It feels like I haven’t written anything in months.
In reality, it’s only been two weeks since I published the last piece. It just so happens this supposedly quiet time was extremely eventful. I ran a half-marathon obstacle course race, apartment hunted, drove 10 hours, spent Thanksgiving in my parent’s new house, then drove another 14 hours back home. And that was just the first week.
The second week was filled with a lot of thinking prompted by the man in this piece’s title. Charlie Munger, the long-time second-in-command to Warren Buffet, passed away. I don’t know much about Munger apart from his connection to Buffet and about a commencement speech he gave describing his “Munger Operating System”. As it so happened, I already saved the speech on my phone. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that instance was pure luck or something more.
Origins of the Munger Operating System
I proceeded to watch the speech the day after my 14-hour drive. Over the course of those 37 minutes, there were many indisputable, timeless lessons uttered by him . Many people have already transcribed this speech and provided opinions on the biggest takeaways. I’m taking a slightly different approach. Instead of telling you my biggest takeaways, I will be synthesizing the speech into four (4) actionable guidelines.
For perspective, here’s what the world looked like on May 13, 2007 when Munger addressed these budding L.A. lawyers. The “housing bubble” was just a recurring headline, Trump was a reality TV host, something called “Twitter” just debuted at South by Southwest, Amazon was an online bookstore, and if somebody asked, “Where is the Corona?” the reply was “In the cooler.” Those events need to and will be taken into context within these guidelines, for even timeless concepts require modern methods of execution.
The Four Guidelines, Inspired by the Munger Operating System
1. Seek Value from Different Generations
This idea has a caveat – on the extreme youth end of the spectrum i.e., teenagers, it will be difficult to gather anything of value from a younger generation. Older generations have mastered the art of reducing their life lessons down to a few key concepts, much like Munger in his commencement speech. They have an internal compass that is precisely tuned and doesn’t get discombobulated by the latest news or social media trends. The lessons they give you are battle-hardened, raw, and universal.
That being said, the execution of these lessons require modern methods. That is where people of the same or younger generation can be of value. They can take these historic lessons and provide the methods to make them actionable in today’s world. Maybe they can show you how to leverage social media in a positive way or how to sift through search results to find the most valuable content. The lessons these generations give you will be more dynamic and timelier but no less valuable.
Beyond the living generations, there are the deceased, or as Munger refers to “the instructive dead”. The deceased are obviously not directly accessible but their lessons live on in other mediums. Learning from the past is non-negotiable when working towards one’s future. Whether it’s via audio recordings, books, online articles, or videos, you must find a way to extract this vital information. Often times another generation will be able to help you not just find but interpret and contextualize these resources.
2. Reduce Time Spent with Anybody You Do Not Admire
Admiration is different than respect. Munger stated “there is no love that’s so right as admiration-based love, and that love should include the instructive dead.” To admire someone is to imply you connect to his or her life and you can envision a future for yourself that is akin to his or her current state. To respect someone is to acknowledge his or her actions and life are of significance, but you do not desire to emulate either.
In life, it is not always possible to avoid people. There’s only so much control you have over their presence. In these situations, it’s best to accept their presence is unavoidable and filter everything they impart onto you. When you do have the opportunity, however, you should do everything in your power to get rid of these individuals you respect minorly. If you can’t get rid of them, significantly reduce your time with them.
I will admit this guideline has ruthless implications. The intent is not for you to start cutting off everybody whose life you don’t want. What it’s intended to do is alert you to the different levels of people in your life. We can’t admire everybody. That feeling is reserved for a few select individuals. It is the people at this level who you should seek out for critical personal and professional advice. Seeking out people at any lower level is a waste of time.
3. Use Your Genuine Interests as the Foundation for All Learning You Will Ever Do
There are a couple excerpts from the commencement speech which are relevant to this guideline:
1. You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end.
2. Intense interest in the subject is indispensable if you are really going to excel.
Trying to intensely pursue something you possess a moderate interest in is unsustainable. There will be times when you’re presented with an opportunity to rid yourself of this interest, and you’ll likely take advantage. I know this fact all too well. The opportunity cost of this kind of pursuit is enormous both in energy and time. Realizing you’ve wasted all these resources on a subject you aren’t fanatical about can be catastrophic and will make you less inclined to pursue future topics, including ones in which you have a genuine interest.
I’ve talked about the power of leveraging your genuine interests in the Sparks, a Story of Interest piece. Our brain enjoys learning new things. The learning process revolves around making synaptic connections between neurons with each neuron or set of neurons associated with a unique idea. If you do not give your brain the opportunity nor the energy to make these connections, its biologically impossible for you to keep learning new things. Therefore, it’s best to start every learning pursuit with your genuine interests at the forefront.
4. Track the Things You Do Not Know with Equal, if not Greater Intensity than the Things You Do
“I’m not entitled to have an opinion on this subject unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people do who are supporting it.” Believe it or not, this concept was first introduced to me by my advanced English teacher in 2011. It’s entirely possible she got this idea from Munger but I’ll leave the credit with her.
There are plenty of people, and I hope if you’re reading this piece you’re one of them, who take diligent notes on everything they consume. That’s a great starting point but there needs to be another part to this process. We also need to be taking notes on things we don’t know. If this process is followed properly, then the things we don’t know should exponentially outnumber the things we do know.
When we apply the same logic to having opinions, we need to be more diligent about analyzing the opposite opinion than we are about analyzing our own. The infinite information we are bombarded with every day can make this analysis challenging. It’s easier now more than ever to gather information supporting your argument, which makes it easy to be radically biased.
You don’t want to be biased, you want to be objective and articulate. That is why you need to thoroughly analyze and annotate all aspects of a subject before you even think about giving an opinion. The people who can provide articulate, objective, and thorough opinions are the ones who succeed in every society.
The Intent of The Four Guidelines
By no means am I stating these guidelines are as potent nor carry as much clout as those of the Munger Operating System. I hope by developing them it will provide another framework for you to begin or continue on the journey of being more. I absolutely encourage you to watch the original commencement speech for there is a treasure trove of perspective to be gained.
Applying the Munger Operating System to Becoming Polymathic
To return to the story of my past week and to Munger’s point regarding delivering to the world what you would want to buy on the other end, I spent the majority of this week diagramming and thinking about Becoming Polymathic’s development.
If you’ve read previous pieces, you’ve heard me refer to Becoming Polymathic as a “outlet” and “the resources you need to be more, and nothing else.” My viewing of Munger’s commencement address did not change either of these descriptors, but it did cause me to rethink the tangible assets associated with them.
For instance, what content would I want to see as part of a “outlet”? What are the “resources” I would require to begin my journey of being more? Where do I find individuals who want to “be more”? As I sit here writing this piece, I do not have a definitive answer to any of these questions. But thanks to Charlie, I do know where I need to focus my energy to keep you, the reader, supporting this venture of mine.
Be More.
Become Polymathic.
Quote of the Week: “You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end.” – Charlie Munger