Inversion Thinking
Try a new way to help you to see the world more clearly and make better decisions. It is called Inversion Thinking. This approach was popularized by Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s business partner.
Charlie said Inversion Thinking was his simple trick to make better decisions.
It originally came from a German mathematician in the 1800s. Charlie said it is used all the time to solve Algebra problems. I wish I knew about this in high school!
Inversion think isn’t just for business people or mathematicians. It can work for almost any problem or challenge.
How can I achieve my goals?
Reverse the question;
What would be the worst thing you could do to achieve your goal?
Basically your flipping a problem upside down to get a new perspective. Then you can look at everything you could do to make it worse. Instead work on making thing better!
It’s not just for goals, it applies to all kinds of life challenges; relationships, financial matters, creativity, and even threats and violence!
How could I avoid a violent assault and how could I protect myself if it happens?
What would be the worst things I could do to set myself up for getting seriously injured?
Don’t train much, just show up to class once and a while. Don’t train with any intensity, don’t try to get better. Watch as much Netflix and eat as much junk food as you want and don’t do any cardio!
When you go out, wear earbuds so you don’t know what’s going on around you. Hang out in sketchy bars in bad areas. Make sure to treat people like crap and be as arrogant as possible!
Charlie was a metiorologist in WW2. His job was to predict the weather so the pilots could decide where and when it was safe to fly. Charlie kept his focus and he kept pilots alive by asking himself “suppose I want to kill a lot of pilots, what would be the easy way to do it?” Have them take off with ice on their wings or travel in weather that would cause them to run out of fuel before they could land?
There were many ways to accomplish the goal of killing pilots. So Charlie made sure he avoided risks for the pilots and he saved a lot of lives.
We can use this method of thinking to solve challenges in our lives. As far as our self protection and self defense this type of thinking can be very helpful.
How should I train if I want to be ineffective in fighting back against an attacker?
What about if I want to hurt my training partner?
Maybe if I don’t use self control I could break his jaw with a wild elbow strike or drop him on his head with a hard throw, maybe I could kick low and get him where it really hurts or mess up his knee.
Think of what you want, then think of how to really mess it up. Then take steps to not mess it up!
Charlie said “Avoiding stupidity is easier than trying to be brilliant!”
Try Inversion thinking. It might just save your life, or your job, or your relationship, or your …(fill in the blank!)
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