I love the feeling of stumbling upon a gem of insight in totally unexpected places. I’m usually reading about Topic A, and in a Topic A-related book/essay/or article, there is just a beautiful explanation of a phenomenon that is found in Topic A, but uses an example from Topic B. That usually signals to me that this particular concept is applicable to a wider set of topics.
A perfect example was finding psychological/behavioral insights while reading about investing. In Mark Tier’s “The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soro,” I found the introduction of the book quite valuable in-and-of itself. I can’t say much about the rest of the book (I haven’t finished reading it yet), but I’d like to post some excerpts from the intro that I think are worth noting. If you want to read the entire intro, its available here (Google Books preview).
Tier explains that the difference between success and failure in most pursuits are in applying the right mental habits. Take, for example, poor spellers. Some people are poor at spelling. Teachers have a hard time dealing with these people because their attempts to improve their spelling usually imparts no change.
But these people aren’t dumb, Tier explains. What they lack are good mental strategies. The strategies good spellers use. Good spellers visualize. They copy words from memory, and are not even aware of this because it happens unconsciously and immediately. Poor spellers sound out words when spelling. That seldom works well in English. If you teach a poor speller how to “look” for the word they want to spell instead of “hearing” it, the problem goes away almost immediately.
That’s the power of adopting the appropriate mental habits.
So why don’t teachers know this? Its because chances are, if you’re a good speller, you’re probably not even aware of what makes you a good speller. Its habit at that point. And here, Tier explains the very important and elusive structure of mental habits:
A habit is a learned response that has become automatic through repetition. Once ingrained, the mental processes by which a habit operates are primarily subconscious.
Four elements are needed to sustain a mental habit:
1. a belief that drives your behavior;
2. a mental strategy – a series of internal conscious and subconscious processes;
3. a sustaining emotion; and
4. associated skills.
Next, there are a few examples of this at work. One example is a scenario at the bar. There is a pretty lady sitting alone and two types of males present. One type he calls “IceBreakers” – people who can walk up to anyone and start a conversation. The other, dubbed “Wallflowers” – people who’d like to be social, but shriek from any opportunity to. IceBreakers have the ability to put people immediately at ease and build trust, and intimacy. He successfully piques the woman’s interest. The Wallflowers on the other hand, begins to approach the woman, but at the last minute turns around and heads toward the bar, where he sits for the rest of the night. Forever Alone.
Here are the mental habits an “IceBreaker” utilizes, presumably almost unconsciously.
1. Belief: They believe that everybody is interesting.
2. Mental Strategy: They hear their own voice inside their head saying: “Isn’t he/she an interesting person.”
3. Sustaining Emotion: They feel curious, even excited, at the prospect of meeting somebody new. They feel good about themselves, and their attention is focused externally. (If they’re preoccupied with some problem or feeling depressed about something- internally focused – they won’t be “in the mood” for conversation.)
4. Associated Skills: They establish rapport by making eye contact and smiling with their eyes. When they have a sense of rapport, they initiate a conversation with someone innocuous remark and maintain it by listening rather than talking, keeping eye contact and focusing their attention on the person (giving that person a sense of importance), and by wondering what’s going on in this person’s mind.
Compare this with the Wallflower:
The Wallflower, who ended up at the bar, had a very different mental strategy. After an initial flash of interest, he “ran a movie” in his head of all the times he had been hurt in a relationship, felt lousy – and went to have a beer to drown his sorrows. His emotional reaction was the expression of a subconscious, self-limiting belief that “I’m not good enough,” or “I always get hurt in relationships.”
These traits are charted, as well as another type, the Self-Centered person.
Beliefs:
IceBreaker (IB): People are interesting.
Wallflower (W): I’m not good enough/I always get hurt.
Self-Centered (S-C): Some people are interesting.
Mental Strategy:
IB: (internal voice) “Isn’t he/she an interesting person.”
W: Recalls previous relationships.
S-C: (internal voice) “Is this person interesting to me?”
Mental Focus:
IB: External
W: Internal
S-C: Primarily internal
Emotion:
IB: Curiosity, excitement
W: Hurt
S-C: Uncertainty
Skills:
IB: Rapport, good listener
W: N/A
S-C: Questioning
Now in the last bit of the chapter, Tier suggests that, like the Wallflower, an investor might also have self-limiting beliefs that override a conscious attempt to change or improve. But I found this examination of a particular mental strategy to be quite insightful, useful beyond the book’s investing focus. Belief, Mental Strategy, Sustaining Emotion, Associated Skills.
I most commonly try to change habits by addressing only one of the listed elements – the associated skills. If I learn how to do A, then I should be well on my way, right? No. This piece of text made me realize there is a bit more to it, and that beliefs, focus, and emotion are as critical as actually practicing skills, in building habits. You can learn to visualize words (the associated skill), but if you believe you’ll always be a terrible speller (belief), you won’t be able to sustain the energy required to shift into the right mental habits, to the point they become automatic.
