Cognitive Move
Across Scenarios
Test whether the destination still makes sense under plausible alternative futures.
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Cognitive Move
Action
Swap the verb: keep who acts and what they act on, but do something different to it. Ask what other thing could be done here. Its sibling changes what you aim at; this one changes the doing.
Cognitive Move
Action
The link where a decision stops being a choice and becomes work someone actually does: hours booked, money moved, a message sent. Ask whether what leaves the room matches what was decided, and what the doing costs.
Mental Model
Action Bias
The tendency to prefer doing SOMETHING over doing nothing—even when doing nothing is the objectively better option
Cognitive Move
Action implication
Names the specific behavior change the abstraction demands, stated so someone could start doing it tomorrow. Not why it works and not how you would spot it, but what you actually do differently once the vague term has real content.
Cognitive Move
Action or target for each state
Pair every state you named with the specific behavior it triggers: which action you take, at what intensity, or which smaller target replaces the usual one. You decide this in advance, so arriving in a state settles the choice instead of reopening it.
Mental Model
Activation Energy
Activation energy is a kinetic parameter associated with reaction-rate dependence and an energy barrier
Mental Model
Activation Energy for Habits
Borrowed from chemistry, activation energy in behavioral science refers to the initial energy required to begin a behavior — the 'startup cost' that must be overcome before the activity can become self-sustaining
Cognitive Move
Activation Gap
A hypothesis that a desirable circuit is stopping before it crosses the threshold at which its own returns would sustain it.
Mental Model
Active Listening
Active Listening is a way of attending to another person's meaning and checking that you have understood it
Mental Model
Active Listening Protocol (Reflective Listening Steps)
A structured five-step protocol for listening that creates genuine understanding rather than waiting-to-respond
Mental Model
Active Recovery Protocol (Strategic Rest as Training)
Evidence-based practice of using low-intensity movement during rest periods to accelerate restoration compared to complete inactivity
Mental Model
Active Recovery Science
Active recovery is the principle that certain low-intensity activities restore performance faster than complete inactivity
Mental Model
Active Rest vs. Passive Recovery
Active and passive recovery distinguish forms of rest in specific contexts; neither is universally superior
Cognitive Move
Actor
Re-cut the problem around a person or agent instead of a thing or process. Ask who actually performs the behavior, and which specific role or version of that person, since different actors do different things at different moments.
Cognitive Move
Actor
The party who actually performs the action, named specifically instead of assumed. Fill this slot with a person, a team, or a hired service, then swap in someone else. Changing it leaves the task itself untouched; only the doer moves.
Cognitive Move
Actually different
Two options only count as separate choices if they diverge on something structural: the causal mechanism, who acts, the time structure, the commitment involved, the resources spent, or the target. Different labels on the same underlying move are one option, not two.
Mental Model
Ad Hominem
An ad hominem fallacy uses an irrelevant criticism of a person to dismiss their claim
Mental Model
Adab (Refined Conduct as Social Architecture)
Adab is the Islamic concept of refined conduct, proper behavior, and cultivated character that governs all social interactions -- from scholarly discourse to hospitality, from governance to artistic expression
Mental Model
Adaptation
Biological adaptation involves inherited features shaped by selection in particular environments across generations
Mental Model
Adaptation Rate and the Red Queen Effect
The Red Queen hypothesis emphasizes how interactions with evolving organisms can continually change selection pressures
Cognitive Move
Adaptive policy
A destination expressed as an if-then rule that changes your action or target when conditions change.
Cognitive Move
Add a buffer or reserve
Hold protected slack that absorbs variability so shocks don't cascade.
Cognitive Move
Add a leading signal
Watch an early upstream precursor so you can act before delayed harm gets expensive.