Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 9738 answers
The people around you shape your choices — curate your social environment.
The people around you shape your choices — curate your social environment.
Draw three concentric circles on a piece of paper. In the innermost circle, write the 3 to 5 people you spend the most time with — daily or near-daily contact. In the middle circle, write the next 10 to 15 people you interact with weekly. In the outer circle, write 20 to 30 people you see monthly.
Treating this lesson as permission to cut people out of your life based on a utilitarian calculus of their "usefulness." Social environment design is not about discarding people who do not serve your goals. It is about being intentional with proximity and frequency — spending more time with people.
The people around you shape your choices — curate your social environment.
Your phone home screen app arrangement and notifications architecture your digital choices.
Your phone home screen app arrangement and notifications architecture your digital choices.
Your phone home screen app arrangement and notifications architecture your digital choices.
Your phone home screen app arrangement and notifications architecture your digital choices.
Screenshot your phone's home screen right now. For each app visible without scrolling, write down: (1) how many times you opened it yesterday, (2) whether each opening was intentional or reflexive, and (3) whether the app serves a goal you've explicitly chosen. Move every app that fails test 3 off.
Performing a dramatic 'digital detox' that lasts three days before reverting completely. The failure is treating this as willpower rather than architecture. You don't need to resist your phone — you need to redesign it so that the default path leads where you actually want to go. One-time purges.
Your phone home screen app arrangement and notifications architecture your digital choices.
Design your physical workspace to support the type of thinking you need to do.
Design your physical workspace to support the type of thinking you need to do.
Design your physical workspace to support the type of thinking you need to do.
Design your physical workspace to support the type of thinking you need to do.
Conduct a sensory audit of your primary workspace. Sit in your normal working position and, for each sensory channel, write down every stimulus present: Visual (what is in your direct sightline, peripheral vision, and behind you), Auditory (constant sounds, intermittent sounds, sound quality),.
Optimizing your workspace for aesthetics or status rather than cognitive function. The Instagram-worthy desk setup with the designer monitor stand, the plant wall, and the artisan candle might look like a focus environment — but if the candle's scent triggers associative thinking when you need.
Design your physical workspace to support the type of thinking you need to do.
Map all the choices you make in a typical day and identify which could be automated or eliminated.
Map all the choices you make in a typical day and identify which could be automated or eliminated.
Map all the choices you make in a typical day and identify which could be automated or eliminated.
Map all the choices you make in a typical day and identify which could be automated or eliminated.
Map all the choices you make in a typical day and identify which could be automated or eliminated.