Deserve Before Receiving

Charlie Munger's philosophy on deserving what you want centers on earning success through genuine merit rather than shortcuts. Here's the framework he lived by.

Core Philosophy

• Easiest way to get what you want is to deserve it
• Certain things can't be bought, only earned:
  • Trust from others
  • Success
  • Admiration
  • Respect

Real World Application Example

• SEO Success Story:
  • Business sold for $200M+ by focusing on deserving top search rankings
  • Instead of using "black hat" SEO tricks:
    • Printed out competitor pages weekly
    • Honestly evaluated why their page deserved/didn't deserve top ranking
    • Made incremental 10% improvements until objectively better
    • Focused on creating genuinely better content vs gaming the system

Key Principles

• Have honest conversations with yourself about whether you truly deserve what you want
• Focus on becoming worthy of the outcome vs trying to shortcut the process
• Sustainable success comes from deserving it, not gaming the system
• Merit-based approach works across all domains:
  • Business
  • Relationships
  • Professional success
  • Personal growth

Related Munger Principles

• Inversion thinking - figure out what you need to avoid vs what you need to do
• Learn the big ideas in your field but also understand the exceptions
• Don't hold opinions until you can argue the other side better than your opponents
• Focus on deserving success vs trying to hack your way there

The framework emphasizes that true sustainable success comes from becoming genuinely worthy of it rather than trying to game or shortcut the system.