Flipping Failure On Its Head: How to Achieve Success By Being a Pessimist
When it comes to achieving success, most people focus on trying to make things happen. But what if the key to success is actually avoiding failure?
Quick Life Story
Fun fact, for a long time I have had a running list of what I call “AJ’s Commandments” that I’ve been updating over the years. It’s a series of life lessons that I have learned from various life experiences over the years. I reference the different topics pretty frequently with my coworkers.
Being an engineer, I have one rule that i use almost daily:
“Convince yourself it will fail. When you no longer can, now it’s a good idea”
This was always just a mantra for me. As an engineer you want to make things work, but to me, it was always just as (if not more) important to make sure an idea or design was robust enough to handle whatever is thrown at it.
Recently, I learned that this is actually a method for thinking & problem solving actually has a name
The Inversion Method
The Inversion Method powerful problem-solving technique, popularized by Charlie Munger, is all about flipping things upside down and identifying what you need to avoid in order to achieve your goals.
This method involves reversing a problem to identify what you need to avoid or prevent in order to achieve a desired outcome. This approach can be used to generate new ideas and solutions, as well as to identify potential roadblocks or obstacles. Instead of starting with a goal and working forward to find a solution, you start with the opposite of the goal and work backward to identify what needs to be eliminated or avoided in order to achieve that goal.
Why Should I Trust This Munger Guy?
Charlie Munger is a well-known business leader and philanthropist who has had a long and successful career in business and investing. He is best known for his role as Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational conglomerate led by Warren Buffett.
Munger has been a close business partner and friend of Buffett for over 60 years and has been instrumental in the growth and success of Berkshire Hathaway. He has a reputation for his wisdom and his ability to think in a contrarian way, which is one of the reasons why he is an expert at the inversion method.
One of the things that sets Munger apart is his ability to think deeply and critically about complex problems. He is known for his ability to identify the root cause of a problem and to think about it in a holistic way. This is a key aspect of the inversion method, as it requires you to look at a problem from multiple angles and identify all the potential pitfalls.
Munger also has a strong track record of successful investments, which is another reason why he is an expert at the inversion method. He is known for his ability to identify undervalued assets and for his ability to think about the long-term potential of a business. This type of thinking is also central to the inversion method, as it requires you to think about the long-term implications of your decisions and to anticipate potential problems that could arise in the future.
How Do I Achieve Success By Being a Pessimist?
Have you ever met someone who is a hardcore pessimist? They will think of every reason why something will fail or why you’re wasting your time. This is EXACTLY what you want when it comes to the Inversion Method!
Pessimism can be used as a tool to identify potential problems and obstacles that may arise. When using the inversion method, it's important to think about the worst-case scenario and consider what could go wrong. By identifying potential negative outcomes, you can take steps to prevent them from happening.
For example, if your goal is to launch a new product, a pessimistic approach to inversion thinking would be to consider all the ways in which the product could fail, such as poor quality, lack of market demand, or competition from other products.
Once you know where or how you could fail, you can go back and bulletproof yourself against these issues. Improve product quality, conducting market research, and differentiate your product from the competition.
It’s important to note that you shouldn’t be negative all the time. You want to be able to leverage a pessimistic view to consider all the negative possibilities and take action to prevent them. It’s a way to be proactive instead of reactive.
How To Apply The Inversion Method
Here are 5 Tips to help you get started:
Know what you want: Before you start flipping things upside down, make sure you know what you're aiming for. This will help you identify the potential pitfalls that could stand in your way.
Look at things from different angles: Like a gymnast, flip your problem around to see it from different sides. This will help you identify new opportunities and potential solutions that you may have missed.
Find the "speed bumps" on the road to success: Once you know what's stopping you, you can plan how to go around it. This will help you avoid costly mistakes and make better decisions.
Make a "To-do" list: Once you know what needs to be done, make a plan and cross things off as you go. This will help you stay organized and on track.
Reflect, Reflect, Reflect: Like a mirror, constantly look at yourself and your actions to eliminate bad habits and negative thought patterns. This will help you learn from your mistakes and make better decisions in the future.
Conclusion
Next time you're trying to achieve a goal, don't focus only on trying to make things happen. Instead, focus on avoiding failure by using the inversion method.
If you can learn to protect for long enough success becomes a natural bi-product.
We’ll end with a great quote from Charlie Munger to really drive this home!
"I try more to profit from always remembering the obvious than from grasping the esoteric. 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."
- Charlie Munger
Until Next Time!
-AJ Zampella