Thinking

How you think determines what you see, what options you have, and what you’re able to do.

Most people never examine their thinking. They use default patterns absorbed from parents, culture, education - patterns that often don’t serve them well.

This section is about upgrading your mental software. Not to become a hyper-rational robot, but to have better tools when you need them.

The pages here

Learning - How to actually learn things. Not school-learning - real skill and knowledge acquisition.

Problem-Solving - Frameworks for getting unstuck. What to do when you don’t know what to do.

Uncertainty - Living with not knowing. Most of life is uncertainty. Learning to operate within it is essential.

Cognitive Biases - Your brain lies to you. Understanding the common ways it fails helps you catch errors.

First Principles - Thinking from the ground up. Breaking problems down to fundamental truths rather than accepting assumptions.

Why mental models matter

A mental model is a simplified representation of how something works. You have mental models of:

• How people behave
• How the world works
• How to solve problems
• How to evaluate information

Better models = better predictions = better decisions = better outcomes.

The goal isn’t to memorize models. It’s to expand your toolkit so you have more options when facing difficult situations.

Where to start

If you feel stuck: Problem-Solving

If you’re paralyzed by not knowing: Uncertainty

If you keep making the same mistakes: Cognitive Biases

If you want to learn something new: Learning

If you want to think more clearly: First Principles