Category: Mental Models

  • CHANGE YOU

    If you want to become a more capable person then stop trying to perfect something. Because your goal isn’t the thing. It’s to be better. And usually working trying to tweak something into perfection takes away the attention from the massive improvements you could be making. The more you focus on the thing the less…

  • EXPERIENCE DISCOMFORT TO GROW

    Do something difficult in a measured way. Lots of self-development talks about how you need to experience difficult things to become a better person. But to say that without a measuring stick is stupid. You can’t just experience unlimited hard things. There are infinite problems you can choose to experience in life and if you…

  • BOREDOM IS INTOLERABLE

    Anxiety is addictive because boredom is intolerable. If you’re anxious, it’s often because you do things that make you anxious because you can’t handle being bored. Sitting on a chair without your phone is boring and it gives you the opportunity to have anxious thoughts you don’t like, so you pick up your phone to…

  • FEAR

    Your fear is an incredible informant and a terrible leader. If your fear points out stuff worth noticing, then it’s super helpful. Because you need to know when you’re in danger. But if you obey your fear and believe that you’re in danger every time you’re afraid or work harder every time you get scared…

  • NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU

    If you feel alone and like the world is burning down around you then you need to know this. There’s no one coming to save you. This isn’t depressing or nihilistic. This is a mental framework. There’s no parent, sibling, god, or king that’s going to fix your problems. Because they’re your problems. The government…

  • PROGRESS AND PLAY

    If you want to progress you have to go where play is found. Play is the place between newness and familiarity where progress can happen. You can’t actually progress very far by working at the edge of your ability. It’s occasionally useful but tears you down and requires too much recovery time to create consistent…

  • EVERY OPTION COMES WITH A RISK

    Every idea you come up with will have a downside. Every option comes with a risk. And that scares us. We let ourselves get stuck because we’re afraid that we’ll make a decision that moves us in a dangerous direction. But there are no safe directions. And when we understand this we feel better. Because…

  • WHAT KEEPS YOU FUNCTIONAL

    If you changed your life to make it better then you need to remember that what gets you healthy is what keeps you healthy. The steps you take to make yourself a functional person aren’t solutions. They’re lifestyle choices. And if you let go of the lifestyle that keeps you in a good place then…

  • TO DO THE WORK

    When you can’t get yourself to do the work think about this. You don’t need to do everything. You need to do something. You don’t need to do it perfectly. You need to do it better tomorrow. When you let go of impossible standards and realize that the most important thing you can do is…

  • DECISIONS

    If you feel weak and powerless then start making decisions. Don’t say that you like all music except that one genre none of your friends like either. Decide that you have a favorite band and song and find joy in defending them. Don’t just eat breakfast mindlessly, take a moment to decide what you want…