Steel-manning is a mental model where you strengthen opposing arguments to understand them better, so you can make the right decisions. Mike presented his project to Jane, the head of marketing. He had prepared for weeks for this presentation. User feedback, technical details, strategy… He had a solid plan for a new product. And he already had…
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Nassim Taleb’s Optionality: Unlimited Gains With Limited Costs
Optionality is a mental model to make decisions that create possible unlimited gains with limited costs. Nassim Taleb explains the importance of optionality in his book Antifragile. In this article, you’ll find a short story to see how optionality works and then three ways to increase optionality in your life. Is it possible to turn…
Think Laterally: Apple’s Ad Masterpiece and How to Think “Different”
Lateral thinking is a mental model to find creative solutions to complex problems. In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple to revive the company from the ashes. And they wanted a new campaign to announce Apple was back. Apple’s competitor IBM’s slogan was “Think.” So as a response, the ad agency came up with the famous…
Talent Stacking: The Easy Path to Extraordinary Success
Talent stacking is increasing your chances of success by becoming good at many skills, rather than trying to become the best at one. Scott Adams made the idea popular in his book How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big. There are two paths to extraordinary success: Be great —at one thing It…
Luck Surface Area: How to Get Lucky In Life (Without Being Rich)
Luck surface area is a mental model that explains it’s possible to increase your chances to get lucky in life. If there was a magic potion that makes people lucky, it would be expensive. But people would still buy it. After all, everybody wants to get lucky. Now, since we don’t have such a potion, are there other…
Thinking in Bets: How to Make Decisions Like a Poker Player
Thinking in bets is a decision-making framework developed by former professional poker player Annie Duke. In this article, you’ll find two real-life examples of how people —mistakenly— evaluate decisions based on their outcomes. Then, you’ll see why it’s wrong and how to take luck into consideration by thinking like a poker player. Bad decision, good…
Smart Personal Goals Examples – How to Become More Successful
Can SMART personal goals help you to become more successful in life? I confess. I didn’t believe in goal-setting for a long time. After all, I’ve always forgotten to continue working on my New Year’s Resolutions by February every year. But after reading dozens of articles and books on success and execution and testing the…
Mental Model Examples (50+) That Will Make You More Successful
In this article, you’ll find more than 50 mental model examples that will make you understand the world and human nature better. So you can become more successful in business and life. What is a Mental Model? A mental model is your thought process to explain how something works. Think about it. Probably when you…
Commitment Bias: How To Avoid and Benefit From It
Why is ending a long relationship so hard?Even if you know it’s not good for you anymore, it’s still difficult to end it.The answer is commitment.Your friends know your partner, you have photos on Instagram together and you have shared how happy you were.So the imaginary stakes of a breakup are high.Because your mind tries to be consistent with your…
Personal SWOT Analysis: How To Analyze Your Life Like A CEO
What is Personal SWOT Analysis Personal SWOT Analysis is a framework to analyze your situation in life to make better long-term decisions. Think about it. You’re a one-person company. You have: And if your life resembles a company, it’d make sense to manage your life like a CEO, right? Of course. Now, executives use a…