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Master the mental models used by top performers. First principles, second-order thinking, inversion, Occam's Razor, and more. Free, bite-sized articles.
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We are wired to study winners. We deconstruct the habits of billionaires, the stacks of successful startups, and the diets of Olympians. This is a fatal error. By only looking at those who "survived," we miss the critical data hidden in those who died.
Most people solve problems by analogy — they look at what's been done before and copy it with minor modifications. First Principles thinking is the opposite. It means breaking a problem down to its fundamental truths and building back up from there.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." This is Hanlon's Razor — a principle that will immediately reduce your stress, improve your relationships, and make you a clearer thinker.
"Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity." William of Ockham wrote this in the 14th century. We now call it Occam's Razor — the principle that, among competing explanations, the one with the fewest assumptions is usually correct.
First-order thinking asks: "What will happen if I do this?" Second-order thinking asks: "And then what? And after that?"
Charlie Munger — Warren Buffett's partner at Berkshire Hathaway — is famous for one piece of advice he gives repeatedly: "Invert, always invert." He borrowed this from the 19th-century mathematician Carl Jacobi, who solved complex problems by reversing them.