"All intelligent people should think primarily in terms of opportunity cost. When deciding whether to do something compare it with the best…

Flynn effect: Average IQ scores increase each decade for most of the twentieth century. Intelligence tests capture not just the innate…

"Accept the truth from whatever source it comes." — Maimonides Quote Recently, I've caught myself unfairly dismissing certain opinions…

Conway's Law: The structure of a system reflects the structure of the organization that built it. Article: Conway's Law Imagine that simply…

The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think. — Edwin Schlossberg Quote The writer's role is to craft…

The Cathedral Effect: Higher ceilings can make us more creative by triggering feelings of freedom and encouraging people to see broader…

Read fewer but better books. Deep reflection on fewer books is more valuable than consuming many books without thought. Book: Essays and…

For a different perspective, don't rely on random Twitter opinions. Instead, seek out the best arguments from the opposing side directly…

Writing is the process of encoding a web of ideas into a string of words using a tree of phrases. Book: The Sense of Style In his book The…

Taking notes on paper or screens doesn't merely simplify complex tasks like contemporary physics or other intellectual pursuits. Taking…

When we read, the author thinks for us. We can read ourselves stupid if we just repeat the author's mental process. People who just let…

Balloon Effect: Focusing on solving a problem in one area can unintentionally inflate the problem elsewhere. Article: Balloon effect…

Peter Thiel's interview question: What very important truth do very few people agree with you on? Book: Zero to One In the book, Thiel…

While identifying flaws triggers critical thinking, spotting potential strengths fuels our creative instincts. Therefore, arguing for…

Treat your career as a portfolio of jobs, roles, and opportunities. Assess new opportunities in the context of your lifetime career…

Do you hold opinions you're afraid to share with peers? If not, maybe you just believe what you're told rather than think independently…

Need for Cognitive Closure: How much do you prefer getting a clear and definitive answer to questions versus remaining uncertain or…

Great scientists work with their door open. Though keeping the door closed enhances short-term productivity, an open door invites…

The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. Book: The Creative Act This quote from the…

70-20-10 Rule: Spend 70% on your core business, 20% on adjacent or nearby things, and 10% on wild bets. Podcast: Eric Schmidt — Lessons from…

If your opinions on one subject can be predicted from your opinions on another, you may be in the grip of an ideology. When you truly think…

Having the kind of body that easily puts on weight can be a blessing in disguise. It forces you to stay healthier. Book: What I Talk About…

People thinking others are "just stupid" indicates that they are avoiding thinking by jumping to conclusions. Article: Smart people don’t…

The opposite of courage is not cowardice but conformity. Video: “No creative person I know has ever asked for a brainstorming session…

Cluttering Illusion: Our brains love to find meaning in short‐term trends and rush to conclusions. Avoid irrational small sample size bets…

Listen and Opinion Razors: Listen twice as much as we speak when encountering different perspectives and have opinions only after we can…

Young & Old Test: Make decisions that your 80-year-old self and 10-year-old self would be proud of. Article: The Most Powerful Decision…

"The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours." - Amos Tversky…

First Principles Thinking: Break things down to the most fundamental truths and reason up only from there. Book: The Great Mental Models…

Why does Amazon ban PowerPoint in meetings? First Principles and writing to think. Podcast: Eugene Wei: Compress to Impress In Amazon's 201…

Talmudic Reading: Read the classics while assuming the text is perfectly composed and the writer knew exactly what they were doing. Article…

The difficulty of training one’s thoughts lies not so much in developing new ideas but in escaping the old. Podcast: Investing and Life…

There’s a huge gap between being smart and having important new ideas, but most people who want to be smart might think the two are…

We use language to think, and we cannot think through those we cannot express in language. Language is both the tool that helps us think and…

When to making quick decision? Happiness Test, Only-Option Test, Two-Way Door Test. Book: How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better…

Can we react to our reaction or even react to our reaction to our reaction? Comedy Special: Bo Burnham: Inside Inside is a comedy special…

Writing is thinking. You can write first then derive clear perspectives from your own writing. Podcast: 科技島讀請回答 Michael Chou is the author…

Rule of 3 in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and once more. The…

Your vibe attracts your tribe. Quote

Kill your darlings. Fall in love with the problem, not the solution. Article: Kill Your Darlings Kill your darlings usually means a writer…

All progress, both theoretical and practical, has resulted from a single human activity: the quest for good explanations. Book: The…