Saturday Serendipity
Quote, Misery, Interesting find.
Hi.
Reading time: About 4 minutes
Quote
“To simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life, but from the perspective of concentration training, it’s incredibly valuable.”
― Cal Newport, Deep Work:
Munger on Misery
One of the way to live a miserable life is to be in self pity. Here are a few Charlie Munger thoughts on the idea of setbacks :
“[A] prescription for misery is to go down and stay down when you get your first, second, or third severe reverse in the battle of life. Because there is so much adversity out there, even for the lucky and wise, this will guarantee that, in due course, you will be permanently mired in misery.” - Munger
“It is natural to grieve when life is tough, but one thing that is asinine is self pity.” - Charles Munger
“I think the attitude of Epictus helps guide one to the right reaction. He thought that every mischance in life, however bad, created an opportunity to behave well. He believed every mischance provided an opportunity to learn something useful. And one’s duty was not to become immersed in self-pity, but to utilise each terrible blow in a constructive fashion.” - Charles Munger
I love the way that Charlie Munger thinks about life. The things he says time and time again sound like they are ‘obvious’ yet it is so uncommon.
First thing to know is that no matter who you are, there will be some headwinds that you will face in life. You have to expect it. What matters is how you react to them.
Many people who suffer failure don’t persevere through it and instead go into the vicious den of self pity. It is a very dangerous thing to do. Going into self pity means you turn what is temporary misery into permanent misery.
If I graduate from college and don’t get a job after applying to a lot of places I would have two options, to sit there and cry about it the entire time and think of how the world is not an easy place.
Or.
I can grieve for a bit, and then work on up skilling myself or starting a venture which adds value.
The good thing about what Munger says, is the fact that he actually preaches what he says.
He lost an eye and towards the end of his life he was losing sight through his other eye as well. Now for a person who loves reading and his job relies on him reading this would probably be the worst thing to hear. Most people would stop reading entirely. They would sit there and be sad about it, and think of the days when you could read for hours on end.
Munger was different though. He looked at it like a problem and looked for solutions. To the end of his life he used to read every thing in huge fonts. There was a chance that he could lose eyesight in both eyes. He worried but he had a solution, he would learn braille so he could read.
Think of person like David Goggins.
He does something hard every single day. He might have injuries, he will find a way to do something which is hard regardless. He is a man who has no excuse. When I got injured, I stopped fitness for a while to let my body recover. Most people I know are similar. But Goggins is something else. He pushes his body to the limit. He would find a way to do something hard without getting the injured part involved.
Think of the greats and see what they do when they face setbacks. They work even more harder, they don’t sit there and dwell about it all the time.
It really is quite simple.
There’s a quote from Batman Begins which I love and I think everyone else does as well:
“Why do we fall sir?
So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.” - Alfred.
This is easier said than done. So how do you avoid getting into this vicious cycle
How to avoid self pity?
“The three things I have found helping in coping with it’s challenges are: (1) Have low expectations. (2) Have a sense of humour. (3) Surround yourself with the love of friends and family. Above all live with change and adapt to it … Human beings are resillient. They adapt.” - Charles Munger
“I have found that life is easier to handle if you employ just one simple mental trick. Just assume something will be really tough and you think, ‘Can I bear it if that happens?’ If you reach the conclusion yes, you just smile and go on.” - Charles Munger
I am no expert at avoiding self pity. To be honest I don’t even think I have faced any major headwinds yet so I cannot speak much about how to avoid it but I do think if anyone knows how to avoid self pity it is Charlie Munger.
Interesting find
Thank you for reading,
Samvit.