Healdsburg
I’ve been spending a lot of time in Healdsburg since 2021. It’s a lovely little town in Sonoma wine country.… Read More »Healdsburg
I’ve been spending a lot of time in Healdsburg since 2021. It’s a lovely little town in Sonoma wine country.… Read More »Healdsburg
I’ve been thinking a lot about slowing down this year (2023). Stopping to smell the roses. Maybe I am having… Read More »Halfway Point
I’ve spend a lot of time thinking about productivity over the years and written more generally about it here. I… Read More »NUI tasks
Interesting perspectives and approaches to accidents. If you break a glass, shout OPA or Mazel tov to make a celebration… Read More »Accidents
I’ve always liked fables. Cute stories that have an embedded lesson. (More about reading here.) For a while I’ve been… Read More »Fables
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
I’ve been told I’m condescending.(that means I talk down to people)
There’s a lot of advice out there to write more simply. More than half of Americans between the ages of… Read More »Vocabulary
I’m starting to note down my collected wisdom – the things that I have learnt over the years that I… Read More »Collected Wisdom
The sternum is a long flat bone in the middle of your chest. It protects your heart and lungs among… Read More »Sternum Up
I’ve lived all around the world. I currently live in California via the E-3 visa. I’ve obtained or renewed my… Read More »Visas
Descriptive Predictive Prescriptive
The so-called “cancel culture” is such a waste. I find it sad that we can’t appreciate one part of something… Read More »Let’s Not Throw Out the Baby with the Bathwater
I love this model. Being aware of base rates is such a powerful way to be right more often when… Read More »Base Rate Neglect
Like many women I know seem to do, in my late 20’s I took part in a YTT200< a 200… Read More »Yoga
Written 2021. I started thinking about this mental model in the context of my study and work in statistics and… Read More »Self Reported vs. Actual Data
It’s 2022 and it’s shocking how little is known about the biological changes that occur in pregnancy, particularly the impact… Read More »It’s not Baby Brain, it’s Neuroplasticity
Why You Must Be a Generalist To Manage Your Specialist (Cross post from Medium. I’ve been working on this idea… Read More »Don’t Ask The Barber if You Need a Haircut
I think about this a lot. Leading a team takes a lot of hidden emotional labor. Having a family takes… Read More »Emotional Labor
I lived as a chronic procrastinator for a long time. If a task was boring, stressful, or both, I would… Read More »Hedonic Offset
Birthdays weren’t so much of a big deal in my family. These days I enjoy a birthday as a time… Read More »Birthdays
The difference between how we treat positive stereotypes vs negative stereotypes has always driven me a bit nuts. I wrote… Read More »Stereotyping
Ego is a funny thing. I was raised in Australia with a religious bent (I more identify as atheist now),… Read More »Ego
Related to my thoughts about The Different ‘Yous’ and Health… I find myself wondering why we treat adults so different… Read More »Moods
The lightness of absurdism I’ve always been drawn to nihilism, but after reading more Camus and Nagel I’ve realized absurdism… Read More »Absurdism
Note: I first published this Comfort Zone post here on Medium many years ago. In some ways it’s just a… Read More »Stay in Your Comfort Zone
I’ve built a lot of websites over the years. From more involved custom coded to quick no-code sites, from saas… Read More »Website Development
Eustress vs Distress I like to remember these two types as stress as a simple mental model to reframe how… Read More »Stress
I wanted to brain dump a rough summary of what I say when I talk to someone who’s new to… Read More »Micro M&A
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This is related to my musing/crisis around identity. The Different ‘Yous’ I notice this phenomenon quite often, but I don’t… Read More »The Different ‘Yous’
I think Cal Newport has pulled together a bunch of important threads in a great coherent way under this concept… Read More »Deep Work
What are expectations and what are agreements? Coach Steve Chandler had this to say: You have two choices in your… Read More »Expectations vs. Agreements
I’ve started businesses, I’ve been a freelancer, and I’ve also been employed many times. Each has it’s pros and cons.… Read More »Employment
I will write more about this in general, but I wanted to make a quick note of these three cheeky… Read More »Customer Interviews
I like this little aphorism. I think it holds a lot of truth. For example, I’m a very good starter… Read More »How you do anything is how you do everything
First published 2017. I think the idea of having some traits that are strengths and some that are weaknesses is… Read More »Your Greatest Strength is Also Your Greatest Weakness
I love those moments when you come across a mental model that crystallizes a bunch of mental loose ends –… Read More »‘Askers’ vs. ‘Guessers’
I’m currently reflecting a lot on identity – what it is, what it means, how it affects how we think… Read More »Identity
The more I dive into the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, the more I am starting to notice my own… Read More »Status Quo Bias
History is an excellent teacher with few pupils. Alice & Will Durant The cycles of history History is filled with… Read More »History
I’ve thought and read and written a fair bit on the topic of rationality. Or should I say, irrationality. Irrationality… Read More »Rationality
I’ve always been very interesting in the topic of communication. The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that… Read More »Communication
Giving feedback This is one of my favorite things I’ve written on business and leadership – I had a lot… Read More »Feedback
I wrote a Medium post called How to save your team from meeting misery a while back. It’s common to… Read More »Meetings
I’ve spent a lot of time building privacy related processes and products. I’ve heard it said “if you’ve got nothing… Read More »Privacy
Like most people of my era, I don’t like aging, and am exercising, eating broccoli and fish oil, and trying… Read More »Aging
I find this little phrase – or dare I say mantra – very useful to jolt me into the present.… Read More »This is it
What is Chesterton’s Fence? Chesterton’s fence is the principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the… Read More »Chesterton’s Fence
Signalling Theory Signalling in this context is when something about you affects how others perceive you. How you present yourself… Read More »Signalling Theory
The best thing I’ve read on emotions is, unsurprisingly – Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. The physiological side of emotions… Read More »Emotions
Too much has been written about gratitude in this era. Write in your gratitude journal. Blah blah. This is not… Read More »Gratitude
I’ve been trying to find this model/quote somewhere and I can’t find it anywhere! I think I noticed it in… Read More »The 90-90 Rule
One of my all time favorite mental models for projects is fast cheap good. It’s such a useful simple lens… Read More »Fast Cheap Good
It’s not as simple as good and evil. The truth is we are all light and shade.
