Inversion

The root of inversion is invert, which means to upend or turn upside down. As a mental model, it means approaching a situation from the opposite end of your natural starting point.

Like most people, my default setting is to think about a problem in one direction: forward. For instance, I naturally ask myself, "What do I need to do to achieve financial independence?" Inversion allows us to flip the problem around and think backward. Instead of trying to divine the exact brilliant decisions that will bring wealth, we shift our focus to avoiding poverty. We first identify and eliminate the behaviors that are guaranteed to erode our wealth.

Think of it this way: avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance. Combining the ability to think forward and backward allows us to see reality from multiple angles. There are two approaches to applying inversion in our lives.

• Eliminate the Negative Space: Instead of aiming directly for your goal, think deeply about what you want to avoid, then see what options are left over.

• Back-Solve for Reality: Start by assuming the outcome you are trying to prove is already true (or false), and then map out exactly what else would have to be true to make that reality possible.

When you are stuck on a complex problem, and the answer isn't obvious, stop looking for the solution. Instead, ask: "What absolutely cannot be the solution to this problem?" By explicitly defining what won't work, you instantly shrink the solution space and clear away the noise.

Consider how Edward Bernays used Back-Solve for Reality to revolutionize marketing. When tasked with increasing cigarette sales among women in the early 20th century, he didn't focus on how to sell more cigarettes to them within the existing social structure. Instead, he inverted the problem. He envisioned what the world would look like if women already smoked frequently and publicly, and then set about creating the cultural conditions to make that world a reality. Once the social paradigm shifted, selling the product became comparatively easy.

A highly effective tool for structuring your inversion thinking is Kurt Lewin's Force Field Analysis. It breaks down a problem into a tug-of-war between competing forces:

1. Identify the problem

2. Define your objective

3. Identify the forces that support change towards the objective

4. Identify the forces that impede change towards the objective

5. Strategize a solution! This may involve both augmenting or adding to the force in step 3 and reducing or eliminating the forces in step 4.

The inversion happens between steps 3 and 4. Whatever angle you choose to approach your problem from, you need to then follow with consideration of the opposite angle. Do not just ask what you can do to solve a problem; ask what is actively making it worse, and then systematically eliminate those conditions. Simply invert, always invert, when you are stuck.