The 5 Big Ideas:

• Need to have a multidisciplinary approach to life

• Most people coast when they get to good enough

• Constant learning every day

• The Feynman Technique

• Clarity and simplicity is key to being credible

My Highlights From the Book:

Need to have a multidisciplinary approach to life

There were two big ideas that I took from Charlie’s work. The first is the value of understanding the main principles of a wide range of disciplines. These include law, science, maths, statistics, politics, economics, psychology, psychiatry and so on. Scientific principles and human behaviour combine in numerous ways. You don’t need to be an expert, but there is immense value in understanding the cornerstones.

The second big idea I took from Charlie’s work, and the inspiration for this book, is the importance of good choices. Just a few good choices can make all the difference.

Most people coast when they get to good enough

To this we add work experience, reach a level of competence, and sort of coast our way through life from there. In short, we settle. At a certain level of competence we can navigate life pretty well, so the incentive to keep learning is not always obvious to us. Excessive ego is also a discovery dampener.

Constant learning every day

Why not make a conscious decision to learn something new every day? No matter how small the daily learning, it is significant when aggregated over a lifetime. Resolving early in life to have a continuous learning mindset is not only more interesting than the passive alternative, it is also remarkably powerful. Choosing lifelong learning is one of the few good choices that can make a big difference in our lives, giving us an enormous advantage when practised over a long period of time.

The Feynman Technique

How do we test whether we really understand something? A powerful yet deceptively elegant technique was devised by the late American physicist Richard Feynman.   Step 1. Choose the topic or concept that you are trying to understand. Take a blank piece of paper and write the name of the topic at the top.   Step 2. Assume you’re teaching the topic to someone else. Write out a clear explanation of the topic, as if you were trying to teach it. A great way to learn is to teach. You identify gaps in your knowledge very quickly when trying to explain something to someone else in simple terms.

If you get bogged down, go back to the source materials. Keep going back until you can explain the concept in its most basic form.   Step 4. Go back and simplify your language. The goal is to use your own words, not the words of the source material. Overly elaborate language is often a sure sign that you don’t fully understand the concept. Use simple language and build on that with a clear analogy.

Clarity and simplicity is key to being credible

Credibility and clarity go hand in glove. We should be clear in our communication, both written and oral. If something does not have to be long and complex, then short and sweet is the way to go.