Creating a 'To Avoid' List — How to Succeed by Avoiding Failure 🚫
Creating a 'To Avoid' List — How to Succeed by Avoiding Failure 🚫
Issue #94: Loss Aversion. Seth Godin on Writing and Consistency. Bollywood's most Iconic Actor on Avoiding Failure.
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💡 Here are 3-tips to help you learn, grow, and be inspired this week!
🎓 Learn
I recently finished reading the book “The Almanack of Charlie Munger,” a brilliant compilation of his 11 talks on investment wisdom and life lessons. Among the wealth of insights, one mental model stood out like a beacon to me: loss aversion.
Charlie Munger champions the idea of using “inversion” in decision-making. Instead of solely focusing on success, ask yourself, “What would guarantee failure?” Then, meticulously avoid those pitfalls. This strategy taps into our natural tendency to avoid loss.
Example: Achieving a Fitness Goal
Typical Approach: Most people focus on what to eat, exercises to do, meal plans, signup for fitness classes, etc. This approach is all about adding new habits and routines.
Inversion Approach: Identify what sabotages progress—the hassle of commuting to the gym and the fact that new meal plans will take a lot of time to prepare; spending 2 hours in the gym every day is not practical in your current lifestyle. Avoid these.
By obsessing over what NOT to do, you're essentially building a fortress around your goal. This is often easier than trying to force yourself towards positive actions.
Here are a few reasons why focusing on avoiding than achieving.
Mistakes are costly (time, money, energy). Avoiding them leaves you with more resources to invest in growth.
By identifying and eliminating red flags first (in a job, business, or relationship), you can confidently (and peacefully) commit to growth.
In the long run (even in the short run), the costs of wrong decisions wipe out the gains of right decisions.
So, I encourage you all to focus on creating a “To Avoid” list in addition to a “To Do” list.
My “To Avoid” List
Avoid working with brilliant, successful people who are also jerks.
Avoid anyone who makes you feel smaller or less significant.
Avoid chasing shiny objects; focus on basic, sustainable, and profitable things.
Avoid hiding behind grandiose goals; embrace realistic, actionable small steps.
Avoid holding any belief too strongly; be a seeker and remain open-minded.
Avoid chasing ever-moving targets; focus on what is “enough” for you.
Avoid comparing your growth with others; true happiness comes from within.
Avoid activities that require secrecy; more secrets lead to more stress.
Avoid wild growth; pursue peaceful, sustainable growth.
Avoid dinners or meetings if they require driving more than 30 minutes.
Avoid skipping a habit two days in a row; consistency is key.
Avoid taking advice from people who are not in the arena with you.
Avoid negative and toxic relationships; they poison your potential.
Avoid giving unsolicited advice; listen more and share insights only when asked.
Avoid obsessing over temporary things (phone, car); focus on enduring values like impact and relationships.
Avoid being needy; nothing destroys relationships—both personal and professional—like neediness.
Avoid punishing the majority for the actions of a few.
Avoid achieving health; instead, focus on maintaining your health.
Avoid putting any valuables (phone, wallet, passport) outside your backpack or pocket while commuting (uber, rental car, train, airplane) to prevent losing them.
Avoid debt; it’s a shackle on your future.
Avoid interrupting the power of compounding to let your money and relationship grow.
Avoid making important decisions when you are hungry or angry.
Avoid making the same mistakes twice.
Avoid spending money on things; instead, invest in experiences.
Avoid judging people.
Avoid avoiding life; embrace it fully. (My favorite)
Bottom Line:
Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet credit avoiding mistakes as one of the key investment principles that helped them build their massive $700 billion fortune.
I encourage you—in your path to peaceful growth—to make loss aversion your default strategy:
Avoid habits that can hinder your growth.
Avoid relationships that undermine your peace and happiness.
Avoid mistakes that can erase your gains and tarnish your reputation.
By adopting loss aversion as your guiding principle, you’re not just avoiding failure – you’re actively paving the way for success.
Combined with other peaceful growth strategies, loss aversion will help you achieve a life that is happy, healthy, and successful.
The pain of loss is twice as potent as the pleasure of gain. – Charlie Munger
🚀 Growth Tip
Seth Godin is one of my favorite authors and a great inspiration for designing a high-performing and peaceful lifestyle. I also look up to him for tips and inspiration on writing, consistency, and good habit-building.
This podcast episode is an awesome collection of a few of his great life, work, and relationship advice.
🤩 Inspiration
One of Bollywood’s most iconic actors, Shah Rukh Khan, gave an inspiring speech on how he turned the principle of loss aversion into a cornerstone of his incredible success. By focusing on avoiding failures, he crafted a path to triumph that inspires millions.
Here is a 2-minute version of his powerful speech.
Anil
May the Peaceful Growth be with you! 🪴
P.S. I started to practice swimming to get better. This particular video by Tim Ferris as part of his Tim Ferris Experiment has been incredibly helpful in learning about a new powerful swimming technique — Total Immersion.