Confused about something?
Get into an “Orangutan Room”
If it’s lies only your head, it’s likely broken.
Do you have “Orangutan Rooms” around you?
Imagine going into a room and talking to an Orangutan who is lazing around, munching on nuts. You explain your ideas to him in detail and walk out.
What happens?
You come up with a new question to think about or realize a big connection you missed while narrating your story! What more, you answer your own questions in the process of explaining.
Charlie Munger puts it well:
“If a smart person goes into a room with an orangutan and explains whatever his or her idea is, the orangutan just sits there eating his banana, and at the end of the conversation, the person explaining comes out smarter.” Warren claimed to be my orangutan. And in a way he was. I heard myself talk when I was with him and I always got a better idea of what I was saying.”
I recently got a message asking, “ What does it mean to be a “polymath at heart”. It left me stumped.
Thinking aloud, writing your thoughts and verbalizing your ideas exposes gaps and blind spots in your thinking. Just being forced to explain your problems verbally can help you gain insight.
