Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 193 answers
For one full workday, keep an urgency log. Every time something demands your immediate attention — a notification, a request, an internal impulse to check something — write it down with a timestamp. At the end of the day, score each item: (1) Was it actually time-sensitive? (2) What would have.
Audit your information inputs for one full day. Every time you consume content — a news article, a social media scroll session, a podcast, a Slack thread, a newsletter — log the source and an honest estimate of the time spent. At the end of the day, sort the list into three columns: (1) sources.
Conduct an information cost audit. List every source you check daily or weekly: news sites, newsletters, social feeds, Slack channels, podcasts, group chats. For each, estimate the minutes per day you spend on it. Then answer three questions: (1) What decision have I made better in the last 30.
Run a 48-hour social media audit. For two days, every time you open a social media app, immediately write down what you intended to find. Set a five-minute timer. When the timer fires, stop and record: (1) Did you find what you intended? (2) What did you actually consume instead? (3) How do you.
For the next 48 hours, run an emotional audit on your information intake. Every time you consume a piece of information — a news headline, a Slack message, a social media post, an email — and feel a strong emotional reaction (anger, anxiety, excitement, outrage), stop and write down three things:.
Identify one decision you are currently making or have recently made based on second-hand information — a report, a summary, a metric dashboard, or someone else's interpretation of events. Write down what you know. Then identify the first-party source: the raw data, the original conversation, the.
Pick one topic you believe you understand well — something you have read about multiple times but never had to explain from scratch. Set a five-minute timer. Write a from-memory explanation of the topic as if teaching it to a smart twelve-year-old. No notes, no searches, no references. When the.
Choose one 24-hour period this week for an information fast. No social media, no news, no newsletters, no podcasts, no articles. You can still communicate with people directly (calls, texts, in-person conversation) — the fast targets passive consumption, not human connection. Before you begin,.
Open whatever you read yesterday — your inbox, your feed, your bookmarks. Sort every piece of content you consumed into one of three buckets: (1) irrelevant within a week, (2) useful for months, (3) useful for years or longer. Count how many items land in each bucket. If bucket one is the largest,.
Pick a domain you've been learning for at least six months. Draw two columns: Signal (concepts that connected to other things you knew and changed how you think or act) and Noise (content you consumed that you can't recall or that never connected to anything). Count the items in each column. Now.
Pick one information stream you currently manage by filtering (email, news, social feed, Slack). Instead of adding more filters or mute rules, define three specific signals you need from that stream — the patterns that actually matter to your work. Write them down. For one week, scan only for.
Conduct a full information source audit right now. Open a document and list every recurring information source in your life: newsletters, RSS feeds, podcasts, YouTube subscriptions, Slack communities, Discord servers, social media follows, news apps, group chats, subreddits, push notification.
Conduct a full Phase 7 integration audit. Choose one high-stakes domain in your life — your primary work project, a critical relationship, a major decision you are facing. Over the next seven days, apply each of the twenty Phase 7 skills to that domain, one per day on weekdays and catching up on.
Choose a situation where you recently disagreed with someone — a technical decision, a hiring call, a project direction. Write down what you saw in that situation: the facts as you perceived them, the conclusion you drew, and the confidence you felt. Now write down what the other person likely.
Start a calibration journal. For seven consecutive days, make five predictions each day about events whose outcomes you will know within 48 hours — project deadlines, meeting outcomes, whether someone will respond to your email, weather, traffic, anything with a verifiable result. For each.
Start a prediction journal today. Write down five predictions about events that will resolve within the next 30 days. For each prediction, record: (1) the specific outcome you expect, stated precisely enough that resolution is unambiguous, (2) your confidence level as a percentage, (3) three.
For the next seven days, run an emotional perception audit. Three times per day — morning, midday, and evening — pause and record two things: (1) your current emotional state using specific labels (not just "good" or "bad" but anxious, irritated, excited, calm, restless, content, frustrated,.
For the next three days, run a stress-perception audit. Each time you notice your stress level rising — a difficult email, a tight deadline, a conflict, an unexpected problem — immediately pause and write down three things: (1) What am I focused on right now? (2) What am I NOT seeing because of.
Pick a domain where you recently changed your mind or shifted your behavior — investment allocation, a judgment about a colleague, a habit you dropped. Write down the event that triggered the shift. Now write down the full history: the last 12 months, 3 years, or whatever the relevant window is..
For one week, keep a Base Rate Log. Each time you encounter a vivid anecdote — a news story, a personal account, a social media post, a colleague's experience — that makes you feel like something is common, dangerous, or likely, stop. Write down your gut estimate of the probability. Then look up.
Pick a decision or project you're currently planning. Set a timer for ten minutes. Write at the top of a page: 'It is [date six months from now]. This has failed completely.' Now write every reason you can think of for why it failed. Do not filter. Do not rank. Just generate. When the timer ends,.
Pick one belief you currently hold with high confidence — about your work, your skills, your team, or your market. Write it as a clear statement. Now spend 15 minutes searching exclusively for evidence that would prove it wrong. Talk to someone who disagrees with you, read the strongest critique,.
Identify three people who observe you in different contexts — a colleague, a friend, and a family member. Ask each one the same three questions: (1) What is something I do that I probably do not realize I do? (2) What is something I seem to believe about myself that does not match what you.
Pick a belief you currently hold with moderate confidence — a prediction about your career, a judgment about a colleague's competence, an assumption about how a project will unfold. Write it down with a probability: 'I am X% confident that Y.' Now identify the single most important piece of.