Follow the Incentives and You'll Predict the Behavior
To understand behavior, look at incentives, not stated values — people respond to what they are rewarded for.
5
Inner World
Thinking
Critical thinking, cognitive biases, decision-making, and learning to see clearly. The operating system behind everything else.
125 advices
Before Removing a Rule, Understand Why It Was Created
Understand a rule's purpose before you decide it's unnecessary.
18
Subtraction Often Works Better Than Addition
Removing what doesn't work often beats adding something new.
11
Ask "Why" Five Times and You'll Find the Real Problem
The first answer is usually a symptom — the root cause hides deeper.
7
Don't Trust Advice from People Who Have No Skin in the Game
Weigh advice by how much the advisor stands to lose if they're wrong.
11
Feedback Loops Explain More of Life Than You Think
What looks like a fixed trait is often a loop you can interrupt.
7
Every System Is Perfectly Designed to Get the Results It Gets
Consistent results reflect the system's design, not individual effort.
21
Look at What's Missing, Not Just What's Present
What's absent often reveals more than what's present.
13
When a Metric Becomes a Target, It Stops Being a Good Metric
Optimizing for a number often destroys the value it was meant to capture.
6
What Has Lasted Long Will Probably Last Longer
Time is the most ruthless filter — what survived it has proven its worth.
12
Behind Extreme Outcomes Usually Lies a Return to the Mean
Exceptional results — good or bad — tend to be followed by ordinary ones.
8
Big Failures Are Made of Small Compromises
Disasters accumulate through small, reasonable-seeming compromises.
17
When Stuck, Explain the Problem to Someone Who Knows Nothing About It
Explaining a problem simply often reveals exactly where your understanding breaks.
11
Write Down Your Prediction Before Looking at the Result
Committing predictions to paper reveals where your intuition is calibrated and where it isn't.
19
Flip the Perspective: What Would You Tell a Friend in This Situation?
The advice you'd give a friend in your situation is probably the right advice for you.
10
A Properly Framed Problem Is a Half-Solved Problem
A clear problem statement is half the solution — most bad answers come from vague questions.
5
Generate Ideas First, Criticize Later — Never Do Both at Once
Separate creation from evaluation — judging too early kills promising ideas.
6
Approximate First, Refine Later
A quick rough estimate often reveals more than a slow precise one.
10