Better Than Yesterday
Our goal is to help you master the best of what other people have already figured out.
Our weekly newsletter is packed with timeless insights and actionable ideas from a wide range of disciplines.
Our podcast explores the hard-earned lessons learned from others so you can be be better at work and life.
Join us or Start here.
Explore Farnam Street
As Seen On:
Recent Articles
Your Thinking Rate Is Fixed
March 01, 2021
You can’t force yourself to think faster. If you try, you’re likely to end up making much worse decisions. Here’s how to improve the actual quality of your decisions instead of chasing hacks to speed them up. If you’re a knowledge worker, as an ever-growing proportion of people are, the product of your job is […]
Continue Reading
The Feynman Learning Technique
February 22, 2021
If you’re after a way to supercharge your learning and become smarter, the Feynman Technique might just be the best way to learn absolutely anything. Devised by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, it leverages the power of teaching for better learning. The Feynman Learning Technique is a simple way of approaching anything new you want to […]
Continue Reading
Solve Problems Before They Happen by Developing an “Inner Sense of Captaincy”
February 15, 2021
Too often we reward people who solve problems while ignoring those who prevent them in the first place. This incentivizes creating problems. According to poet David Whyte, the key to taking initiative and being proactive is viewing yourself as the captain of your own “voyage of work.” If we want to get away from glorifying […]
Continue Reading
The Great Mental Models V2
This is the second book in The Great Mental Models series and the highly anticipated follow up to the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts.
We tend to isolate the things we know in the domain we learned it. For example:
- What does the inertia of a rolling stone have to do with perseverance and being open-minded?
- How can the ancient process of steel production make you a more creative and innovative thinker?
- What does the replication of our skin cells have to do with being a stronger and more effective leader?
On the surface, these concepts may appear to be dissimilar and unrelated. But the surprising truth is the hard sciences (physics, chemistry, and biology) offer a wealth of useful tools you can use to develop critically important skills like:
- Relationship building
- Leadership
- Communication
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Problem-solving
- Decision-making
The second volume of the Great Mental Models series shows you how to make those connections. It explores the core ideas from the hard sciences and offers nearly two dozen models to add to your mental toolbox.
You’ll not only get a better understanding of the forces that influence the world around you, but you’ll learn how to direct those forces to create outsized advantages in the areas of your life that matter most to you.