Here’s my newsletter issue on Emotional Contagion published today. It’s not my best writing but it’s one of my favorite… Read More »Emotional Contagion
I’ve been spending a bit of time in Napa and Sonoma lately. It’s a lovely part of Northern California, famous… Read More »Napa and Sonoma
The Denial of Death I just started reading Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death and I’m currently obsessed with it.… Read More »Death
More advice to myself. One thing I am still working on, is always replying. I struggle with it, I have… Read More »Always Reply
I speak a bit of French because of my Swiss heritage. I learnt German and Japanese in high school. While… Read More »Languages
A few of my posts might sound like advice. They are – although they are advice to myself! Be careful… Read More »Advice
I am always skeptical when people are sipping expensive wine and raving about how good it is. Vodka connoisseurs concern… Read More »Blind Tasting
I just finished reading Kahneman’s latest book, Noise. Those of you that know me well know that I am a… Read More »Noise
I’ve led tech teams in early/mid stage startups through to large corporates. Here are five things I’ve learned along the… Read More »Leadership
This old Bob Newhart clip cracks me up every time. Her acting is easily as good as his!
I’m more of an aspiring minimalist than a successful one. Decluttering is an ongoing challenge. The endless fight against entropy.… Read More »Minimalism
In my early 20’s I lived with a flatmate who was obsessed with poker, and so we would play from… Read More »Poker
I had some interesting life experiences which led me to coin the term Hedonic Reset sometime around 2014. I must… Read More »Hedonic Reset
I’m big believer in writing, but I think in some areas there’s nothing better than a good diagram. Flowcharts, data… Read More »Diagrams
The science of decision making is something that has fascinated me for years. Partly from a macro philosophical perspective –… Read More »Decision Making
I’m a beach person. I love swimming in the ocean. I know things are going great in life when I’m… Read More »Beach
To communicate clearly, particularly in the workplace, it helps to quantify things. Language can be vague. If you say you… Read More »Quantify it
One thing that I find strange in our society is that we tend to punish people for changing their minds,… Read More »Mind Changing
I love this old Taoist parable: A farmer in a poor village was considered very well-to-do, because he owned a… Read More »Reframing
Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art; it arises in hypothesis and flows into achievement. Will Durant Art… Read More »Art
I’m more into audiobooks than podcasts. And I’m more into podcasts than Clubhouse. I like edited content, it seems more… Read More »Podcasts
Back yourself According to Urban Dictionary this is an Aussie expression: To have self-belief or confidence in one’s self. Most… Read More »Confidence
I like tea. I drink some kind of tea most days. That’s not to start a debate over the merits… Read More »Tea
Learn to ask of all actions, “Why are they doing that?” Starting with your own Marcus Aurelius Acknowledging ignorance The… Read More »Self Awareness
Sometimes we forget that purposeful inaction counts as an action
There are three principles that serve as the basic axioms of utilitarianism. (An axiom is a statement or principle that… Read More »Utilitarianism
I recently completed the Quantic Executive MBA program. Here’s all my thoughts in a mini review as well as supplemental… Read More »Quantic Executive MBA
Joking around I can’t overstate how important humor is. I grew up in a culture where joking around and bantering… Read More »Humor
I don’t seem to find time to watch a lot of movies. When I do, it’s mostly sci-fi. These are… Read More »Movies
I am an aspiring connoisseur of cheese. It’s the Swiss heritage I guess. I love European cheeses, mostly soft, and… Read More »Cheese
This is one of my favorite things to think about. It leaves me with a feeling of wonder and appreciation… Read More »Randomness
90% of everything I know about morality I’ve read in a Jonathan Haidt book. In summary, “we are all self-righteous… Read More »Morality
Some semi-structured thoughts on parenting. Parenting history It seems only a modern trend that parents get so obsessed with their… Read More »Parenting
Bayes’ rule (sometimes know as Bayes’ theorem) is a law of probability theory which governs how to revise prior probabilistic beliefs – how much… Read More »Bayes’ Rule
I like building things. These are some of the projects and products I’ve had a hand in building. There’s a… Read More »Building
I find parts of stoicism very appealing. Although it can be a bit at odds with my hedonistic streak. I… Read More »Stoicism
I love the Tao Te Ching. Amazing to think it was written around 400BC! In fact, for all things there… Read More »Tao Te Ching
I’m a bit of a nihilist at heart. But an optimistic nihilist. (With a hedonistic streak. I think I’m in… Read More »Nihilism
Perception is not reality. I think about this a lot. It is interesting from a rationalism philosophy perspective, a physics… Read More »Perception Versus Reality
Spinoza I am not sure how it happened, but I read Spinoza when i was quite young. Probably early-mid teenage… Read More »Rationalism
What is The Halo Effect? I wrote about The Halo Effect in Issue #11 of Mental Models Weekly. The Reverse… Read More »The Halo Effect
This is a favorite mental model of mine. I wrote about how Learning This Idea Made It Easier for Me… Read More »Fundamental Attribution Error
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The topic of luck – or chance, is a fascinating one. There’s ideas like blind luck, but also ideas like you make… Read More »Luck
I wrote about how to get rid of disgusting breath and get fresh breath a while ago.