← Thinking
Thinking · Module 2
Mental Models
Lenses for seeing a situation clearly before you decide.
8 cards
- 1InversionInstead of only asking how to succeed, ask what would guarantee failure; then spend your effort avoiding exactly that.
- 2Margin of SafetyNever pay right up to the edge of what you think something is worth; leave room for being wrong.
- 3Opportunity CostEvery rupee spent on one thing is a rupee that can no longer grow somewhere else; the real cost of a choice is the next-best thing you gave up.
- 4Circle of CompetenceKnow the edge of what you actually understand; and stop right there, not one step past it.
- 5CompoundingSmall, consistent gains don't just add up; they multiply on top of themselves, which is why they look like nothing for a long time and then suddenly don't.
- 6First-Principles ThinkingReason from the bedrock facts you can actually verify, not from "everyone already does it this way."
- 7Second-Order ThinkingAsk not just what happens next, but what happens after that; the consequence of the consequence.
- 8Regret MinimizationFor big, hard-to-reverse decisions, ask which choice you'd regret less looking back, not which one feels safer right now.