Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman at Berkshire Hathaway, has a great mental model that he uses when thinking about solving problems.

It’s called Inversion Thinking.

Inversion Thinking is when you look at a problem or decision from the opposite point of view.

For example, if your goal is to achieve success, then you invert success and identify the opposite, which is failure.

Therefore if you avoid failure, which is the inverse of success, then success becomes inevitable.

Inversion thinking helps you remove obstacles between you and your desired outcomes.

If the goal then is to live an extraordinary life, what is the opposite of that?

The inverse of that, would be living a mediocre life.

In this case the question arises, how does one avoid living a mediocre life?

This question is a Pandora's box that will open up a massive can of worms.

One of those cans will be defining what an “extraordinary life” is, because it’s subjective to every individual.

Where someone’s “average" can be “extraordinary" to others.

For myself I would define an extra ordinary life as not living a passive life, but living a life of design.

Living a life Against the Grain. To live a life that is Against the Grain is done through living intentionally & making continuous evolution towards the life you want.

If you view the world in a similar lens as I do, then you will also agree that in order to live an extraordinary life… we are going to have to think in a way that the 99% of the population is not thinking.

And stop doing the destructive thinking that the 99% spend most of their time thinking.

Seems simple but actually very hard to do.

Part of not thinking like the 99% involves effort and forces one to look at things in a different perspective.

Here is one of those different perspectives for you:

In the state that we are in, as a species, we as humans are overfed and undernourished.

This goes for everything.

Overfed when it comes to food.

Overfed when it comes to sex.

Overfed when it comes to information.

Especially the information that we are fed, every second of every day.

More, incessant, unnecessary information, that we sit back with our hands behind our back and swallow at a dangerously rapid speed without any end in sight.

Rightfully so, since we are in the AGE OF INFORMATION.

Problem is as the world around us gets louder and louder…

We are unhappy, lonely, and overstimulated.

The reason I am writing about this is because this is my attempt at operationalizing Happiness. I was extremely unhappy for 24 years of my life and for the last 5 I have made strides in working on my happiness and having a meaningful existence.

Happiness is one of the 3 pillars of a fulfilling existence in the Against the Grain philosophy.

I know that Happiness is subjective and it means different things to different people, and when I have heard people talk about happiness, they describe what it means to them and how they discovered it by trial and error.

But it’s not that easy for the rest of us.

I have a working theory on Happiness, and would love to know what you think about this. Mind you this will evolve over time and it might even be scrapped but I am running with what I have so far:

Personally I have been a black and white thinker and up until recently I started to see the gray area in life.

But still the majority of my thinking is using Inputs = Outputs.

If Happiness is the output, what are the inputs?

I have come up with 2, there is an Internal factor to happiness. And then an external factor.

Internal has to do with the self, who you are and how you are affecting your happiness which has 2 components.

Your mind (cerebral) and your Spirit (spiritual).

External has to do with the world around you, our environment.

Part of this is your local and global environment…this is the part I need to clarify further.

Major part of our happiness is how we interact with the world around us.

I think the differentiation between the inputs that lead to happiness is crucial, because for many the external input, local & global environment, plays a MAJOR role than that of the internal input, which is the self.

“Internal happiness’s first step is to create peace within ourselves. When we create stillness internally, that is what allows water to be still, our minds to settle. That is when you can rebuild.”

This has led me to believe, we let happiness be affected far more by what is happening in the world and our environment, than focusing on our internal states.

Filtering Information Is A Skill We Did Not Develop

In this age of Information, our 300,000 year old brain’s operating system is not updated to take in this many inputs incessantly all day long.

Filtering information is a skill we have not been taught, and in the ever growing demand to suck our attention, with endless options, no one is showing us how to filter the options that we are presented with.

Filtering information is more important than ever, because of the ideas that are being pushed around that we have no control over.

Imagine being force fed food, 24/7 and not having the ability to stop.

Without filtering information you don’t know if the idea is genuinely yours or are you just playing the game of telephone with millions around you.

If the ultimate goal is to live an extraordinary life, one that is meaningful, one that we have designed for ourselves, one that is focused on creating happiness internally first… then we can’t do what the 99% are doing.

99% of people are allowing the information to sweep them off their feet, and letting themselves get ragdolled by life. We are more concerned by external affairs than what is happening in our own lives.

The lack of self control or information filtering can be seen in everyday life of some people, in their misguided priorities.

People will tolerate poor health, poor relationships, poor mental health, poor money habits…

But won’t tolerate their favorite show getting canceled, or throw a temper tantrum and ruin the lives of other people when the opposing political party is in power.

One of the way to offset this is to slow down how we navigate through life:

“You don’t solve a maze by rushing through. You have to stop and think. You have to walk slowly and carefully, ringing in your energy — otherwise you’ll get hopelessly lost.” [2]

I am no saint. This took many years to understand.

