Most people spend their lives asking, “How can I succeed?” They make lists of goals, buy planners, and try to find the “perfect” morning routine. But there is a much faster way to get what you want, and it’s used by some of the smartest people in the world (like billionaire Charlie Munger and mathematician Carl Jacobi).
It’s called Inversion, or Inverse Thinking.
What is it?
The concept is simple: Instead of thinking forward toward a goal, you think backward from a disaster.
The mathematician Carl Jacobi famously said, “Invert, always invert.” He realized that many hard problems in math were impossible to solve normally, but became easy once you turned them upside down.
Forward Thinking: “How do I get an A in Math?” Inverse Thinking: “What would I have to do to guaranteed-fail Math?”
The “Anti-Success” List
If I wanted to fail 8th grade math this year, here is what I would do:
- Never take notes in class.
- Wait until 11:00 PM the night before a test to start studying.
- Scroll on TikTok while doing my homework.
- Never ask the teacher for help when I’m confused.
Now, here is the magic: If you just avoid everything on that “failure list,” you are almost guaranteed to succeed. It is much easier to not be stupid than it is to try to be “brilliant.” As Charlie Munger said: “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.”
How to use it in your life
1. For Your Friendships
Instead of asking “How can I be popular?”, ask “What makes someone a terrible friend?” * Answers: Being flaky, gossiping, only talking about yourself.
- The System: Stop doing those three things, and you’ll naturally have better friends.
2. For Your Side Hustle (like my Blind Bag business!)
How could I make my business fail?
- Answers: High prices, boring items, bad packaging, being rude to customers.
- The Strategy: Focus 100% of my energy on making sure the packaging is cool and the prices stay fair.
3. The “Pre-Mortem”
Before you start a new project (like a blog!), imagine it is one year from now and the project has totally failed. Ask: “What went wrong?” Maybe you stopped posting, or you spent too much money on the website and ran out of cash. By imagining the failure now, you can build systems to prevent it before it happens.
The Bottom Line
Inversion isn’t about being a pessimist; it’s about being prepared. By identifying the “Path to Failure,” you can stay on the “Path to Success” without even trying that hard.