Somebody wrote me a plea for mentorship.

I answered him with this Charlie Munger / Mozart story:

A young man comes to visit Mozart. “Mozart” he says, “I want to write symphonies”.

Mozart: “How old are you?” The man replies; “I’m 23.” And Mozart says, “You’re too young to write symphonies.”

The man replies; “But Mozart you were writing symphonies when you were 10 years old.”

And Mozart replies, “Yes but I wasn’t asking other people how to do it.”

If you come to me asking for mentorship, that is my answer: And I ain’t no Mozart. In other words: Don’t ask me for mentorship. Just do the work. On your own. Like Mozart did. Nobody was teaching Mozart how to write music.

He just did.

Because he had a calling and a passion for it. You tell me you don’t know what to do? Then you are probably trying to do the wrong thing. And you need to figure out a different direction.

Imagine for a second that instead of asking Mozart how to write music, the young man would have used the moment to show Mozart some of his own compositions. That would have enabled him to enter into a conversation with Mozart about music and how to write it. Because Mozart was not a teacher. Had no calling to be a teacher. He did, however, have a calling to be a composer. This approach would not necessarily have succeeded, but it had a far better chance of succeeding than the blunt ask.

So if you want to ask me for mentorship; think again. Rather, go to work on yourself. To become a better investor. A better analyst. A better person. And then show me some of your work: A stock write-up. A book review. Something else you have written. A video you made. Something. Anything. Even better. Don’t just send it to me. Share it with others. See who engages. Might be me. Might be somebody else. Either way, you will be better off. And your career will thrive.