How to Better Avoid Stupid Mistakes in Life
Instead of trying to win, make sure you don’t lose.
Charlie Munger is a billionaire businessman and the right-hand man of investing legend Warren Buffett. In one of his shareholder letters, Munger wrote:
It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.
While most people try to be smart, Munger and Buffett try to avoid being stupid. Rather than trying to win, they try to avoid losing. As Buffett puts it in one of his most famous sayings:
Rule #1: Never lose money. Rule #2: Never forget rule number one.
Munger and Buffett have made fortunes by avoiding stupid mistakes. And this philosophy is just as useful outside of investing. No matter what you want to accomplish in life, you’ll be much more likely to get there if you avoid critical errors. So, in this article, we’ll cover the most useful mental models to avoid stupid mistakes.
