Part Three of Thinking Better

When I rode across the US, I’d use the personal time to think through topics I wanted to share. I still have the daily diary from that trip (63 days). If we don’t write down our best ideas then they will be lost.

Part One was on The Value of Surprise

Part Two was on Enhancing Memory

My wife asked how I think more clearly. The context was current affairs but the system I’ll explain works for any topic of interest.

First, a bit of background.

• In October of 2000, I took a one year leave of absence from my job in finance.

  • The previous summer, I’d taken two months off to see if I wanted to leave finance. Prior to, and during, those two months, I did a lot of journalling.

• In October of 2001, Taleb published Fooled By Randomness. I read the book with ten years of working in finance fresh in my mind.

• Between October 2000 and October 2001, I did a ton of endurance training (without music) and wrote most every day.

Each point is a consideration for thinking better.

Noise Removal: Get the noise out of our heads.

• Meditation, walking without devices, exercise, journalling… figure out what it’s going to take to reduce the constant chatter inside your head.

• The loudest form of noise is anxiety. Last time I shared a link to the 30-day test. It won’t do any good to remove noise if our choices are the sources of our anxiety. Over and over again, I would prove my ability to keep small promises to myself.

Infect Ourselves with Better Thinking: Once the noise has settled, get better ideas in.

• This is simple but not easy. Figure out who you want to be, study it, be it.

• Books work well because I read them in my own voice. The entire experience becomes a form of self-hypnosis.

  • Taleb’s book had two tips I incorporated:

    • Just read headlines. As a result, only the big things will attract your attention.

    • Pay attention less often. This one is counterintuitive. To be better informed, pay less attention to what’s happening.¹

Back in 2001, the above were easy to implement. Occasionally, I read the paper and watched the evening news.

The lack of noise coming in, enabled me to achieve a clarity in myself that has benefited me ever since.

If you don’t have clarity in yourself then reduce your inbound noise.

Then develop a method to immediately capture your best ideas. Notes app, notebook, it must be simple and easily accessible.

What will you do without all that noise?

• I wrote three pages first thing every morning for a few months.

• Then I exercised.

• Then, I spent a lot of time answering questions, and writing, about subjects that interested me.

That’s the third point:

• Read

• Do

• Write

• Teach

• Expose Yourself To Criticism

It’s possible to niche down to the point where you can become truly world class and that’s rewarding.

But what do you want to think better about? Choose wisely because most of what we discuss, and think about, will have no positive impact on our lives. It represents wasted time and emotion.²

But do you really want to think better? Perhaps the core motivation is deeper?

• I want to be right.

• I want to be respected.

• I want to feel valued.

• I want to be liked.

Here’s the thing.

• Thinking better requires being wrong, a lot. It is a process of jettisoning ideas, beliefs and habits that are holding us back.

• So the next step is acknowledging our fallibility, learning and moving on. Sounds easy, quite challenging at the start.

Two ways to make it easier:

• Avoid taking public positions on areas where we have no direct experience. A diary is the best way to see the benefits of this advice. Write down your thoughts, and your reasoning, about any topic that gets you excited. Review the diary over time and notice areas where you are clueless. It can be brutal but it’s a valuable method of learned humility.

• Be less stupid. A favorite Charlie Munger tip. Thinking better is about knowing what not-to-do and replacing self-sabotaging choices.

I’m not going to comment on that because I’ve learned that I’m often wrong.

Instead, I’ll take action on this because it falls into an area of interest where I have direct personal experience.

Less comments, more action.

The well-informed person is focused on taking action that moves them towards their desired outcome. This requires not-noticing the constant noise that has always surrounded us. This isn’t a new phenomenon.

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Next time, I’ll write about an update to my headlines-only policy that I got from Taleb a few years ago.

An interesting thing about Taleb, I found his feed to be quite noisy so I stopped following it. Like he taught me 24 (!) years ago, his best ideas still find their way to me. That gave me a big chuckle.

The stuff we need to know will find its way to us.

Back to Greatest Hits

1. If you think the price of financial assets is volatile then you are most certainly paying too much attention.

2. I think about things where I can use my talents to build something.