Challenge Yourself. Do the Best You Can Do
The dialogue presents personal progress as a source of satisfaction: compare your current abilities with your earlier efforts and future goals. It also recommends mastering useful ideas from others rather than making originality a requirement.
THE IDEA
Challenge Yourself. Do the Best You Can Do
This concept is illustrated in a dialogue where Charlie Munger responds to Peter's criticism about originality:
"Your originality is overrated. I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have figured out. I don’t believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody’s that smart.
"What should we compare is not ourselves against others. We should compare who we are today against who we were yesterday, who we are today against who we will be tomorrow. This may be simple and obvious: true happiness is found in a life of constant advancement. Problems resolved with courage and wisdom can be a source of joy."
The dialogue links personal progress with learning from others. Mr. Brown calls Charlie’s a "prepared mind," built by studying useful ideas across disciplines. Applying that advice means identifying what you need to learn and checking your progress against your earlier work.
When to use it
Personal development: Use this concept to set goals based on your own past performance rather than societal benchmarks.
Learning: When acquiring a new skill, study the works of masters before attempting innovation.
Workplace: Encourage teams to focus on incremental improvement rather than rivalry with competitors.
Education: Teachers can frame assignments around self-improvement rather than peer comparison.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Comparison with Past Self
In the dialogue, Charlie Munger advises comparing yourself to who you were yesterday and who you will be tomorrow, rather than to others. For instance, instead of feeling inferior because a colleague earns more, focus on your own progress in skills or knowledge from last month.
Mastering Others' Ideas
Munger criticizes overvaluing originality, citing the discipline of mastering what others have figured out. An example is a business leader studying the best practices of successful companies like Walmart rather than trying to invent a new model from scratch.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
How can I measure my progress by comparing my current self to my past self rather than to others?
What are some of the best ideas from others that I can master to improve my own thinking?
In what areas of my life am I overly focused on originality instead of learning from proven models?
Often confused with
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Art of Being Rational Charlie Munger