models
Mental models are compressed wisdom—frameworks for thinking that help navigate complexity. These are the ones I return to most often.
antifragility
Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors. T...
inversion
Instead of asking how to achieve something, ask how to avoid failing at it. Flip the problem upside down. Many hard prob...
second-order thinking
First-order thinking is fast, easy, and everyone does it. Second-order thinking asks 'And then what?'—considering the co...
circle of competence
Know where your edge is—and more importantly, know where it isn't. The boundary of your circle matters more than its siz...
infinite and finite games
There are two kinds of games. Finite games are played to win—they have rules, boundaries, and endings. Infinite games ar...
map is not the territory
Our mental representations of reality are not reality itself. The map is useful, but confusing it with the territory lea...
via negativa
Improvement by subtraction. What you don't do matters more than what you do. Remove the harmful before adding the helpfu...
neti neti
'Not this, not this.' Negation as method—discovering what you are by eliminating what you are not. Every object of exper...
skin in the game
Symmetry of risk. Those who make decisions must bear the consequences. No accountability without exposure. People behave...
maya
The power of illusion. Not that the world doesn't exist, but that it doesn't exist as we perceive it. Maya is the force ...
opportunity cost
Every choice has a hidden cost: what you gave up to make it. The true cost of anything is not just what you pay, but wha...
entropy
Disorder increases over time. Energy dissipates. Systems tend toward equilibrium. Maintenance is the default cost of exi...
occam's razor
Among competing hypotheses, prefer the simplest one. Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. The explanation...
feedback loops
Outputs become inputs. Positive loops amplify; negative loops stabilize. Understanding feedback structures reveals how s...
impermanence
All phenomena are transient. What changes cannot be ultimately real. What never changes? This investigation reveals the ...
evolution by natural selection
Variation, selection, retention. The fittest survive to reproduce. No designer required—complex adaptation emerges from ...
regression to the mean
Extreme outcomes tend toward average over time. Exceptional performance is partly luck; future performance regresses tow...
hanlon's razor
Never attribute to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity. Before assuming ill intent, consider incompetence, ...
witness consciousness
The unchanging awareness in which all experience appears. You are not the movie, but the screen. Not the waves, but the ...
nash equilibrium
A stable state where no player benefits from unilaterally changing strategy. Everyone is doing the best they can, given ...
apophatic knowledge
Knowing what something is not. Some truths can only be approached by negation. When positive description fails, negative...