Mental Models

Mental models are frameworks we use to think about the world, make decisions and take action. All of us are already using mental models in our daily lives. You Only Live Once (YOLO), for example, is a simple mental model a lot of us use when deciding on whether or not to book that summer holiday to Rome or to go to that rock concert with our friends.

When listening to interviews and reading books of a lot of successful people, I realised that they all have good mental models that help them make better decisions in their lives.

Inversion

Positive oriented questions can sometimes be hard to formulate. But if you start with things you don't want then it makes it easier.

5 Why's

The Toyota Way

Asking 5 why's directed towards the specific goal of getting to the bottom of why we do a certain thing.

Hyperbolic Reduction

Take an approach to the extreme — multiply it to 1000, then reduce it to 1. Analyse the effect at both ends to reveal where the sweet spot is. The optimal answer is almost never at either extreme. By going to 1000 and back to 1, you find the tensions that show you the right scale. For the full breakdown on finding and testing the sweet spot, see The Sweet Spot.