There is a mental model known as inversion.
And it is one of the most powerful thinking tools you can incorporate into your daily life.
Here's how you can use it to think better. 👇👇👇
The trick to inversion is simple: figure out what you don’t want and avoid it.
Charlie Munger, the legendary partner of Warren Buffett summarized inversion when he said, “All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.”
Problems get easier when you turn them around. Rather than ask what you can do to be happy, avoid all the things that make you miserable.
Lesson one: Luck often comes from knowing what to avoid rather than trying to be incredibly intelligent. Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.
Lesson two: Inversion provides clarity. Even when you don’t know what you want, you can determine what you don’t want and avoid that.
Lesson three: Inversion helps remove friction. Instead of applying more force to get the outcome you want, ask what’s getting in the way.
Here are some ways to apply the concept in the conduct of work and life: If you want to be a good manager, avoid being a bad manager. What makes a bad manager? Thinking you have all the answers, being inconsistent, being unreliable, etc.
Want to be a good partner? Avoid being a bad partner. What kills relationships? Losing trust, not spending time together, not communicating your needs, etc.
Want to save for money? Avoid spending more than you earn.
If you want to be more productive, remove the things that make you unproductive. Leave your phone in another room. Keep only one-tab open on the computer. Block social media.
We are rarely beaten by others. Instead, we beat ourselves all the time. The vast majority of the time we can pick up easy points by avoiding mistakes rather than trying to score a point.
This quote by Charlie Munger sums it up nicely:
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”