Principles

a. Circle of Competence

Understand what you know and what you don't. Stick to what you know.

b. First Principles

The first basis from which a thing is known; a base level of knowledge that cannot be deduced any further.

c. Hanlon's Razor

Do not attribute to malice that which can be more easily explained by stupidity or ignorance.

d. Inversion

The practice of turning a problem around and starting from another (usually opposite) point.

e. Occam's Razor

Simple explanations are more likely to be correct than complicated ones.

f. Premortem/Postmortem

Premortem: Imagine an endeavor failing before you ever start. What caused the failure?

Postmortem: After an endeavor has completed, review what worked well and what didn't.

g. Probabilistic Thinking

Estimate the likelihood of an outcome or various outcomes to occur.

h. Second-Order Thinking

Consider the knock-on effects of a decision.

i. The Map is not the Territory

Representations (maps) of things (territories) is useful and necessary, but limited by default.

j. Thought Experiments

A method of speculating on future consequences of decisions made today.

Everyone has worth.

Note: it's much less painful to learn from the mistakes of others.

As Nassim Taleb says, people aren't rational; they're rationalizing. Two people with different views can see the same bit of information and come to completely opposite understandings of what it means or why it happened.

Confirmation bias is a major factor in this phenomenon. It is a seductive trap to fall into. But remember: if you read or hear something that flatters something you already believe to be true, beware! Step back and take a few minutes to question and inspect this information further. Seek first principles from which you can then build off.

a. Know what game you are playing.

b. Only play games you have a good chance of winning.

It's important to know what I'm talking about here. Sometimes we partake in an event that is perceived as the game, such as running a marathon. For an elite athlete, winning that game might literally mean finishing first. But for other runners, winning might simply mean beating a personal record, or a friend who is also in the race. Or, maybe better yet, if running with a friend winning might mean deepening your relationship by sharing a challenging experience together.

c. Understand that not everyone is playing the same game as you. This is true even if it looks like they are and, confusingly, even if they think they are.

Good thinking is like good writing: it requires a lot of revisions. Don't be a mental miser—allocate lots of time/energy to think about things. Then allocate more time to rethink them later.

Very few people are evil. Most just do what they are incentivized to do.

"Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome." - Charlie Munger

"If a man who knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable." - Seneca.

Two things here: remain humble with insatiable curiosity, and cultivate diverse relationships and studies. The more of both you have, the wiser you become.

Morgan Housel says in The Psychology of Money, "Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what's happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works."

Human knowledge and achievement march ever onward. And inflation will erode the purchasing power of cash. Growth is required in many facets of life. When you are a child, you are excused from behaving childishly. But you must mature as you get older; you will not be afforded the same patience as a child. And you shouldn't. 

To stand a chance in a competitive labor force and business landscape, you have to continuously strive to get and stay ahead. To maintain your wealth, you must outpace inflation.

Growth in all these areas is good and necessary. But it can be taken too far. At its extreme, you fall into an obsession of having to achieve more and more and more. There is no break. It's the hedonic treadmill. And if you don't perform, it's demoralizing. 

Or as you grow your wealth, expertise, etc. your lifestyle and ego can grow too. Beware this phenomenon. Be content with little and treasure those who love you.

Keep to the growth mindset and strive for excellence, but be vigilant to avoid obsession. Find the balance.

I've written more about this on Palladian Park's website.

And speaking of balance...

Human's rely on relativity. I'm not talking about Einstein's theory (although we obviously are impacted by the laws of physics that govern the universe) but instead our propensity to compare something to another or the norm. "That's cold," is a statement that we understand because it means the thing in reference is colder than what we consider normal. So too does this apply to people, such as, "she's smart," or, "he's fast." It's all relative. Understand relativity while pursuing absolutes for true comprehension and accuracy.

Great article on this by Vitaly Katsenelson on Contrarian Edge.

The irony is not lost on me here that my generalization is condemning generalizations.