What helped me understand this concept was understanding that Garbage In = Garbage Out.

Inputs = Outputs.

Like many, I was ragdolled by life, swiping away, comparing myself to people who were 20 years in the game feeling insignificant at my accomplishments. Comparing my 2 years of effort to their 20 years of consistency.

Information is helpful, but the right information, the information that you have filtered to help you in the season of your life that you’re in.

The truth is we don’t have control over what happens in the world, we are all insignificant specs of dust in the vast universe.

But each of us has our own universe, our own worlds to protect, and that is between our ears.

We can’t control what happens in the world but we can control what happens in our lives.

“Before we can make a deep change in our lives, we must look into our diets, our way of consuming. We have to live in such a way that we stop consuming the things that poison us & intoxicate us. Then we will have the strength to allow the best in us to arise & we will no longer be victims of anger or frustration.” - Thich Nahat Hanh

Now that we’re all up to speed, you’re most likely wondering; how do we filter information? How do we control the force feeding?

For the few that want to live an extraordinary life, here is my system on how to filter information to lead a happier life:

4 Steps to Filter Information & Take Control of Your Attention

Step #1: Information Fast

In my experience, it is much easier to build when you have a blank slate.

Start by eliminating all forms of consumption, starting immediately with social media, news, and anything else that you know sucks a lot of time and attention.

Eliminate the information sources that bring you down or don’t add value to your life first.

If you’re a user of social media, then delete all social apps off your phone. [1]

If you’re a news junkie, then put the tv remote in an inconvenient place.

I recommend doing this for 2 to 3 weeks. I did it for 2 months just to clear my head.

This is going to be very difficult, especially the first week you’ll reach for your phone as if it is vibrating (Phantom Vibration).

Once study showed that people would rather give themselves an electric shock than experience boredom for even a few minutes.

“We have to step away from the comfort of noisy distractions & simulations. We have to start listening…”

Create friction between you and your consumption.

Step #2: Use The Time Wisely

By eliminating or reducing the consumption of information, this will give you back enormous amounts of time.

Don’t fill it up by doing destructive things. Use this time to invest into your health, your happiness, and your wealth.

Get outside and get some sunlight

Get more sleep

Connect with your children or family

Take the time to check in with yourself

Research how to build a business

Be selfish this time.

Time is the one resource that is limited regardless of race, gender, ethnicity.

Step #3: Selectively Add Back In

After the fasting period, now you have a blank slate. This now allows you to be selective with what you want to add back in.

For example:

The only form of consumption I keep on my phone is the Kindle app, because I like to get my information from books.

Everything else I keep off my phone, especially social media.

I find that when I use my computer instead of my phone the UI is not that friendly which doesn’t make it appealing to navigate or get you hooked.

One thing that has been beneficial has been not adding things back that don’t add value to my life:

Social media

Amazon App

Food Ordering Apps (Grubhub & Ubereats)

Step #4: Limited Consumption Time

Time is the best tool for filtration.

Limiting the time that I consume things that don’t add value to my life is very helpful.

Here is how I segment time for different forms of consumption:

Social Media: 1 hour per week (find topics to research or places to travel)

YouTube: 3-4 hours per week usually during breakfast (primarily consuming podcast or things I am researching)

News: 0 hours per week…I do not consume news or world affairs that do not impact my life directly. [3]

Books: Unlimited

Truth is, none of this will be easy.

Especially if you have a social circle that is all about being in the know-how.

This will put a lot of social pressure because you’ll end up being the guy or gal who is living underneath a rock.

However, in my opinion if this is the price I must pay to not live like the 99%...

to live a life where I get to make conscious, intentional choices in every aspect of my life, and not let life’s events affect my outcomes.

This is a price worth paying.

Time is the greatest resource ever for all of us, second is our Attention, because what you pay attention to grows. If this is true then we can squander our time paying attention to random things, if we are to live a life of design then we must control the things that take up our attention.

Action Time:

Best time to filter information was yesterday, the second best time to do it is now.

Follow the steps, use that as a baseline, and design a system that works for you.

If you found this article helpful, feel free to share it with someone who you think might find this insightful, using this link: https://mohammedmalik.com/newsletters/b/atgonfilteringinfo

Until next time.

Your guide,

-M. Malik

Writers Notes:

[1] It’s not just information that sucks your attention, it's apps and notifications as well. Our phones are the primary tools we use for consumption. Delete apps you don’t use, check your email on your computer, remove shopping apps, put your phone on Do Not Disturb, and only allow notifications from favorites. Again this is what has worked for me, your process can be different.

[2] "Stillness is the Key" by Ryan Holiday

[3] For those who love the news: I have found that limiting news does 2 things: (1) you’re less likely to be in a bad mood, because 99% of the news is negative. (2) you’ll hear about something that happened 2 weeks later, this makes all the hype around it go away…so it’s no longer a big deal.