How to think exceptionally better and upgrade your mental toolbox
As obvious as we think “thinking” comes to us naturally while doing menial tasks, it couldn’t be further away from truth. Peeking from the underside, is the existence of mental models. To put simply, it’s about how we understand the world through the glasses of our own supposed reality. Unintentionally, we use these models as maps (an abstraction) to simplify complexity and how we reason.
The bigger the toolbox of models, the better the quality of our thinking because the mind is able to make better and wholesome decisions. When we look at an atlas or globe, we look at everything at a single point in time, like a snapshot. It clouds the totality between learning to differentiate between the description of something and that something. The reality of social media influencers (or celebrities) from the projected reality, data and its privacy (at least in the 21st century), you get the gist!
Gist. That’s also where the problem lies. We all have a generic idea about things and sheepishly forget that the most useful maps suffer from hard limitations. Maps are limiting because they are a reduced form of reality and drop off important information. This is important to hold close to your mind and sharpen the nib of thoughts and make decisions.
Another thing that could help is inhaling things as is.
As Charlie Munger has pointed out, a good idea and the human mind act something like the sperm and the egg — after the first good idea gets in, the door closes.
For a lot of people, the model becomes the reality. It’s as if the rulebook for every single one of us applies to the T. We forget that our reality is a lot messier and requires consistent check. The theory isn’t what transcends into our daily lives, it’s a method to see and understand what set of information this moment holds. There’s also a fair chance that this could all be untrue; and even if they are right, they are devoid of realism.
So the next logical question would be — how do we do better?
That is food for another post, but the first step is to realize that you do not understand a model or a map, unless you understand, register and respect the limitations. Context triumphs utility and helps you be vigilant.
Until then, I am turkey.
