

Whatsup.

‘What the hell does this have to do with becoming a polymath?’

A ton.

Because the more that you understand yourself, the more the internet turns from a category 5 hurricane into a light drizzle.

‘What do you mean?’

It means that you can now spot the meaningful information from the junk.

Finding Meaningful Information

If you try to define ‘information’, you will become a philosopher overnight. It’s a difficult word to describe.

I think it is safe to say in this era, that information naturally doesn’t have any value. It has value based on the value that the user assigns to it.

Imagine someone comes to you and says that they have the greatest book ever. However, no one has read it.

If no one has read it, that means that it can’t be regarded as the greatest book ever. Even if most people on the planet have read it, besides 1 person, it still cannot be regarded as the greatest book ever.

That’s because information is participatory. It requires another human.

Therefore, knowing yourself is one of the keys to becoming a genius. It allows you to spot relevant information from irrelevant information.

There was time in college when I was struggling. There was a possibility that I was going to get kicked out of the engineering program.

One day, my college advisor pulled me to the side and said:

‘Armani, the river did not cut through the rock through force, but through persistence.’

When he told me that quote, my world view had shifted. I realized I was trying to bulldoze myself into getting a higher grade. But the minute he told me about the value of persistence, I understood the importance of small daily wins.

That quote saved me from failing out of the engineering program.

A few years later, I had a buddy who was going through a similar issue. I was supposed to help him study.

That’s when I said to him:

‘John, the river did not cut through the rock through force, but through persistence.’

He took some time to think about the quote. Then he said:

‘Armani, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Quit wasting time & help me study bro!’

That showed me the quote did not have any intrinsic value. Instead, it had value that we assigned to it.

To spot relevant information from irrelevant information, we need to find a way to personalize the information. This is a skill.

If you do not know yourself, then you will not be able to tame the internet. Everything is going to seem important.

THE INTERNET WILL EAT YOU ALIVE.

Don’t you see all these people getting brainwashed like idiots nowadays?

All information is relevant information to them because they know nothing about themselves.

Some exam told them they were an extrovert or an introvert 5 years ago and they accepted it.

They gave one of their most important components (personality) to another group of humans to decide.

Now it’s easier to brainwash them by telling them which information is important and which isn’t.

The modern-day polymath isn’t fooled that easily though. It’s because they took the time to understand themselves. Through the process of understanding themselves, it becomes much easier to scope through fluff.

How to Know Yourself

I want to make this universal. The following formula will work whether you’re:

Trying to become smart for school.

Trying to become valuable for your company.

An entrepreneur who has no choice but to get smarter. Otherwise, your business will fade away.

Set an infinite goal.

‘A what?’

Set an infinite goal.

‘What do you mean? I thought I was supposed to set deadlines and all that.’

You can do that with infinite goals.

An infinite goal can adopt the features of finite goals, but the opposite is not always true.

Become like a person who sells books. Let’s say that you are an author of a book called ‘Purpose