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My girlfriend Reina struggles to get a good night's sleep. She's a light sleeper, so she wakes up quickly but also has trouble falling asleep. Those two variables alone are a recipe for disaster. However, it doesn't help that I am a fantastic sleeper and move A LOT in my sleep, which compounds her problems. Suffice to say, we've struggled to solve this problem. Recently, I sat down to research and did my best to solve her sleep scarcity problem. I started off not by seeking solutions to her problem but first by defining the parameters to her situation by asking, "What could I (and she) do to make sure she never sleeps well?" A weird way to solve the issue I know, but I'll get there. A few answers came to mind:

• Keep bright (blue) lights on all night.
• Allow me to fall asleep first, so I can start moving around and irritate her. 
• Keep a loud, noisy AC on all night. 
• Destroy her sleep schedule by sleeping in and/or staying up late.
• Drink caffeine right before bed.

Now, to solve her problem we simply avoided the above points. We limited screen time after 9 pm, and for any screens that were on, we filtered out blue light. I went to sleep before her, but she also didn't stay up super late, and I would make sure she woke up early. She stopped drinking caffeine after noon, and lastly, we ran the AC unit right up until bedtime but then cut it. The results have been promising!

Inversion Principle

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What we did to solve Reina's sleeping problem was an exercise of inversion. If you remember Algebra from high school, then you are very familiar with this concept. It's the action of flipping a question 180° (opposite) to simplify the solution. It's most helpful in big questions with unclear answers like the following examples:

• "What makes me happy?" switched to "What makes me unhappy?"
• "How can I be healthy?" - "How can I be the unhealthiest?" 
• "How can Canada's economy grow and prosper?" - "What would make Canada's economy collapse?" 
• "How can we develop the greatest educational system on the planet?" - "How could we make the worst educational system?"
• "How can I raise children that are kind and honest children?" - "How could I raise careless and selfish children?"
• "How can I develop wealth?" - "What would make me poor?"
• "How can I challenge my comfort zone?" - "What would it look like if I avoided all discomfort?"
• "How can I be of service to my community?" - "What does it look like when a person is detrimental to their community?"
• "How can I be a great friend?" - "What makes a terrible friend?"
• "What is the best my life could look like in 5 years, if I did everything right?" - "What is the worst my life could look like in 5 years, if I did everything wrong?"

By inverting the question, it's much easier to spot core areas fundamental to the problem's solution, and then clarify the circumstances to work towards because you know what to avoid. When approaching a new problem, your instinct will direct you towards uncovering the solution from the top down. "What is the best outcome, and what creates that best outcome?" This principle is a fantastic exercise to force you to see the problem from the bottom up. The opposite will always be easy to define and present a new point of view, from which you can figure out "what creates the worst outcome?" and work backward. 

"Humans should be doing the same thing as Algebraists do, constantly invert. Don't think about what you want. Think about what you want to avoid." - Charlie Munger

I heard this principle from Charlie Munger, who initially used it to find the best strategies for US Airforce assaults in World War 2. He then applied it thoroughly afterward, in his investment career alongside Warren Buffet. Charlie Munger is credited as being Buffet's right-hand man in analyzing the investment decisions that propelled Berkshire Hathaway to the wealthiest investing firm of the 20th century. 

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