We need stressors to catalyze growth. Discomfort zones are where learning happens.

No one is below me. No one is above me. This is a principle that helps promote both humility and confidence.

Wrote about the power of this phenomenon on Palladian Park's blog.

This is from a framed quote that my mother had in the house growing up; I saw it everyday. It's profound, yet difficult. It takes years to form your reputation and minutes to destroy it. But aim to consistently do good for those around you and focus on the process. The results will come.

We wrote about this on Palladian Park's blog after reading The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli. The post is "Reality: Things or Events?" and it aims to help us internalize the temporality of life. And seeing things as finite in time shouldn't frighten us. Instead, we should delight in the dynamics of life. It helps us understand that bad times don't last and we should cherish the events we are fortunate to experience.

This too shall pass.

Ask yourself, "what's the point? What's truly the point?" It's a calibrating question to first identify what is worth pursuing, and second how best to pursue it.

It also helps prevent you from doing things for the wrong reasons. One such wrong reason is seeking attention from those around you. In this case, your sense of worth is based on the amount of attention you garner from others. Stoics have categorized this as "The Third". Do not seek The Third. Do something for yourself and others around you (let's call those The First and The Second). Let that be enough.

The stoics categorized things in life as internals and externals. Internals are within your own control/influence. Externals are not. Focus on the internals—they are what matter to your happiness and success.

A lesson from Benjamin Franklin on humility. We wrote about it on Palladian Park.

Don't take yourself too seriously.

My engineering background sets me up well to use a margin of safety, or safety factor as it's called in the engineering world.

Took this from the author Morgan Housel.

Humorously depicted here.

*Always give credit where it is due.

Identity foreclosure prevents us from evolving into new and more capable beings. It also exposes us to debilitating pain. When we identify in relation to something else (i.e. I'm an engineer) and then lose that identifier, who are we then? The pain of that loss increases significantly when we overly relied upon it in the first place.

Be proactive and head things off before they happen. This is easier said than done. People who solve problems are celebrated and valued. Their efforts are highly visible. People who prevent problems from occurring, on the other hand, are difficult to perceive. Regardless, prevention saves time, energy, and money. It is worth it, even if your efforts go largely unnoticed.

I heard this in an online course from the late professor Henry Patrick Winston of MIT and immediately internalized the profundity of that statement. Understand that how you communicate is incredibly important when it comes to your success. It also explains why charlatans are able to get away with their deceits.

Invert. The map is not the territory. Framing. Survivorship bias.

Support takes many forms. Money, time, emotional investment, and praise are a few.

Living and nonliving, known and unknown. Take them all in. We live in a wonderful time where information is abundant and we can consume the best of what others discover, think, and articulate. We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with, as the saying goes. That includes the media you consume as well. Are you subjecting yourself to people and ideas that help you grow?

I'm a visual person. As such, I think about problems as a 3-dimensional point in space. My view of that point is subjective to how much I know about that topic, what I know some other people know about it, etc. But no matter how much I know, I will not be able to see all parts of that 3-dimensional point. Complete comprehension yields a sphere around that 3-dimensional point; my view(s) do not represent a sphere. That's why I need other people. With each additional thought, view, and specialized knowledge, I gain an additional viewpoint in my pursuit of filling out that orbiting sphere. The more complete the sphere is, the better I understand whatever issue that 3-dimensional point is.

Wrote about this mindset on Palladian Park's blog.

Edited from P.D. James' advice to writers:

"Learn to write by doing it. Read widely and wisely. Increase your word power. Find your own individual voice through practicing constantly. Go through the world with your eyes and ears open and learn to express that experience in words."

Shoutout to Maya Angelou.

Some people want sympathy while others want solutions. Knowing this is the first step to effectively communicating with someone in need.

We live in a world of infinite shades of gray, or nuance. While any one thing may be unpleasant or ecstatic, it is rarely singularly so. Consider divergences not only for your own perspective but for others as well.