Charlie Munger gave some suggestions for students to avoid a failed life. I have read this article several times, and what impressed me most was Munger's famous reverse thinking and the farmer's famous saying, "If I knew where I would die, I would never go there." I have actually said this to others. Once, my schoolmates from my alma mater visited our company, and the organizer asked me to introduce some experience and give some suggestions. I told my schoolmates at that time that I was so old that I knew all about what I should do and what I shouldn't do. I was also a N experienced person. At the beginning, my parents, teachers and all those who cared about me told me to study hard and make progress every day. I also knew these truths, which was really what I should do, but I still didn't work hard enough. For the parties concerned, it is useless. So my advice to my schoolmates is simple, don't do what you think you shouldn't do.
Back to Munger, his first advice to Harvard students is not to use chemicals just to change your state or mood. Normal people certainly don't think they should take drugs and drink alcohol, so don't touch them. I think this suggestion is the easiest to do among all Munger's suggestions, but it's always easier said than done, and the reason is simple. It may be quite difficult for me to meet it. Caishen Ning took drugs because he wanted to concentrate on writing and improve his inspiration, and the result was discredited, which is also a counterexample.
second advice, don't be jealous. Jealousy should be one of the seven deadly sins of Christianity. Jealousy, in a nutshell, is what Mr. Li Xiaolai mentioned. You can't be nice to others. This other person must be someone around him. I feel that he is not too different from myself. I have never heard that people who are similar to me are jealous of Bill Gates and lady Gaga. That is not jealousy, but envy. From an economic point of view, jealousy is not cost-effective. The person you are jealous of must be around you. You think you are not much different, but in fact he must be someone who is better than you in some respects. You are jealous of him, so in most cases you will not be close to him, but will basically stay away from him. As a result, from the cost point of view, you have given up the opportunity to learn from people who are better than you, and the support, information and resources that should be easier to obtain. This cost is too high.
the third piece of advice, don't resent it. Not only don't treat others, but also don't complain. Think rationally, what good will resentment do except make you lose your rational judgment and give yourself all kinds of excuses for unsuccessful and unsatisfactory? Just as the ancestors said, "When is the time for revenge?", a more effective way is to "do something wrong, but ask for yourself." Here Munger gives an example for reference. In the process of becoming a great British prime minister, Disraeli learned not to let revenge become the motive of action, but he also kept some way to vent his resentment, that is, to write down the names of those enemies and put them in the drawer. Then, from time to time, he would look through these names and record how the world brought down his enemies without his intervention.
the fourth suggestion, don't be capricious, do what you are doing devoutly. I really can be regarded as a capricious person. I have done four jobs five years after graduation, and I also started a business briefly. Fortunately, I have been in this job for more than two years now, and I have no idea of changing jobs. I thought I was doing the right thing, the company environment was not good, I didn't do business, I couldn't give what I wanted, I traveled too much, my boss was too harsh, I couldn't learn anything, so why don't I leave? I can't spend any more time here. At the beginning, I thought that the roads I chose were rational and correct, but now I see that those who are getting along well among my peers have a persistence and perseverance. Devotion is very important. Devotion is to spare no effort to believe that what you do is meaningful and work hard to be perfect. If you feel meaningless, try to find meaning. Weber said that human beings are animals based on their own woven web of meaning. As long as you find it, you will definitely have it. Also ask yourself, is it perfect? Work is not just done, there is a lot of room worth polishing, which is a good opportunity to learn and improve. Teacher Liu Run said that the training of enterprises should follow the 721 rule, of which 7 is to sum up the experience and lessons in work, 2 is to exchange learning with colleagues, and 1 is the formal training organized by the company. When I'm not busy, I'm prone to slack off on my work. I don't do things with the mentality of striving for perfection, and I don't think about the day in my work. It really needs to be strengthened.
the fifth suggestion is to learn from other people's experiences of success or failure, whether ancient or modern. This reminds me of the first sentence of teacher Liu Run in every class, the thinking of predecessors, and our steps. Munger likes reading biographies of celebrities. He said that the best way to learn from predecessors' knowledge is to make friends with them, and reading biographies is undoubtedly a very good choice to make friends with them. Here I think of another book, Liu Jingzheng's "Nine Losses and One Win" (it seems to be called this), which is Liu Jingzheng's autobiography about how he faced all kinds of failures and finally won. It has been added to the wish list to be read. Don't bother with this one.
Article 6 suggests that when you encounter the first, second or third serious failure in the battlefield of life, don't be depressed and never recover. This article easily confuses me. If it wasn't written down, I thought Munger was trying to tell us not to give up. Don't be depressed and never give up are two concepts. Regarding the decision whether to give up, Mr. Xue Zhaofeng said, don't look at the cost of silence. The cost of silence is not a cost, but depends on the marginal cost and marginal income, so giving up is not forbidden. But it is absolutely not allowed to be depressed and never recover from it. Who can have a bad time, and those who survive it are the real strong ones.
The seventh and last piece of advice given by Munger goes back to the beginning, that is, "If I know where I will die, I will never go there." Munger taught us that using reverse thinking, the problem is reversed. If we want to solve X, we must think about how to get non-X.. Here Munger gave two interesting examples. First, Darwin particularly emphasized reverse thinking, and he always tried to find evidence to deny his existing theory, no matter how much he cherished it, no matter how hard it was won. Second, Einstein said that his successful theories came from "curiosity, concentration, perseverance and introspection". By introspection, he meant constantly trying and overthrowing his own beloved ideas. This also reminds me of the stories of two great men. When Steve Jobs was in the iPod fire, he thought about what the competitors could do to threaten the performance of the iPod. He thought that installing an iPod in the mobile phone could shake the status of the iPod, so the iPhone appeared. When Bezos first started the kindle, it was still a period when Amazon's paper and book business brought huge profits to the company. The task he gave to the head of kindle R&D at that time was to kill the paper and book business. This is a simple truth, but some people can't think of it, and some people can't.
That's the life advice that the wise old man left to the later generations. Finally, let's end with Munger's ending: Everyone here, I wish you to grow up with the goal of avoiding failure every day in your long life.