Mental Models

Mental Model is a simplified mental representation of a complex real world system.

Mental Model is how we understand the world. When we try to make sense of something, we simplify parts of it, prioritize some parts - so as to reduce its complexity. This simplified version that we use to understand/reason with is the Mental model.

You can use this to...

  • Understand systems
  • Make Decisions

These are the elements of the Map part of Map is not the Territory

The phrase Mental model is generally used to lump 3 types of ideas...

  • Frameworks
  • Thinking Tools: eg. Cognitive Bias Avoidance, Reasoning from First Principles
  • Mental representations: Internal representations of knowledge about a problem domain

Problems with mental model

Mental Models are the communicatcble/codifiable parts of internal tacit knowledge. Just learning it might not be enough. You might need to building it from experience. Source

Links to this note

Absorbing a Book

To be transformed by a book, readers must do more than absorb information: they must bathe in the book’s ideas, relate those ideas to experiences in their lives over weeks and months, try on the book’s Mental Models like a new hat. So

How I read books: a guide on how to learn

Instead of reading 100 books, it's better to find one that really changes your life. Knowledge is much more valuable when we can act on it, and change our behavior. I'll need a system that will allow me to easily capture everything, buil

Eisenhower Matrix

Make a 2x2 grid with 2 axis - Important and Urgent. This is how you treat the four quadrants... Important and Urgent / Crisis: Do it now Important, Not Urgent / Quality: Schedule for later Unimportant but Urgent / Deception: Delegat

ICE Model

When you have to prioritise, rate all options 1-10 for these questions... Impact of success Confidence of success Ease of implementation(resource, time, etc) Use the sum of the numbers to prioritise. This is a [[Men

Pareto Principle(80-20 Rule)

20% of the effort should create 80% of the output. To maximize ROI, invest in the 20%. This is a Mental Model to make medium time frame decisions. Related to Parkinson's Law.

Regret Minimization

Take the decision that will lead to the minimum regret over a long time frame. This is a good Mental Model to make better long term decisions. There are some issues with this framework([Source](http://www.samvit

One Level Higher

One Level Higher is a Mental Model that tries to go to a higher level of abstraction. Ask yourself "Am I optimising a cog or the entire machine?". Try to optimise the largest system you have access to rather than sm

OODA Loop

Decision making process and Mental Model Observe Orient Decide Act Its a learning system - lets you operate in uncertainty. The idea is to get thru the process quickly and do it multiple times. When things change around us, we d

Belief Systems

Belief systems refers to any belief or group of beliefs under one name. Eg. Christianity or Capitalism. For anyone who has accepted a Belief System, its their **Mental Model of how the world is and how it works. They hav

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Published on: May 07, 2021

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