A Framework for Putting Mental Models to Practice is a series that examines the idea of putting Charlie Munger's Elementary Worldly Wisdom to practice in one's life in the pursuit of better decision making.
The Mental Model FAQ
A summary of the conclusions from my Putting Mental Models to Practice series. What are mental models? How did mental models become so popular?
The Great Mental Models
The Great Mental Models project is the clearest way to change the way you see the world, avoid problems before they happen, and make better decisions.
Mental Models: The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions (~100 Models Explained)
The smartest people in the world use mental models to make intelligent decisions, avoid stupidity, and increase productivity. Let's take a look at how ...
Mental Models: The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions (~100 Models Explained)
The smartest people in the world use mental models to make intelligent decisions, avoid stupidity, and increase productivity. Let's take a look at how ...
Mental Models: How to Train Your Brain to Think in New Ways
You can train your brain to think better. One of the best ways to do this is to expand the set of mental models you use to think. Let me…
What are Mental Models? — updated 2026
Harness the power of understanding and predicting user behavior with mental models. Simplify systems and enhance decision-making in your designs.
A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom As It Relates To Investment Management & Business
A lesson in elementary worldly wisdom is a lecture by Charlie Munger on the art of business as a subdivision of the art of worldly wisdom. Full Transcript.
Crafting a good (reasoning) model
A recent talk I gave on model training, reasoning, and the next frontier.
Summary: Thinking in Systems (by Donella H. Meadows)
The main argument of the book: Everything in this world is made of systems. While we cannot fully understand systems, we can observe them…
You Have to Type It Out — Sympolymathesy, by Chris Krycho
For many kinds of learning, actually writing or typing out the exercises is an essential part of internalizing a mental model. You cannot skip it!
The Myth and Magic of Generating New Ideas
A mathematician on how to get the mind into motion.
Mental models for working with coding agents
Model intelligence sets the ceiling. Your workflow with the agent harness sets what you actually ship.
How To Think Real Good | Meta-rationality
Practical epistemology: heuristics for how to think about difficult things, particularly using formal methods.
Mental Models I Find Repeatedly Useful
2025 UPDATE: I’m writing again. Please join me at Substack.
AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans | Melanie Mitchell | Substack
I write about interesting new developments in AI. Click to read AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans, by Melanie Mitchell, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
How to safely think in systems.
While there are a decent number of folks out there modeling systems, there’s a much larger group of folks who think of themselves as systems thinkers but utilize techniques like modeling rather casually (a polite way of saying that they don’t use them). Even with modeling tools available, I’ve often taken the shortcut of intuitive modeling, which over time has given me quite the education in making well-intentioned reasoning errors.
