Mental Models

Critical Thinking

• Mental models are systems or frameworks of thinking (e.g. the concept of economies of scale, compound interest)
• They help you assess how things work and help you make better decisions.
• Knowing multiple mental models does not imply that will have solutions for any situation. However, they are strongly increasing your chances.
  • The disadvantage of a model is that it is still a model, a simplification or reduction of reality
  • This is explained by the concept "The map is not the territory", where to represent in all details a region, you would need a map to be the same size as the zone that it represents, making it impractical and unrealistic
• As your muscles and body are getting stronger when you are exercising at the gym, the similar thing happens with your mind when you are learning and using new mental models.

Leadership

• Delegation Levels

Decision Making

• The Irreversible and Consequential Decision Matrix

Finance

• Compound Interest
• Economy of scale
• Loss Aversion
• The Law of Diminishing Returns

Math

• Probabilities

Thinking

• Cognitive Biases
  • Survivorship Bias
  • Inversion Principle
  • One Level Higher
  • Groupthink

Other

• Negative Brainstorming
• Regret Minimization
• Second-Order Thinking
• Six Thinking Hats
• 1-2-4-All
• First Principles
• Theory of Constraints
• ICE Prioritization

References

• Mental model examples How to actually use them
  • Mental Models are frameworks for thinking
  • Mental models help you assess how things work and help you make better decisions
  • Mental models help to become more wise
• Workspace

Critical Thinking