Invert, always invert
— Charlie Munger
I read these words a while back but never gave them much thought.
Only recently while reading more of Charlie Munger’s essays (via the wonderfully crafted Stripe Press book Poor Charlie’s Almanack) did they become clearer.
The whole idea is an incredibly simple framework to help you reframe a problem: just ask the opposite of what you are trying to figure out.
For example, instead of asking “how do I become healthier?” You could ask “how would I get really unhealthy?”
Or instead of “how do I become rich?” you could ask “how would I become poor?”
The simple reversal often is easier to answer. We seem to naturally be good at answering the reverse of the question.
The benefit of this is that it gives you a good list of habits, approaches, and actions to avoid.
By actively avoiding the negative factors, rather than exclusively relying on doing the good stuff, you might just give yourself a better shot at achieving what you want.