How Would It Be to Have a Complete List of Charlie Munger's Mental Models?

I'm on my second term of reading "Poor Charlie's Almanac", and it will not be the last one.

Seldomly I get a book in my hands that contains so many valuable lessons.

One of the core lessons that Charlie Munger teaches is to make use of "Mental Models".

Let me show you what they are, and how you can use them yourself to have more success, a better life, and anything else you wish for.

What is a Mental Model?

A mental model is a fundamental principle that has shown to be true over time.

Any scientific discipline has developed such models.

Based on Charlie Munger, the most important (and helpful) models are usually found in the basics of each discipline.

So you don't have to dig deep to find them.

Building your set of helpful models is rather a discipline of digging broad!

Because as Munger says, by knowing all the basic models of all important areas, you can unlock a much greater degree of understanding the world.

That's just because everything works together.

Why use Mental Models?

Knowing the most important mental models and using them comes with great benefits.

First and foremost, you will unlock more understanding, which comes with generally getting more of what you want.

Because one of the biggest obstacles to getting what you want, be it money, love, recognition, calmness or whatever, is your misunderstanding of how the world works.

By learning how the world works, you remove these obstacles, freeing up the way to what you've desired in the first place.

The critical thing to understand is that these models are not up for discussion.

They state a list of immutable laws of how things work.

By knowing them, you can adjust to what's true anyway - and thus become more successful.

By not knowing them, you will be blind to fundamental facts of how the world and people operate - making you run against walls over and over again. Heavily limiting your results.

If Mental Models are so great, why aren't they used more often?

To make use of mental models, you first need to understand their value.

Then you need to set out to learn the models.

Based on Munger this would only take about four weeks, give the right course.

But still, you would have to sit down and DO it.

And then you would have to keep up your awareness to make using the models a habit.

Taking these three steps of initial awareness, learning, and strengthening is EFFORT.

So it's much easier to not do it and just keep on removing the immediate day-to-day obstacles thrown at you.

To my understanding, this is the main reason why mental models are in rather scarce use.

They're just a little too much on the lofty side for most people.

Lucky you, if you're willing to go the extra mile and learn the models.

Which brings us to the next question:

How to learn and use Mental Models?

The best first step is to grab Poor Charlie's Almanac and pull out the models presented there.

Unfortunately, Charlie Munger has not collected his models in a neatly compiled list.

He rather spreads a model here and another one there.

Asked about WHY, he says that it would be more fun to dig them out yourself AND it would make them stick better.

In other words, even though Charlie was sitting on his list of about 100 critical and highly effective mental models, he didn't intend to just lay them open to you and me.

But wouldn't it be great to see all his models in one list?

Wouldn't it be even greater to have them categorized by scientific discipline and other relevant dimensions?

And wouldn't it be fantastic to have real-world examples for each model so that you wouldn't only see it in theory but really understand their value and use?

I'm not sure if anyone has ever set out to compile such a searchable and filterable complete list of Charlie Munger's mental models.

Yes, I know that there are list articles, mentioning SOME of his models.

I also know that there are comprehensive lists of mental models that INCLUDE some of Chalie Munger's.

But I'm not yet aware of one complete, easy to use list of all of Charlie Munger's Mental Models - and only them.

Should I build such a list for you?

I would LOVE to have such a list.

But making it will be quite some effort.

So I wonder if I'm the only one who would want to have a complete list of Charlie's mental models.

How about you? - Would you want to have this list and just see them ALL laid out filterable, with examples?

If so, please let me know, here.

If enough people let me know that there's a demand for such a list, I will sit down, grind for a few weeks (yes, it will be weeks) to make it.

And Of COURSE, I let you know, once I've made it, and let you use it FOR FREE.

All you need to do now is to let me know if you want to have it, here.

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