Why Is Inversion Considered As A Critical Thinking Skill?
We were often taught in school and at home that we should stop thinking negatively and focus on how to achieve success. But what if there was a type of negative thinking that helps us achieve our goals? What if sometimes being the Devil’s advocate is just what we need?
In fact, many of the ancient Stoic philosophers practiced an exercise called premeditatio malorum (premeditation of evils) to envision the worst things that could happen in their life. This “inversion” is what helped them make plans to prevent these things and build up resistance towards their fear of negative experiences.
Let us understand what inversion is and how it can help us in all areas of our lives.
What is inversion?
The inversion technique is said to have originated from German mathematician, Carl Jacobi. He made many contributions to various scientific fields throughout his career. Whenever he came across a difficult problem, he was known to solve it using the simple strategy of ‘man muss immer umkehren,’ which roughly translates to, ‘Invert, always invert.’ Jacobi thought that hard problems could be easily and quickly solved by tackling them in the opposite way. So, he would write down the opposite of the problem he was trying to solve and then work backward from there.
Inversion is all about looking at things upside down and making plans for the opposite of what you want happening. As it’s often easier to figure out the things we don’t want than those we do, inversion can be an effective skill. Let’s take an example to understand this technique better.
What you want to happen: Gain more customers for your business
Inversion (opposite of what you want to happen): Give poor support, don’t promote your business, don’t focus on creating awareness, don’t create useful content for your prospects, have an inefficient sales team.
Solutions: Have an excellent support and sales team, promote business on social media and Google, create awareness, build useful content.
How did it help the most brilliant minds in the world?
The billionaire investor, Charlie Munger, mentioned, “Invert, always invert. Turn a situation or problem upside down. Look at it backward. What happens if all our plans go wrong? Where don’t we want to go, and how do you get there? Instead of looking for success, make a list of how to fail instead — through sloth, envy, resentment, self-pity, entitlement, all the mental habits of self-defeat. Avoid these qualities and you will succeed. “
Warren Buffett also makes use of this approach to make his investment and business decisions. Instead of focusing on how to make money as most of us do, he focuses on how not to lose money — “Rule №1: Never lose money. Rule №2: Never forget Rule №1”
How can you apply inversion in different areas of your life?
Inversion can be used to solve mathematical and investing problems. But can it be used for business, marketing, leadership, and productivity problems? Absolutely. Let’s see how you can apply this technique in different areas of your life.
PRODUCTIVITY
Ask yourself questions like, “What should I do if I want to end up getting distracted from a task?” The answer may help you discover the many interruptions you could face while working. For example, it could be making use of your phone, browsing social media, going to the kitchen to have a glass of water and ending up on the couch watching Netflix, and so on. Inversion allows you to discover all this and make strategies to tackle these distractions and improve your productivity.
LEADERSHIP
Leaders can ask themselves, “What would a bad leader do,?” when they are faced with any situation. The answers could vary from criticizing someone in public, to micromanaging their employees. These are the things that leaders should avoid moving forward. It also helps one think through their unconscious behaviors and instantaneous reactions to certain situations.
PERSONAL FINANCE
How many people do you know of who earn lots and lots of money but still go broke or are on the verge of getting broke? Every one of us wants to make more money but what if you inverted this problem? How can you destroy your financial health? Accumulating debt, spending more than you should, creeping into unchecked spending habits, not making a budget, and so on. Before you stress over how to earn money, you should definitely figure out how not to lose money. This way, you can avoid a lot of unnecessary financial problems going ahead.
RELATIONSHIPS
There are so many books and articles on the internet describing what one should do to have a good relationship. But wouldn’t it be much simpler to invert the problem and focus on how to avoid a bad one? By asking yourself, “What behaviors and actions can ruin my relationship,?” you might get various answers like not trusting the other person, not giving them enough time, not having open discussions, and so on. By ensuring you take care of all these things, you are all set to have good relationships in your life.
Now that you know how to make use of inversion, in which area of your life would you be trying this approach? Let us know in the comments.
To make sure you don’t forget this critical thinking skill, enter this task in your Brutask to-do list: “Making use of inversion in at least one area of my life”
Here’s how you can make a simple and effective to-do list on Brutask: https://brutask.com/
