People, books, and breakthrough ideas—connected to the mental models and moves you can use.
3,456 entries
Covers the non-emergency case where nothing is on fire but the need is simply bigger than any self-guided exercise. No adjustment, pause, or accommodation fits, because the real problem needs a qualified person: a clinician, therapist, doctor, lawyer, or manager.
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky's distinction between estimating based on the specific details of your situation (inside view) and estimating based on how similar situations typically turn out (outside view/reference cl…
Describe the situation as a disinterested stranger would see it, knowing only what is publicly visible and carrying none of the history both parties take for granted. No stake in the outcome, so no reason to flatter either side's story.
The counterintuitive pattern where increasing the volume and frequency of communication decreases actual information transfer by overwhelming recipients and training them to ignore messages
Charlie Munger's emphasis on the human tendency to give disproportionate weight to evidence that is emotionally vivid, concrete, and easily imagined—while discounting evidence that is abstract, statistical, or pallid
Munger's emphasis on systematic over-optimism as one of the most costly psychological tendencies: people consistently overestimate the probability of positive outcomes, the speed of success, and their own capabilities wh…
The pattern where a system optimized for a specific set of conditions becomes catastrophically fragile when conditions change
Barry Schwartz's 'Paradox of Choice' applied as a failure pattern: as the number of options increases, decision quality and satisfaction both decrease
Overfitting is fitting or selecting a model around development-data features that do not generalize to the intended population
The human tendency to build overly complex explanations that perfectly fit past data but fail to predict future events—finding patterns in noise and building theories around them
Sets a ceiling, not a floor. You name how far past the target you are allowed to go before going further counts as a failure rather than a bonus, so doing extra on a good day is treated as breaking the plan.
The state where continued analysis reduces rather than improves decision quality—where gathering more information, considering more scenarios, and deliberating longer produces worse outcomes than deciding with the inform…
The range of policies or ideas that are considered politically acceptable—'thinkable'—by the mainstream at any given time
The Overton Window describes the range of policies politically acceptable to mainstream voters at any given time
Overton Window Shifting refers to changes in the range of policy ideas regarded as politically acceptable
Split one crowded surface into two linked levels: a compact top layer showing every option at a scannable glance, plus a detail layer you open only for the one item you're currently deciding on. Breadth stays visible while depth stays one click away.
A practical invitation to examine your contribution to a result and choose an available response
Put exactly one person's name on each outcome that matters, and label everyone else as either helping or reviewing, so nobody mistakes being included for being in charge.
P-hacking refers to analysis or data-collection flexibility used to obtain and selectively report favorable statistical significance without properly accounting for the search
Geoffrey West's discovery that cities follow universal scaling laws: as a city doubles in population, innovation, wealth, and social interaction increase by approximately 15% (superlinear scaling), while infrastructure n…
Before routing any work, define its product, available inputs, operation, keep-safe constraints, edges, and test.
A practitioner slogan suggesting that reflection on an uncomfortable result can support a useful change
An informal metaphor for treating a strong emotional reaction as a possible prompt for clarification or reflection
A decision tree protocol for managing pain that helps you determine the appropriate response level — from self-care to emergency — based on pain characteristics