Growing up in an educationally strict household, getting an A+ in school exams felt like the only source of joy. 

Surely, it felt like it’s the only source of joy for our parents and something they can be proud of. 

Our young subconscious minds were trained early-on to recognize that aiming for A+ is THE goal.  We got positively reinforced and trained for it.   

For 18 more years, the training and positive reinforcement increased.  Add the social proof principle of your peers around you who are striving for the same thing. Hustling for an A+ becomes a self-reinforcing system concretely ingrained within us.  Forever.

Then, as adults we enter the real world.  Where everything is more chaotic than anything that the academia world can prepare us for. 

A whole new world where everything is rapidly changing. 

New things get introduced on a daily basis – new and always evolving technology, new concepts on how to navigate the world (like: how to make more money, how to save for retirement, how to online date, how to live healthy, how to raise good children, how to care for our older parents, how to be a good employee, how to start and grow a business, and on, and on.)

The list of new things keeps growing.  And with how we have been trained for the last couple decades of striving for A+, we have to excel at these subjects.  Or else. 

The only thing is, everything is growing and evolving at a rate exponentially quicker than our brain can adapt to. 

It doesn’t take long before the source of joy quickly becomes the source of misery. 

After years where it felt like the misery kept mounting, the concept that Charlie Munger discussed frequently hit me.  Though admittedly, it did not happen right away. 

It was not until recently that, once it was thoroughly processed in my mind, it became very liberating.  To the point where I use this concept so frequently that it feels like I am abusing it. 

Only because life has gotten significantly better, internally and externally, since I began to consistently use it. 

Instead of asking ‘How do I make sure I excel at this subject?’

The question now becomes, ‘How can I fail at this?  And how can I fail at this as quickly and as largely as possible?’

Then avoid those things.

Why it works: because our mind uses its natural tendency to look for the negative in things.  This time, we use it to our benefits.      

How this principle was recently used:

After feeling ambitious, I took on additional responsibilities with work. It didn’t take long for the natural anxiety to kick in.  Mainly, an anxiety around dealing with the unknowns, as well as questioning whether I have what it takes.  Psychologists call it impostor syndrome. 

Many can probably relate to this scenario – when these thoughts start to surface, it’s extremely easy to go into a spiral and doomsday scenario. 

It goes something like this: 

‘What if I don’t know what I’m doing? Sh*t, I will underperform and fail to meet expectations. That could easily lead to me getting fired. Then what? I will have to start living on savings. How long will that even last? What will everyone think of me? How can I even deal with the shame? With my status of being known as a failure? Can I even bounce back from that?’    

Objectively speaking, these dominoes effect I put together in my head are not likely happen.  But it all felt very real when anxiety kicks in and my brain draws out worst case scenarios as it is doing its job – to help survive.    

Remembering Charlie’s advice of ‘Invert, Always Invert.’ I took out a notebook. 

I questioned, ‘What can I do to make sure that I fail at this as largely and as quickly as possible?’

My mind went to work because it was incredibly easy to find A LOT of negative things.  Again, taking advantage of the brain doing what it does to survive.    

I will share what I wrote at a high-level to avoid some of the boring details.  The following is what I wrote:

Here is how I can fail as largely and as quickly as possible:

• I could neglect all requests that come my way
• I could stop updating stakeholders on the status of my work and projects
• I could behave and act like an a**hole to my colleagues, as well as be quick to throw them under the bus
• I could stop exercising and neglect my health, altogether
• I could start binge drinking and binge eating to deal with stress
• I could start spending money frivolously and carelessly

Wow, that was easy. 

Now, I just need to not do any of these things. 

What a liberating experience.  It feels like a lot of the burden has been taken off my shoulder. 

The only way I can describe this liberating feeling is: 

It feels like playing basketball with no pressure or without getting in my own head about whether I was doing the right things or I was in the right spot.  I am free to play.  Whether I pull up for a shot, cross-over, or pass the ball, it feels like I am able to play free and play to my strength. 

As for the added responsibilities, I received a recognition at the end of the year and a bonus.  I cannot guarantee that the outcome will always be positive, but what I can guarantee is, training ourselves to inversion thinking will help us to stay grounded and to stay objective. 

Charlie once said, “It’s kind of fun to sit there and outthink people who are way smarter than you are because you’ve trained yourself to be more objective and more multidisciplinary.”

I am slowly starting to understand what he means.    

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To conclude this writing, I will add a couple more quotes on inversion thinking:

It is in the nature of things that many hard problems are best solved only when they are addressed backwards.  ‘Invert, Always Invert’ – Jacobi (Poor Charlie’s Almanack)

“A lot of success in life and business comes from knowing what you want to avoid: early death, a bad marriage, etc.”  – Charlie Munger

“All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.” – Charlie Munger (Poor Charlie’s Almanack)

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If you are new to this, hello and welcome! I write and dive deep into the concepts, principles, and wisdom on everything that Charlie Munger has lived by and shared. 

I have nothing to sell you and I write for an audience of one. 

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First Rule of a Happy Life