Whoever Taught Us INVERSION?

Whoever Taught Us INVERSION?

Whoever Taught Us INVERSION? I'm sorry BUT no one, not even in the Ivy League, were we ever taught INVERSION.  The fact is, typically, we think and solve problems in a forward-looking way, e.g. HOW do I have a good life?  HOW do I get out of debt?  HOW do I have a great marriage/relationship?  HOW do I get rich?  HOW do I get rich❔❔❔

Psychologists claim that it is NOT enough to think about difficult problems one way.  Which means we should look at and approach them both forwards and backwards.  Arising from their studies, they define INVERSION as the process of addressing problems BACKWARDS.  INVERSION helps us to uncover our HIDDEN BELIEFS about problems and allows us to avoid WHAT we ultimately DO NOT WANT.  It is much easier to avoid WHAT we DON'T want than to get WHAT we do want.  In the simplest words, FORWARD says 'HOW DO I GET X?' whereas BACKWARDS says 'HOW DO I NOT GET X'❓❓❓

Surprisingly, INVERSION was introduced long time back by Stoicism way back AD 63-65s by Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire.  So, how do we use INVERSION?  The recommended simple 3-Step guide can be applied in different situations.  Firstly, DEFINE THE PROBLEM YOU WANT TO SOLVE.  Secondly, INVERT THE PROBLEM TO CLARIFY WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO HAPPEN and thirdly, AVOID WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO HAPPEN📌📌📌

In practical terms, let's look at small-scale investments we're considering.  A FORWARD approach is for us to ask HOW CAN I INVEST $10,000 and have a reasonable return of investment in one year.  By applying INVERSION, we'll ask ourselves, if I invest $10,000, how can I avoid NOT earning a reasonable return of investment from that money?  See the stark difference between FORWARD and INVERSION approaches❎❎❎

Now, walking the talk, allow me to share that I have been applying INVERSION in my life, at least for the past three decades.  By taking that pre-emptive step of figuring out pitfalls I can avoid up front, initially, INVERSION felt like unnatural as previous to INVERSION, I was used to confidently defending my own positions, NOT scrutinizing them from the other side.  BUT the more I explored it, the more I pushed myself to INVERT my thinking.  Let's walk the talk dude❗❗❗