Why growth is never linear?

Expectations of growth.

When we invest, we expect steady growth. Day after day, high returns while the capital is preserved. We try to choose such investments which have zero risk, and most of population is happy about the apparent slow growth as they cannot bear the fluctuations of the market. And the anxiety it brings day after day. Yet as a person who understands the zero of life, I can show you thousands of examples to show the growth is not liner. Not even in natural world. Not even in man mad world.

Timber Growth

Woodyard example.

If you have ever been to a Woodyard, you would have noticed massive trunks which were cut into halves. They are the greatest example for growth. If you looked closer at these trunks you would see the rings made out of newly grown cells over each year. If a tree behaved like us, expecting same growth each year, the thickness of each layer should be similar. But that is not the case. Some winters are harsh. Other summers are ideal for growth. Each year the tree grows slowly. Maybe half a centimeter in thickness, but variable. Some years it may barely make few millimeters. But remarkably after few hundred years, they become massive. Teaching us the lesson that we are far more impatient and naiver when it comes to growth. This is not the only lesson trees teach us about life. You may read the previous article about bamboo theory and fractals. Let's move on.

Sir David Attenborough on growth. - Growth is never linear in nature.

A long time ago as a young student I happened to watch Sir David Attenborough's series on plants. That was an era where we did not have digital phones with us. I was looking at one such episode where the still camera has captured a plant growth over months and years. I still remember how it looked like. It was pulsatile. Like everything moved to a magical heartbeat of mother nature. It was not linear at all! But with each beat, each pulse everything moved an inch. Inch by inch, into a fully grown mature jungle of life nourishing every beast good and bad. So, I suggest you search for a plant growth in action next time when you start random YouTube scrolling.

Plant Growth

Growth spurts of humans.

Nothing we call ourselves we bring from anywhere other than nature. Not even the piece of DNA that helped to bring out life. I just feel like its myself and so I claim it myself. Like every truth that we believe to be true there can be element of false in this belief. So, if we look at the growth of a child, again we will see the patterns of nature, not linear. As an example, the height of a person happens in spurts if you consider it in months. In some months a child can grow three centimeters while during next barely making any visible growth. But if you are more advanced, and measured the height daily with modern instruments, you might even see ups and downs of height even within a day. Just like a natural stock market. But we wouldn't worry about it right?

Warren buffet on Markets.

Non-Linear Growth

I may have confused you with so many examples of nonlinear growth. After all I am a philosopher. But I have seen many experts of growth preaching the same when it comes to investing and growth. Consider what Warren buffet had said years ago. Imagine you buy a business, a stock, or invest your time in a project. Everyday Mr. Market comes to you and gives feedback and tell you either you are doing good, average or bad. And every day he tries to convince you either to buy or sell a piece of your business. What will you do? For any rational person this would feel an absurd question as the answer is crystal clear. You say, "Shut the f*** up to Mr. Market and concentrate on improving your work" You do not worry about short term setbacks as you are looking for the end game. That is the Championship mentality. As you can see it is not an artificial theory that someone made to beat the market. It is even present in a thick jungle where there is a growth in chaos. And who breaks the canopy are the ones who learned this by nature.

Hope this will help the next time when you have a temporary failure in your life.