Concepts
The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types
Ask 'What would become true if I wrote this down?'…
For each thought you resist capturing, immediately ask and write down 'What would become true if I had written this down?'—usually revealing that externalization would trigger a downstream commitment chain you're avoiding.
For each surprise, write
For each captured surprise, write one sentence answering 'What did I apparently believe that turned out to be wrong?' to convert observations into explicit model gaps.
Capture small mundane surprises — they reveal systematic…
Capture small, mundane surprises rather than filtering for 'important' ones, because small surprises reveal systematic blind spots that large surprises obscure.
Measure meditation success by detection speed, not drift…
Begin focused-attention meditation with 10-minute daily sessions targeting detection speed (time between drift and noticing) rather than drift frequency (number of wanderings), because faster noticing is the trainable skill while reduced wandering is a late-stage outcome requiring months of practice.
Note, release, return — treat each wandering-catch cycle…
When your mind wanders during meditation, execute a three-step micro-protocol: (1) mentally note what pulled attention away without elaborating, (2) release it without judgment, and (3) return to the chosen anchor, treating each completed cycle as one successful repetition of attention training rather than recovery from failure.
Predict your time allocation before reviewing tracking…
Before reviewing any attention tracking data, write explicit predictions about your time allocation percentages across categories, then calculate prediction-reality gaps to identify your largest attention blind spots.
Multi-domain cognitive difficulty signals attention debt…
When experiencing chronic difficulty with complex cognitive tasks across multiple domains simultaneously, diagnose for attention debt rather than domain-specific skill gaps, because attentional degradation produces domain-general impairment that mimics multiple independent deficiencies.
Write down your mood and expectation before high-stakes…
Before high-stakes observations (meetings, decisions, analyses), write down your current mood and strongest expectation about the outcome to make perceptual filters visible for later comparison against actual observations.
Before recurring meetings, list five things that never get…
Before any recurring meeting or code review, spend 5 minutes writing down what topics never get discussed, what people never speak, and what failure modes are never mentioned—listing at least five absences.
Describe a familiar system for 10 minutes without…
When encountering a familiar system or codebase, force yourself to describe what you observe using only concrete sensory details for 10 minutes before applying any evaluative categorization or pattern labels.
Before design reviews, write what you assume is already…
Before entering any design conversation or architecture review, write one sentence answering 'What am I assuming is already settled here?' to surface expertise-hidden assumptions that should be re-examined.
Treat a newcomer's unanswerable question as a signal…
When a newcomer to a codebase or system asks a question you cannot immediately answer about code you wrote, treat their question as a defamiliarization signal requiring investigation rather than dismissing it as lack of context.
After explaining a system, revisit every 'obviously'…
After explaining a system to someone with zero context, revisit any point where you said 'obviously' or 'of course' and document the unstated assumption those words concealed.
Use random body-scan timers to build interoceptive awareness
Set three random timers throughout your workday; when each fires, pause for 30 seconds to scan jaw, shoulders, chest, stomach, and hands for tension, rating each 1-5 and noting your current activity.
When dashboards are all-green but something feels wrong…
When a system reports all-green status but something feels wrong, immediately check for missing log streams, absent metrics, or silent services rather than trusting the presence of positive signals alone.
Trace execution paths variable-by-variable instead…
When reviewing code or data, trace actual execution paths or data trends variable-by-variable rather than pattern-matching from function names or headline numbers, because the gap between assumed behavior and actual behavior is where critical issues hide.
After strong reactions, record facts and interpretations…
After any event producing strong reactions, spend 90 seconds recording observations in a two-column format (left: camera-recordable facts, right: interpretations) before analysis, because this separation prevents retroactive rewriting of evidence to fit conclusions.
Force AI to separate observations from interpretations…
Before prompting AI to analyze meeting transcripts or documents, explicitly request separated outputs: first section lists only observable facts without interpretation, second section offers interpretations of those observations.
Announce mode switches explicitly in team observation…
In team contexts where observation must be separated from evaluation, make the phase transition explicit through verbal announcement ('We are now switching from observation mode to evaluation mode'), because implicit transitions allow the two modes to collapse into each other despite individual intentions.
If the same judgment appears in three contexts…
When you encounter the same judgment arising across three or more different contexts, treat it as a structural cognitive habit requiring explicit examination rather than a series of independent assessments, because cross-context repetition indicates the judgment is executing from pattern-matching rather than situation-specific analysis.
Mark habitual judgments after they fire — you cannot…
For habitual judgments that fire too quickly to intercept before they execute, implement a marking protocol where you log each occurrence with 'HJ' notation immediately after noticing it, because marking converts the judgment from invisible background process to observable object without requiring the neurologically impossible task of preventing automatic activation.
Apply the substitution test to check if a judgment…
When noticing a habitual judgment about a person or group, apply the substitution test by asking whether you would make the same evaluation if a different person or group were in the identical situation—if the answer is uncertain or negative, you have detected a judgment running on identity rather than behavior.
Convert judgments into genuine questions — ask about…
When a judgment forms during an interaction, immediately convert it into a genuine question by replacing the evaluative conclusion with an inquiry about constraints, context, or reasoning ('Why would anyone write it this way?' becomes 'What constraints or context led to this approach?'), because questions activate exploratory cognition while conclusions activate confirmatory cognition.
Build observation skills on a five-level hierarchy…
When building new observation skills, construct a five-level difficulty hierarchy ranging from trivial annoyances to identity-level triggers, then spend minimum one week at each level before progressing, because attempting high-stakes observation without low-stakes mastery produces reversion to automatic judgment under pressure.