Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 567 answers
Identify one agent you've deployed in the last 30 days — a habit, a decision rule, a review practice, anything you explicitly designed and started running. Write down: (1) How many times you've actually executed it. (2) What situations caused you to skip or override it. (3) Whether it has a.
List your five most important cognitive agents — habits, routines, systems, or recurring commitments. For each one, write down: (a) When you last deliberately reviewed whether it was still working as designed. (b) What maintenance cadence it should have — monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually —.
Pick one agent you currently run — a habit, routine, decision framework, or mental model that feels sluggish or unreliable. Write two columns: 'Evolve' and 'Replace.' Under Evolve, list specific modifications you would make to restore or improve it. Under Replace, describe what a fresh agent.
Select three cognitive agents you currently run — habits, routines, decision protocols, or review systems. For each one, write three retirement criteria: one based on performance (a measurable decline in the output that originally justified the agent), one based on relevance (a change in your.
Identify one agent — a habit, routine, system, or delegation — that you have already retired or that you suspect should be retired. Write its retirement document. Use four sections: (1) What it did — not just the visible output, but every downstream function it served, including ones you only.
Identify one agent (habit, routine, system, or practice) that you've retired or abandoned in the last year. Write down: (1) what responsibilities it carried, (2) which of those responsibilities are now handled by something else, (3) which are handled by nothing. For each orphaned responsibility,.
Identify three cognitive agents (systems, habits, routines, frameworks) you have retired or abandoned in the past five years. For each one, write down: (1) what problem it was designed to solve, (2) how long it lasted, (3) what caused its retirement. Then look across all three entries for a shared.
Create a full inventory of every cognitive agent currently active in your life. Include habits, routines, checklists, decision rules, automated workflows, recurring calendar blocks, and any system that runs on your behalf with some regularity. For each, write one line describing its domain (work,.
List every active cognitive agent you maintain — every recurring process, checklist, decision framework, or structured routine you run regularly. For each one, score two things on a 1-to-5 scale: (1) how often it actually fires in a typical week, and (2) how much its output changes your behavior.
Identify one of your most reliable existing agents — a habit, routine, or behavioral pattern that fires consistently and produces good results. Write down its core components: (1) the trigger that activates it, (2) the environment it operates in, (3) the sequence of steps it follows, (4) the.
Review the cognitive agents you have built or are building. Identify two or three that share a similar structure — similar trigger types, similar response patterns, similar monitoring needs. Now extract the common structure into a template. Write it out explicitly: what are the slots that need to.
Open your phone, your browser bookmarks, your note-taking system, and your calendar. For each, list every recurring process, saved workflow, or habitual routine that you engage with at least weekly. Next to each one, write its original purpose and whether it still serves that purpose today. Mark.
List every active agent in your current cognitive infrastructure — every habit, routine, system, delegation, or automated process you maintain. For each one, estimate two numbers: (1) the value it produces per week in minutes saved, decisions improved, or outcomes achieved, and (2) the.
List every active agent in your cognitive infrastructure. For each one, assign a lifecycle stage: genesis (just created, untested), deployment (actively being calibrated), maturity (running reliably, minimal intervention), or decline (losing relevance, producing diminishing returns). Count how.
Conduct a lifecycle audit of your entire agent portfolio using the Dreyfus-Kolb-Hedberg framework. (1) List every agent you have designed or identified across Section 3 — from the fundamentals of Phase 21 through the lifecycle awareness of Phase 30. For each agent, assign a Dreyfus stage: novice.