“All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.” This infamous quote from the late Charlie Munger encapsulates the concept of inversion – a problem-solving technique that urges us to flip our perspective. Munger was inspired by the German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, who famously said, “invert, always invert.”
As the team at Farnam Street explains, “It is not enough to think about difficult problems one way. You need to think about them forwards and backward. Inversion often forces you to uncover hidden beliefs about the problem you are trying to solve.”
Recently, I stumbled upon an excellent article in the Financial Times by Markham Heid titled “The life-ruining power of routines.” The subtitle alone piqued my interest: “Habits don’t lead to personal optimization. They lead to suffering.” Heid’s words resonated deeply, as many of us seem increasingly trapped in the grind of daily routines, sacrificing spontaneity and joy for the illusion of productivity.
It’s been drilled into us that there are is an allure to the notion of personal optimization, meticulously tweaking our processes in pursuit of a “superior life product.” But as Heid poignantly notes, “I don’t think I have the wrong habits; I think I have too many of them. And they are suffocating me.”
In search of a remedy, Heid discovered the writings of Joseph Mortimer-Granville, an English physician from the 19th century. Mortimer-Granville’s advice struck a chord: “To restore a flagging mind (or spirit), he wrote, a person must shift from ‘aimless automatic routine to activity with a purpose and an end’.”
He continued his exploration of this issue – ultimately focusing on adding novelty back into our lives. He noted that “the more I read and the more people I spoke with, the more I began to regard novelty as a kind of existential tonic. Without it, our interest in the world withers and we turn our attention inward, where all neuroses lurk.”
Breaking free from the shackles of routine requires reconnect with aspects of ourselves that have been neglected or abandoned. Like Heid, we can try to “approach my work in new ways” and “meet friends in unfamiliar places” – small acts of rebellion against the monotony that has come to define many of our days.
Heid’s results were immediate and profound. “The colors of my world [were] brighter, the products of my mind less predictable. I feel a bit like a prisoner who jostles the door of his cell and finds it was never locked in the first place.
Inverting our perspectives allowed us to see the insidious nature of unchecked routines and the importance of embracing spontaneity and novelty. By actively seeking out experiences that challenged our habitual patterns, we can reclaim a sense of wonder and curiosity that has been dulled by the relentless pursuit of optimization and productivity.
I’m reminded of the wisdom in Munger’s and Jacobi’s words. By flipping our perspective, we can uncover hidden truths and unlock new possibilities – a invaluable lesson for anyone seeking to break free from the confines of routine and embrace a life of greater richness and fulfillment. And that’s exactly what Heid describes.
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