As a young attorney, Charlie Munger decided that his most important hour of the day was too important to sell to others, so he decided to sell that hour to himself.
The firm Charlie started still caries his name: Munger, Olson and Tolles. It is considered one of the most prestigious law firms in the country and has some top grossing lawyers. The last year for which I have data is 2021. That year, the firm distributed on average $2m in profit to each partner. Not that that is a trivial sum for the vast majority of people but I think Mr Munger made the right decision to invest in himself rather than the firm.
Dovetailing on this, I am a big fan of, and have written about, the concept of Parkinson's Law. If we are going to "sell" our best hour of the day to ourselves, we had better make the best use of it possible.
Like the ideal gas law, work expands so as to fill the time allotted to it. If we give ourselves one hour to complete a difficult or challenging task, by compressing our effort into a container of time, we are likely to get a lot more done within that hour.
The firm Charlie started still caries his name: Munger, Olson and Tolles. It is considered one of the most prestigious law firms in the country and has some top grossing lawyers. The last year for which I have data is 2021. That year, the firm distributed on average $2m in profit to each partner. Not that that is a trivial sum for the vast majority of people but I think Mr Munger made the right decision to invest in himself rather than the firm.
It’s the firm Berkshire uses for its legal work as well and Ron Olson is a longtime board member!
I recall reading that Buffett once joked to Munger (in the early 1960s) that legal work is a good hobby but Charlie should focus on investing.
This was excellent.
Dovetailing on this, I am a big fan of, and have written about, the concept of Parkinson's Law. If we are going to "sell" our best hour of the day to ourselves, we had better make the best use of it possible.
Like the ideal gas law, work expands so as to fill the time allotted to it. If we give ourselves one hour to complete a difficult or challenging task, by compressing our effort into a container of time, we are likely to get a lot more done within that hour.