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  • 002 - Inversion, The man with a hammer, and Self limiting beliefs.

002 - Inversion, The man with a hammer, and Self limiting beliefs.

October 18, 2022

Hello my friends, welcome to the ‘Third Creator Letter’

Dishing out fresh insights that’ll make you a clearer thinker.

Every week I share:

  • 1 mental model (with an example of it’s application)

  • 2 Quotes

  • 1 deep dive

You ready?

Let’s go!

1 Mental Model

Inversion:

If you’ve been following me for sometime now, you’ve probably pieced together that one of my favorite mental models is inversion.

This is simply looking at a problem backwards instead of forward—which is the natural way people tend to look at problems. It’s primary purpose is to achieve success by removing/avoiding obstacles, rather than trying to win.

A classic example of this comes from Charles (Charlie) Munger:

“All I want to know is where I am going to die so I can never go there.”

Sometimes the question to ask isn’t, “What would make me win.”

Instead it’s. “What would make me lose.”—and then avoiding those.

Inverting a problem won’t eliminate mistakes, but it’ll help you avoid those that can really hurt you.

“Invert, always invert.” - Jacobi

2 Quotes

“When you focus on the short-term urgent, you lose sight of the long-term important.” - Sahil Bloom

“To the man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.” - Old Proverb

1 Deep Dive

This year has been one of the best of my life. A big reason is because I started asking questions—again.

And one of those was:

“Why do some people achieve so much and others so little?”

And while there are many reasons for that, a big one is limiting beliefs.

Much of what we call success, is a result of personal systems built by people who understood the fundamentals.

And to those who don’t understand that there is a cause for every effect; success is a matter of luck.

So they make it about themselves and blame it on ‘fate’.

So essentially, much of our self limiting beliefs stem from a lack of understanding that there are causes for certain outcomes we desire.

But as long as we can’t determine these causes ourselves, we’ll continue to be dependent on the ‘truths’ that others tell us.

This is why independent thinking is so important.

If you can’t think for yourself, you’re at the mercy of those who can.

“Think for yourself and decide what you want and what is true.” - Ray Dalio

When you start asking deep questions you’ll find that there’s no real basis for your limiting beliefs. If you desire something it’s because it’s possible.

Look for others who have achieved it and don’t just copy what worked for them;

Look for the fundamentals they built their personal systems around.

In summary start asking why—again.

“Why cant’ you get the same results?”

“Why can’t you try that thing?”

“Who’s making the rules?”

Revive that childlike curiosity again. Destroy your limiting beliefs by asking more questions.

Thank you for reading today’s issue.

If you enjoyed it I would appreciate it if you could share with your friends and family.

Till next time..

Have a kickass week my friends

Favour “ask more questions” Frank.