Concepts
The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types
Read the original decision context before evaluating…
When reviewing a past decision, read the original context record before evaluating the outcome, because evaluating outcome first allows hindsight bias to contaminate your assessment of whether the reasoning was sound.
Document expectation vs. reality in cross-cultural…
When you experience confusion, friction, or judgment in a cross-cultural interaction, document three elements before reacting: (1) what you expected, (2) what actually happened, (3) what cultural assumption might explain the gap—treating the collision as diagnostic data about invisible defaults.
If you deliberated for 60+ seconds, the reasoning is worth…
Set the threshold for decision context documentation at any choice where you deliberated between options for more than sixty seconds, because if you considered alternatives consciously, the reasoning is worth preserving against memory reconstruction.
Spend 60-90 seconds orienting before producing…
During context loading for complex cognitive work (coding, writing, design), spend the first 60-90 seconds orienting through review of previous state before attempting to produce output, as the cognitive system requires initialization time before it can operate at full capacity in that domain.
Domain facts need aggressive updating; structural…
Distinguish domain-specific facts (treatment protocols, software frameworks, market conditions) requiring aggressive temporal updating from structural principles (logic, mathematics, core psychological mechanisms) where age indicates Lindy-tested robustness, applying opposite update strategies to each type.
Before adopting a practice from another era or scale…
When importing best practices or frameworks from another era or scale, explicitly verify that the contextual conditions (organizational size, technological infrastructure, market maturity) that made the practice optimal still hold before adopting it.
Require independent operational definitions of key terms…
For each high-stakes word in decisions or commitments (quality, ownership, alignment, done, strategy), require independent operational definitions from each stakeholder before proceeding, then compare and reconcile the definitions explicitly.
Reread consequential messages as a contextless stranger…
Before sending any consequential text-based message, reread it as a stranger with zero shared context would—no tone, no history, no knowledge of intent—and revise any content that could be misinterpreted in that cold reading.
State emotions explicitly in text — 'I'm frustrated about…
When emotional content must be conveyed via text, state the emotion explicitly ("I'm frustrated about X") rather than relying on word choice or punctuation to convey tone, because textual cues for emotion fail approximately 45% of the time.
Map the incentive structure before blaming individuals…
When encountering a frustrating recurring behavior in your organization, map the actual incentive structure (what gets rewarded, punished, and measured) before attributing the behavior to individual character, because most problematic behaviors are rational responses to system design.
Audit the training data before trusting AI decisions about…
When an AI system makes consequential decisions about people (hiring, performance evaluation, resource allocation), audit what organizational context and metrics trained the system before evaluating algorithm quality, because AI inherits and amplifies the biases of the measurement system.
Bright cool light for analytical work, dim warm light…
Configure workspace lighting to match cognitive mode—bright, cool-temperature light (5,000-6,500K) for analytical work requiring convergent thinking; dim, warm light (2,700-3,000K) for creative work requiring divergent thinking.
Write your position before group discussion — compare…
Before committing to a private written position for any group decision, externalize your reasoning and conclusion before the group discussion begins, then compare it to your post-discussion position to detect social influence effects.
Deliberately rotate information sources outside…
When algorithmic feeds or social media constitute a primary information source, deliberately rotate information inputs across epistemic communities outside your filter bubble on a scheduled basis to counteract echo chamber effects.
Chesterton's Fence
Before removing any inherited system, process, or organizational structure, document why it was originally created and what problem it solved—if this context cannot be reconstructed, you lack sufficient information to safely remove it.
When recall fails, mentally reinstate the encoding context…
When recall of studied material fails, mentally reinstate the original encoding context—room, time of day, task being done, emotional state—before concluding the information wasn't learned or needs re-studying.
Check every important message for SCQA
Before sending any important communication, apply the SCQA test—verify the message includes Situation (what reader knows), Complication (what changed), Question (what this raises), and Answer (your point)—adding any missing layer before transmission.
When multiple contexts compete, designate one as primary…
When multiple contexts are active simultaneously, identify which one is primary for the current work period and explicitly park all others with specific time and place commitments.
Reconstruct the information environment from records…
Before evaluating any past decision, reconstruct the information environment that existed at decision time using contemporaneous records rather than memory, then evaluate the decision against that environment only.
When behavior change fails, adjust the cue/friction/reward…
When a behavior change fails within one week despite environmental redesign, modify the cue visibility, friction points, or reward structure rather than attributing failure to willpower or abandoning the approach.
Multiply confidence at each transmission hop — multi-step…
For information arriving through multiple transmission steps (forwarded quotes, summarized studies, dashboard metrics), multiply the confidence value at each transmission step rather than treating endpoint confidence as equal to source confidence.
Stack behavior change
Stack behavioral change interventions by addressing cue visibility first, then friction reduction, then reward design—each layer compounds on the previous rather than operating independently.
Attach daily writing to an existing automatic behavior…
Anchor daily externalization to an existing automatic behavior (opening laptop, pouring coffee, post-standup) rather than relying on time-based or motivation-based triggers, because context-stable cues accelerate habit automaticity.
Start daily writing at 3 sentences, 90 seconds
Begin daily externalization with three sentences answering one question ('What am I trying to figure out right now?') for 90 seconds, expanding only after the behavior fires automatically without deliberation.