READ
WHAT WE'VE WRITTEN
Topics
On November 28, 2023, the world lost a mental giant. When he passed, Charlie Munger was a couple of months shy of his 100th birthday. It was a long life, filled with exploration, learning, and wit. Of all the things Munger did in his life, one of his most impactful was passing on wisdom to others.
Everyone, everywhere, at some point in their lives, has believed something that was wrong. This isn’t new. People used to think the Earth was flat. Or that the Earth was the center of the universe. Or that bloodletting was an effective medical practice. And so on. Forming an incorrect belief isn’t a defect in humanity. But holding onto that belief is.
It’s so easy to default to a common level of thinking about how life works and what our role in it is. This common level of thinking can be termed “one-way streets” for their simplicity. Yet it’s the moments that don’t fit within the common level of thinking that we can differentiate ourselves and reach heightened levels of clarity. These opportunities lie within what we’ll call two-way streets, frameworks where power dynamics, information flow, and more operate in different directions.
Sam Walton began in retail as a management trainee at J.C. Penny in 1940. While there, one of his managers told him he wasn’t cut out for retail. Fast forwarding a few years, Walton was operating the most successful Ben Franklin store in the entire franchise system. He then went on to found his own retail company: Wal-Mart. Today, the rebranded Walmart has outlived Walton, employs over two million employees globally, and is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Clearly, Walton had a business framework that worked.
We all form and reform habits throughout our lives. Some are helpful. Some aren’t. When we don’t intentionally build, test, and improve habits, they are likely to be suboptimal. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Most people are adept at first-order thinking, able to anticipate the immediate effects of their actions. It’s a basic skill we must develop in adolescence. First-order thinking is simple and quick. There are sometimes benefits to speed in decision-making. But it’s immensely limiting, and often counterproductive, to move swiftly without much regard for direction. That's why we need second-order thinking.
Writing is often a difficult and tricky business. We live in a world saturated with it yet how mysterious and misunderstood writing remains to most people. Let’s strike at the heart of the matter by diving deeper into writing and the multitudes contained within. Starting with the most important question of why.
Constraints are, well, constraining. But they are ubiquitous. Everything from gravity to financial means is a constraint. They surround us. Sometimes they are placed on us by others. Or society. Or the universe. Sometimes, however, they are placed on us by ourselves, often to our detriment.
Competitors are oftentimes clearly defined. Think sports, debate, and political elections. When entering those arenas, you know exactly who you are going up against. But life isn’t always that way. Sometimes competition comes from where you least expect it.
When it comes to time management, we rarely think about the necessity of neglect. We like to think that we can fit everything in, thus rendering neglect unnecessary. In fact, we are sold the idea that there is a strategy out there for getting everything done. Unfortunately, that’s often a fool’s errand and leads to burnout and shame. We aren’t supposed to get everything done, and that’s what gives value to the things we do complete.
