Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 1480 answers
Defaulting to the same schema every time regardless of problem structure — Munger's 'man with a hammer' syndrome. You learned jobs-to-be-done, or first-principles thinking, or Bayesian reasoning, and now every problem looks like it needs that tool. The schema isn't wrong. The selection process is.
You need rules for choosing which schema to apply in a given situation.
Your schema for how learning works determines how effectively you learn.
Your schema for how learning works determines how effectively you learn.
Your schema for how learning works determines how effectively you learn.
Write down your honest answers to these four questions: (1) Do you believe some people are just naturally better learners than others? (2) Do you believe understanding a topic should happen quickly if you're smart enough? (3) Do you believe knowledge mostly comes from authorities, or mostly from.
Recognizing that you have schemas about learning, nodding at the concept, but never actually examining which ones you hold. The trap is thinking this lesson applies to other people — the ones with a fixed mindset, the ones who believe in learning styles. Meanwhile, your own unexamined belief that.
Your schema for how learning works determines how effectively you learn.
Your model of how change happens determines how you approach change.
Your model of how change happens determines how you approach change.
Your model of how change happens determines how you approach change.
Your model of how change happens determines how you approach change.
Write down how you believe personal change works. Not how you think it should work — how you actually operate when you try to change a habit, a belief, or a pattern. Do you assume change happens in a single decision? Gradually through repetition? Only through crisis? Through deliberate practice?.
Holding a single schema about change and applying it to every domain. Believing all change is gradual leads to passivity when decisive action is required. Believing all change is sudden leads to impatience with processes that genuinely require sustained iteration. The failure is not having the.
Your model of how change happens determines how you approach change.
Your default assumptions about human nature shape every interaction.
Your default assumptions about human nature shape every interaction.
Your self-model is the most consequential schema you maintain.
Your self-model is the most consequential schema you maintain.
Your self-model is the most consequential schema you maintain.
How you model time determines how you plan and prioritize.
How you model time determines how you plan and prioritize.
How you model time determines how you plan and prioritize.
Write down three major decisions you made in the last six months. For each one, identify the time schema that drove it. Were you optimizing for a deadline (linear/chronos)? Waiting for the right moment (cyclical/kairos)? Avoiding a future you feared (past-negative projection)? Chasing a reward.