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
The Ultimate Deliberate Practice Guide: How to Be the Best
April 05, 2021
Everything You Need to Know to Improve Your Performance at Anything—For Beginners and Experts Deliberate practice is the best technique for achieving expert performance in every field—including writing, teaching, sports, programming, music, medicine, therapy, chess, and business. But there’s much more to deliberate practice than 10,000 hours. Read this to learn how to accelerate your […]
Continue Reading
What Information Do You Need in Order to Change?
March 29, 2021
“Feedback is an effective tool for promoting efficient behavior: it enhances individuals’ awareness of choice consequences in complex settings.” —“Feedback and Efficient Behavior,” Sandro Casal, Nives DellaValle, Luigi Mittone, and Ivan Soraperra We all want to improve at something. Skills we’d like to develop, habits we like to change, relationships we’d like to improve—there are […]
Continue Reading
John Stuart Mill’s Philosophy of Equality
March 22, 2021
Sometimes in the debates about how to improve equality in our society, the reason why we should desire equality gets lost. In his classic text The Subjection of Women, John Stuart Mill explains why equality is critical for solving the world’s problems—because it allows everyone to decide how they can best contribute to society. “The […]
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.
