Mental Models For Founders

I first learned about mental models on a post at Ycombinator old blog. The link is broken now. It was Charlie Munger’s ‘Worldly Wisdom’.

Since then I have developed a few simpler ones on my own. Took a while to get used to them, but they help. These are in the simplest words possible, as that is the best way to communicate.

We make decisions every day, professional as well as personal. More often than not, facts and data at hand are not enough to have a clear vision. Mental models help in seeing through the clutter and working under constraints. Here is a list of my mental models:

1. Common wisdom is superficial.

2. Most of the worldly matters are multi-variate events. It is a fallacy to attempt a diagnosis of them using emotions and assumptions.

3. Ignorance and knowledge both can be the source of confidence. Be sure to know which one at play.

4. Every magician knows the vanity of his tricks. Don’t be fooled by them.

5. Daily thoughts make us what we are. Choose a livelihood which can help to generate desired thoughts.

6. It is very difficult to brute force something using only mental faculties. Experience is necessary. Intellect blooms with experience. Experience is not measured on time scale.

7. Mind plays trickery all the time. Error of judgement is the most common reason for failures. Double and triple check your first ideas. Run an infinite loop of WHY, till you get the answers.

8. Neither it is possible nor beneficial to attempt to understand people’s motive. Focus on the task at hand.

9. Understanding the root problem should be the goal. Solutions come easy.

10. Break a complex problem/situation into many smaller and easier parts. Then solve each of these parts independently.

Cheers!