“It's remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid instead of trying to be very intelligent”
— Charlie Munger
Simplified Meaning:
When you focus on avoiding big mistakes instead of trying to be super smart, you can do well in the long run. Imagine you're playing a game where you need to cross a river on stepping stones. If you're always looking for the very best stones, you might spend too much time and could fall in the water. But if you just pick solid stones that aren’t wobbly, you’ll get across safely. In life, it’s similar. Being careful and avoiding big errors can make you more successful than always searching for perfect answers. For example, instead of trying to invest in the next big company (which is very hard), you could avoid risky and obviously bad investments. This way, you protect yourself from big losses and slowly build wealth over time. This approach is about being smart in a practical, everyday sense, rather than trying to be a genius.
