”Stock God” Buffett is known to almost everyone, but the name Charlie Munger is unfamiliar to most people, and Munger is Buffett’s mentor and life partner:
A few years ago, Charlie Munger graduated from the University of Southern California Law School A speech was given at the ceremony. Although it was aimed at graduates, it was still of great reference value. Below is an excerpt from the speech.
“If you want something, make yourself worthy of it”
I was very fortunate to have learned from a very young age that the surest way to get something you want is to make yourself worthy of it. This is a very simple truth, the golden rule. You have to learn to do what you don’t want to do to others. In my opinion, this is the spirit that lawyers and others should have. In general, people with this spirit can win many things in life, and they win more than just money and fame. Also earn the respect and, of course, the trust of those they deal with. It is a great joy to be able to earn the trust of others.
“Hide Your Wisdom”
Although I played poker well when I was young, I was not very good at hiding my thoughts when I thought I knew more than my superiors, and I didn’t try very carefully to hide my thoughts, so I always offended people . I advise you not to imitate me, it is better to learn to hide your wisdom.
I have a colleague who came out of law school first in his class, served on the Supreme Court of the United States, was a lawyer when he was young, and he always seemed to be well-informed. One day, his superior senior partner called him into the office and said to him, “Listen, Chuck, I’m going to explain something to you, your job and duty is to make clients think he’s the smartest person in the room. people. If you have extra energy after completing this task, you should use it to make your senior partner appear like the second smartest person in the room. Only after fulfilling these two obligations can you Express yourself.” That’s a good way to climb the ladder in a big law firm, but I don’t do that. I usually act spontaneously, and if someone doesn’t like my style, that’s fine, I don’t need everyone to like me.
“Have an interdisciplinary mentality and temper your own thinking framework”
I would like to further explain why one must have an interdisciplinary mindset in order to live productively and maturely. Here I would like to quote an important thought of the greatest lawyer of antiquity, Marcus Tourus Cicero. Cicero famously said that if a person does not know what happened before he was born, he will live like an ignorant child.
You must have acquired a lot of knowledge to form a mental framework in your mind that you can use automatically in the days that follow. If you can do this, I solemnly assure you that one day you will realize before you know it: “I have become one of the most productive people of my age.” On the contrary, Without the effort to practice this interdisciplinary approach, many of the brightest among you will achieve only moderate success and even live in the shadows.
“Learn to think in reverse”
Another truth I discovered was in the story where the countryman said, “Just know where I’m going to die, and I’ll never go there.” As absurd as the countryman said, But it contains a profound truth. For complex adaptive systems, as well as the human brain, problems tend to be easier to solve when thinking backwards. If you think about the problem in reverse, you can usually think more clearly.
For example, if you want to help India, the question you should think about is not “How can I help India,” instead, you should ask, “How can I hurt India?” You should find the one that will do the most damage to India thing and then avoid doing it. Maybe logically the two approaches are the same, but those who are proficient in algebra know that if the problem is difficult to solve, it can often be solved with a reverse proof. Life is like algebra, and thinking backwards can help you solve problems that positive thinking can’t handle.
“Get rid of selfish prejudice, jealousy and self-pity”
In general, envy, resentment, hatred, and self-pity are catastrophic state of mind. Excessive self-pity can lead to paranoia. Paranoia is one of the hardest things to reverse. Don’t get caught up in self-pity. I had a friend who carried a thick stack of cards with him, and whenever someone said something self-pity, he would slowly and exaggeratedly take out the stack and give the top one to the speaker. . The card reads “I’m so moved by your story, I’ve never heard anyone as unlucky as you”. You may think it’s a joke, but I think it’s mental hygiene.
