Are you acting to do the right thing or chasing a goal? — Planning and predicting are not the same. Predictions come from a sense of righteousness. They smell of certainty and confidence founded on beliefs and bravado. Planning is the act of preparation for a future outcome. The process builds on facts and judgements of the information to hand. There is a…

Simple steps to improve your critical thinking — In our fast-paced world, being a critical thinker is hard. The pressure to conform is strong. Opinions can force us to accept false information. Acceptance hides under the vale of the bully as they blur the lines between fact and opinion. When Elon calls for freedom of speech, what he…

If it can work for children, it can work for us. — First Principles thinking creates incredible opportunities. Elon Musk wouldn’t have had the success he has had without his use of first principles thinking. This approach led to an understanding of how Tesla could increase battery capacity. This made electric cars more practical which led to Tesla cars becoming a multi-billion-dollar…

History can help you improve your decisions — Base rates give me the same comfort a visit to my grandparents gave me when I was young. Yes, just like my nan and grandad, base rates are safe and packed full of wisdom. When I want fact over opinion on stuff I know little about, the mental model of…

History can help you improve your decisions — We live in a world with an overriding wealth of information on the dangers of smoking, drinking — and eating fast food. And yet, we will still focus on the guy who lived to 101 even though he smoked, drank and ate mostly fast food. …

A quick thought on why it matters. — What’s your strategy? Come on, could you describe it to me in two sentences or less? Okay, let’s go a step further, do your actions reflect your strategy? Mmm…I ponder this myself. Michael Porter says it right: “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” In the battle…

Two approaches to preventing a sticky situation — Thinking about a worst case scenario takes me to a time I’d rather forget. A family walk isn’t supposed to be the moment you regret not preparing for the worst. And yet, here I was standing in front of a plateau of bogy marshland with no clear path through it…

I could feel my anger rising. It was Saturday night, and I was scrolling Twitter when I noticed it. A tweet that sat so far away from my viewpoint it polarised me. My urge to crush the keyboard and belittle the offending statement was intense. Triggered, a simple declaration drew…

Remember, a terrible choice isn’t a terrible outcome. — Isn’t a bad decision another name for a bad outcome? Does our decision-making get bad press because we can’t grasp the impact of luck on our choices? I believe it does. Let’s face it, we’re all control freaks at heart and our brains can’t process the impact of entropy in…