“We have three innate psychological needs,” writes Dan Pink in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth Behind What Motivates Us. “Competence, autonomy, and relatedness.” [1] Dr. Rangan Chatterjee learned this firsthand when a private company took over a practice he worked at. Once flexible in his work, Dr. Chatterjee was soon required to adhere to its […]

In 2018, angel investor Naval Ravikant wrote a tweetstorm called, “How to Get Rich (Without Getting Lucky).” The tweetstorm went viral, and to date, has been retweeted more than forty-five thousand times.  In his book, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness, author Eric Jorgensen writes about a conversation Ravikant had with […]

When James Bond Stockdale was downed over enemy territory during the Vietnam War, few could have anticipated the hardship he would endure during his eight years of captivity—or the inspiration he would become after his liberation. An avid reader of Greek philosophy, Stockdale routinely turned to Epictetus’s writings, particularly his collection of works compiled by […]

In chemistry and physics, activation energy is the minimum amount of energy required for a chemical reaction to occur. The burning of gasoline in the engine of a car, for instance, is caused by the turning of the key in the ignition. Without the spark of energy needed to catalyze the reaction, the combustion of […]

I’ve written a lot about my favorite big ideas.  From being wrong less to inverting our thinking, we can all benefit from tools like these to make better, more informed decisions in everyday life. But these ideas, while helpful, fall under a bigger idea: mental models. A mental model is a decision-making tool that guides our perception of […]