What it takes to become an analyst?
Who are they and why I want to be an analyst?
When I started my career as analyst for local banks, these were the questions raised in my thoughts in order to perform better in my daily duties as analyst – to analyze things and made a better decision for each cases. Being a part of my team in Financial Intelligence Unit guide me to explore what really beyond the numbers and spreadsheet. I was analyzing human beings! Through the system of symbols called money, yes, like any other profession who studied and analyze particular subject like physician who analyze a person health through physical condition through a system a symbol which called as symptom, or physicist who study the universe through a system a symbol called mathematical equation. As we all learn in my previous chapter, a system symbols are incapable to reveal the true nature of universe including us – human beings.
In the beginning, I also started as “man of symbols” to play my role as an analyst. Observe and analyze each signs and red flags on every transaction, and made the decision out of them. Learn new things related to this symbols called money, read books about business, investment, economy which entirely new discipline for me who are graduate engineer and STEM student. However, it didn’t took long before I fall into stress and anxiety while performing my roles. As I said before in “man of symbol” chapter — to become a master of symbols, it require serious attitude. I need to be serious on what I analyze, getting as much of information I could before finalize my decision. I was asking myself on this question:
“How much information I need to find to ensure the suspect are truly suspicious?”
Before I try looking for the answer. New question raised in my thoughts:
“Why I ask myself those question?”
It is all because the anxiety of making a decision — Am I made a right decision or bad decision? This sense of insecurity have been plagued us for any decision we made, “should I marry to this guy or not?”, “should I buy this or not?” since we are betting our survival in each decision we made like in my case betting my own employment. No wonder the attitude “man of symbols” is serious. You become stress in what you do and require stress management plan like how mathematics were used by computer programmer to simplifying mathematical models to reduce stress level on computer processing unit (now I am talking like electronic engineering student). But we are not computer, we are human beings and stress management are not a true solution.
This is where next phase in “trilogy of man” started. How much information I need to find and embark on this journey finding out the end of this horizon. It took me only a year to realize this is no end!
The information I truly need to decide in any kind of situation is limitless, infinite! How much information you need of the girl or man which they are “the one” for you, while trying to answer this question, you decide to play a game called “going out” or dating for certain period of time, to learn about our partner. Soon you’ll realized, it took forever to take enough data and information about them to be considered as ideal partner. Soon you might just married them not on how much data you gain with logical reasoning, but mainly from emotion based.
For almost three years playing this game, I have bought more than hundred books in my collection heavily on psychology and philosophy to learn the behavior of human beings including how our minds works. Here is greatest gift I received from ancient wisdom I read in becoming superior analyst:
He who knows others is clever, He who knows himself has discernment.
Lao Tzu — Tao Te Ching
By learning who we really are, projecting the self toward other, this is ancient art of analyst should master. Like what ancient war strategist said:
Know yourself, know the enemy. In hundred battles there will be no fear.
Sun Tzu — The Art of War
What it takes? Not seriousness we are looking for but learn trusting to own self of making a decision which you might have been connected with the hidden realm of knowledge which I called “the glimpse of truth” where no system of symbols including our own logical reasoning able to grasp the feeling of justice. But it is difficult, that’s why most rather to settle with seriousness attitude than become a man of virtue – the man of excellence.
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