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 […]

Early in his career, Belichick loved and mastered the one part of the job that coaches disliked at the time: analyzing film. Years later, to the surprise of few, Belichick landing himself his dream position. Holiday’s humble beginnings as an assistant in Hollywood echoed Belichick’s meteoric rise as a prolific coach. “Someone told me that […]

In his book Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins posits that thinking is nothing more than the process of asking and answering questions. Further, he reasons that if we can ask better (quality) questions, we can control our focus better and achieve more. A quality question accomplishes three specific things, says Robbins: They immediately change what we’re […]