Charlie Munger once argued that “All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll never go there.” Perhaps this is the best way of understanding how to apply the inversion mental model. The idea here is that instead of focusing your thoughts on how to solve a certain problem, you could focus on the decisions that you can make to prevent you from solving the problem. Simply put, when thinking about how you can succeed in life, you can opt to invert your thoughts. In this case, you should think about all the things that you can do to prevent yourself from succeeding.
Picture a scenario where you are stuck somewhere. Instead of thinking about how you will get home, think about what you can do to prevent yourself from arriving home. Flipping your problem this way gives you a chance to identify possible obstacles that can prevent you from reaching your goal.
In the real world, when looking to welcome good relationships your way, the best thing that you can do is to stay away from toxic people. So, instead of paying too much attention to finding the right people to interact with, simply avoid toxic individuals. Sounds simple, right?
However, it should be noted that sometimes inverting your problems will not solve them. Nonetheless, it will help you stay away from trouble.
