10. How To Be a Person: Advice from Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger
The Newsletter for Thursday February 8th, 2024
There is so much Ven overlap between investors and actors. So this week I’ve cribbed from the best, Warren Butler’s partner, Charlie Munger. And then, because I love talking about me (and acting and teaching) I use Charlie’s wisdom as a jumping-off point. Because Charles and I are equals … in the pantheon of mind.
Charlie died a couple months ago but not without leaving a wealth of great advice. Here are some of the highlights from his book Poor Charlie’s Almanac: the Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger.
- Good ideas are rare. When you find one bet heavily. But to get to the good ideas you gotta wade through the bad too. And when you find the good one then the work really begins. Everyone has ideas. They feel good to have. They’re a dime a dozen. You have to put the work in.
- Avoiding stupid mistakes is more important than being smart. So dither. Dilly dally. Be slow to pull the trigger. Make a decision deliberately. Avoid stupid mistakes. Don’t stay up late. Mistakes happen late at night. Don’t hang around lazy people. Lazy people make a tonne of mistakes. Same with nervous Nellies. Fear impairs judgement. Avoid unforced errors by using your brain slowly and fully.
- Don’t work with anyone you don’t admire. See above lazy bones. But remember there is value in working with people that aren’t as good a you or have less experience. These are opportunities to lead. But when you’re making your own stuff work with people you look up to. I am working with a bunch of big brains at the union these days. It’s impressive. Normally I don’t like a roomful of actors. That can be too much for me. But these folks are so smart.
- Work on your best idea. Don't diversify. Do one thing and do it well. Do it until you’re a master and then teach others to do it. That’s it. That’s the end. That’s your whole life and I also think it’s the definition of happiness.
- Learning is changing behaviour. Everything changes. Why are we so intent on fighting that? We go on-and-on about how hard change is and yet it is inevitable. If you get good at looking for adversity you’ll never plateau. You’ll always be on a steep learning curve. And what is more thrilling than that?
- Do the unpleasant tasks first. Get them out of the way. In stand-up comedy they call this The Bullet. Take the bullet every time. Expectations are lower in the beginning. You can set the tone. And then you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the show.
- Stop multitasking. Concentrate. You might have ADHD because of that supercomputer burning a hole in your pocket. I don’t know. I didn’t do any research but the onset of those four letters that everybody bandies about followed the advent of the smart phone, did they not? Put that thing away. Focus deeply on one thing at a time. You know who doesn’t have ADHD? People who are moving mountains.
- Clip your business and personal expenses. Small leaks sink big ships. Stop going out. Life is expensive. Stay home and work on acting. And stop networking while you’re at it. Networking is a waste of time. Think of your money as workers. When you spend a dollar you fire a worker. When you save a dollar that worker keeps working for you. It keeps earning for you. My friend, Jeff Low once said Money is hard to find and easy to lose.
- Steal ideas from dead people. They don’t need them anymore. No need to reinvent the wheel. Read biographies. Try stuff on. Look for shortcuts to learning. Find evidence that corroborates your instincts and then try things out on a small scale. Keep the stakes low.
- Bad things will happen to you; it’s inevitable. So practice not being surprised. The way we do this is by welcoming adversity. When it shows up, high five it, hug it and then bide your time and when adversity least expects it kick in the balls. But try not to take it personally along the way. This is hard because we always compare ourselves to others. We think other people are having a better time than we are. They’re not. They may look like it but they have diarrhea too and their kids are a disaster and even though they drive a BMW their marriage is falling apart and she’s cheating on him and he’s addicted to Tik Tok.
- Self-pity doesn’t serve. Get over yourself. Be kind to yourself. Put your head down and keep moving with your ears open and your complainy mouth shut. Suddenly you’ll hear and see other people instead of yourself and that’s what being an actor is all about. It’s not about us. It’s about us getting out of our own way.
- Avoid group think. Avoid dogma; nothing is really incontrovertible. A growth mindset means you hold loyalty only to the truth, not to any one set of ideas. That especially goes for any acting teachers you might run into. Always get a second opinion. And a third.
- Self-improvement has no end. But that doesn’t mean you’re broken. We often conflate wanting to hone skills with I’m not good enough. Don’t forget your self-worth. You had it as a kid. It’s along the lines of being. Just be. Don’t be demonstrative about it. No need to show us you’re grateful or you’re good enough. Just put the phone down. You got one shot at this. Go out there and serve people. That’s how you make your mark.
This unsolicited advice is brought to you by boldacting.com. New classes are ongoing. Go to boldacting.com/classes to find out more. Or email me at jasonbryden@gmail.com