Last weekend, I attended Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.

The event, which attracts 50,000+ investors, entrepreneurs, and Buffett fans to the Midwestern city, is one of my favorites for one simple reason:

Idea density.

I have never found such an impressive concentration of wisdom, earned experience, and ideas in one location over a short period of time.

In that vein, I’d like to share 9 powerful ideas from a weekend spent in the presence of legends…

1. Go where you don’t belong.

One truth I’ve learned over and over again in my life: Good things happen when you put yourself in rooms where you don’t feel like you belong.

Those rooms are all around you, but your fear of being “found out” holds you back from stepping into them.

My entire life changed when I realized that everyone has something of value to contribute to a conversation. Your experiences and the lenses through which you view the world are unique to you—they may provide a new perspective to someone unexpected.

Remember: That feeling of uncertainty, fear, and discomfort is usually a sign of growth.

2. Self-awareness is a cheat code for life.

During the Q&A portion of the meeting, Warren Buffett was asked about his perspectives on AI.

He opened his response with, "I don’t know anything about AI" before sharing his perspective on his fears around the technology.

In a world filled with people who will wax poetic on topics on which they have zero depth, the self-awareness was striking.

The ability and willingness to understand and embrace your competencies and deficiencies is a cheat code for life. Plus, you’ll stand out because self-awareness is so damn rare these days!

3. Focus on game access first, game selection next.

The early years of your life and career are all about game access—the opportunities that you get access to that allow you to learn, build experience, and create a mental map of your likes, dislikes, and competencies.

In these years, it’s smart to say "yes" to everything that comes your way, because it gets you access to the most games possible.

But once your map is developed, everything becomes about game selection—choosing wisely about how you deploy your finite energy into the games before you.

In these years, it’s smart to say "no" to the vast majority of opportunities so that you can concentrate on the few that are likely to drive asymmetric returns in your life.

4. Find your Foxhole Friends.

During one of his Q&A responses, Warren Buffett reminisced on his partnership with the late Charlie Munger, saying that they had even more fun with the failures than the successes.

It seems counter-intuitive, but he explained:

"Then we had to really work…it was more fun digging out of a foxhole together."

Shared struggle builds bonds: it releases oxytocin, a chemical that creates feelings of love and connection. Navigating painful tests and failures with someone may be more fun and bond-creating than celebrating the wins with them.

Who do you want to go to battle with? Find your Foxhole Friends. Cherish them.

5. You’d rather have one sharp knife than 1,000 dull ones.

Buffett commented that he would rather have one Ajit Jain (his deputy in charge of all Berkshire Hathaway insurance operations) than thousands of mediocre operators and analysts.

It was a nice compliment for the understated genius, but the broader insight is powerful:

You’re better off with one razor-sharp blade than 1,000 dull ones.

As you think about your own career, be wary of having 1,000 dull knives in your arsenal—focus instead on sharpening one.

Bruce Lee said it best: "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

6. Being interested is a rare and powerful trait in the modern world.

Reflecting on Charlie Munger’s life, Buffett commented that he was so interested in the world that the world eventually became interested in him.

I loved that line.

Interested people are prone to giving their deep attention to something to learn more about it. They open up to the world—they ask great questions and observe.

Being interested is how you become interesting.

7. If you want to unlock new insights, you need to find your garden.

John D. Rockefeller would take regular breaks from his notoriously demanding schedule to mill about in his garden—it was his personal escape, the place where he could think slowly and clearly.

When I ask ultra-successful people about the daily rituals that contribute to their effectiveness, all of them cite some personal version of Rockefeller’s garden—an escape that allows them to create space in their life to think.

Buffett even went so far as to say that while he values advice from others, he gets his best advice from himself ("I talk to myself").

Find your garden, enter it daily.

8. Complexity may sound sexy, but simplicity usually wins in the long run.

Intelligent people are naturally drawn to sexy, complex answers and solutions. Why? They make you sound interesting.

But the pull towards complexity is a trap—it can lead you into a lot of bad decisions.

Occam's Razor says that the simplest explanation is often the best one—that simple is beautiful.

When's the last time you chose the simple solution and came to regret that direction? In relationships, business, investing, health, and life, simple is, quite literally, beautiful.

If you find yourself drawn to a fancy, complex idea, ask yourself if you're drawn to it because of its complexity or because of its true underlying merits.

What if the correct answer is just the simplest one?

9. Surround yourself with people you’d want to spend your last day of life with.

My favorite response of the general session came when an audience member asked Warren Buffett what he would do if he had one more day with Charlie Munger.

He reflected on the fact that they had many "last days" together—that what they did on an average day was what they would have done on a last day.

But more importantly, he offered that we should all take the time to think about who we would want to spend our last day of life with—and then spend tomorrow with them.

The point: Who you choose to spend your time with is the most important decision you will ever make.

Don’t wait until your "last day" to spend time with the people who truly matter—because you never know when that last day will come.

Always Go Where You Don't Belong!

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting and its surrounding events are definitely my example of rooms where I don’t feel like I belong.

I spend much of the time in awe of the fact that people haven’t found me out yet, but I’ll continue to embrace the fear and imposter syndrome as a sign of the growth I am experiencing by being there.

As this was the first meeting since Charlie Munger passed away, I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes of his:

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day, if you live long enough, like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve."

We may fall short in various ways along the journey, but it feels like a noble goal to strive for.

P.S. Here's a fun photo from Omaha with a mentor, friend, and Curiosity Chronicle subscriber who has always pushed me to follow my energy on the journey. Sir Isaac Newton once said, "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." Here's to the giants who lend us their shoulders to see and reach those bigger things. And here's to hoping we can all pay it forward by being that giant to someone else in the future!