Cognitive Move
Structure and schematic
Draws a thing as parts, the interfaces between them, and the boundary around them, so you can see what is inside and what is not.
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Mental Model
Structured Journaling Protocol
A framework for daily journaling that transforms vague reflection into structured self-insight through consistent prompts
Mental Model
Structured vs. Unstructured Play
Structured play follows rules, goals, and external frameworks (board games, sports, organized activities), while unstructured play is open-ended with no predetermined outcome (free exploration, imaginative play, tinkerin…
Mental Model
Sturgeon’s Law
An aphorism associated with Theodore Sturgeon that cautions against dismissing a category because it contains much weak work
Mental Model
Style (as Strategic Choice)
Style is a recurring pattern of expressive choices that can communicate purpose, identity, and expectations
Cognitive Move
Subgroup effects
Split the affected population into named, identifiable groups and read each group's result separately. An average can stay strong while one group's outcome reverses entirely. You are looking for where the direction of the effect flips, not just where it weakens.
Mental Model
Sublinear vs Superlinear Scaling
Sublinear scaling means an outcome increases less than proportionally with size; superlinear scaling means it increases more than proportionally
Mental Model
Suboptimization
The systems failure where optimizing a SUBSYSTEM degrades the performance of the WHOLE SYSTEM—because what's optimal for the part isn't optimal for the whole
Cognitive Move
Substitutable
Some prerequisites can be met more than one way. Tag those, because a second supplier, tool, or person makes the requirement look like a hard blocker when it is really a choice. Substitutable items rarely deserve emergency attention.
Mental Model
Substitution Heuristic
Kahneman's meta-heuristic describing how the brain handles difficult questions by substituting an easier question without noticing the swap
Cognitive Move
Substrate mismatch
The tool or person you picked is good at the shape of the job but bad at the part that actually matters.
Mental Model
Subtext
In communication and storytelling, subtext is the meaning beneath the surface—what's being communicated WITHOUT being explicitly stated
Mental Model
Success as Identity Trap
When achievement becomes so central to self-concept that the person can no longer take risks, show vulnerability, or learn from failure because any setback threatens their core identity
Cognitive Move
Success conditions
Write down, before the trial starts, the specific observed result that would count as proof and earn the commitment. It has to be a number and a threshold you can check, not a feeling, so you cannot quietly raise or lower the bar once results arrive.
Cognitive Move
Success criteria
Write down, in that party's own terms, the specific condition that would make them say the decision worked. Gains, losses, and fears describe what they experience; this names the finish line they judge by, kept separate per person instead of averaged into one shared verdict.
Mental Model
Success Theater
The organizational pattern where metrics, presentations, and narratives are systematically optimized to look good rather than be good
Mental Model
Success to the Successful Archetype
Peter Senge's system archetype where initial success creates advantages that produce more success—a self-reinforcing dynamic where the winning party accumulates advantages while the losing party is progressively disadvan…
Mental Model
Successful Aging Model (Rowe & Kahn)
John Rowe and Robert Kahn's influential model defines successful aging through three intersecting criteria: (1) low probability of disease and disease-related disability, (2) high cognitive and physical functional capaci…
Mental Model
Succession Planting
Succession planting staggers crop plantings at intervals to ensure continuous harvest rather than a single glut followed by scarcity
Mental Model
Suffering as Teacher Model
The 'suffering as teacher' model, present across virtually all wisdom traditions (Buddhism's First Noble Truth, Christianity's theology of the cross, Stoicism's discipline of assent, existentialism's confrontation with a…
Mental Model
Sufi Stations of the Soul (Maqamat)
In Sufi psychology, the spiritual journey (suluk) progresses through defined stations (maqamat) and states (ahwal)
Mental Model
Summit Diplomacy Dynamics
Summit diplomacy—direct meetings between heads of state—carries unique dynamics differing fundamentally from lower-level negotiation
Mental Model
Sun Tzu's Terrain Analysis (Nine Situations)
Sun Tzu identified nine strategic terrains, each demanding different behavior
Mental Model
Sunk Cost
Resources already spent that cannot be recovered and should therefore be irrelevant to future decisions