Posts in Mental Models
Become A Content Curator And Start Building Your Audience Right Now

If you don’t already create content online, you should start now. And the easiest place to start is to become a content curator. A “content creator” creates original content. A “content curator,” though, curates content that’s already out there in the domain, organizes it, shoots it through their unique perspective, and then publishes it to build an audience right now.

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Inversion: Problem Solving in Reverse

Inversion is the practice of thinking through problems in reverse. It’s the practice of “inverting” a problem - turning it upside down - to see it from a different perspective. In its most powerful form, inversion is asking how an endeavor could fail, and then being careful to avoid those pitfalls. As Warren Buffett likes to say when it comes to investing: “Rule number one is don’t lose money. Rule number two is don’t forget rule number one.”

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How To Be An Idea Compounder: Definition, Examples, and More

The ideas you learn compound over time. One idea doesn’t stay as one idea - it gets mixed with other ideas and produces new ideas on top of each other. I call this process idea compounding and those who do this actively idea compounders. An idea compounder is someone who layers ideas on top of each other to find new ideas and ways to apply them.

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The Principal-Agent Problem: Solving It With Incentives

It's hard to get other people to care about what you do. And it's almost impossible if they don't have the same "skin in the game" - if they aren't rewarded or punished directly based on the outcome of their decisions. It turns out this is a very old problem. It's called the principal-agent problem. And if you're an owner or an employee, you have to understand it.

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5 Quotes On Why Money Won't Make You Happy

As a kid, whenever the topic of money came up in our household, my dad would repeat the phrase, “Money isn’t everything, but it sure beats whatever’s in second place.” I would then point out that if money beats whatever’s in second place, it would become second on the list. If the quote is supposed to be ironic, as I thought it was […]

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Enthusiasm Is Good, But Endurance Is Better

Starting is easy. Everyone who sets out to create something is enthusiastic at the beginning. But as you get deeper into the project, that enthusiasm fades. And eventually, you’re left sitting in the dark shadow of the mountain you now have to climb. Enthusiasm will fuel your beginning. But it’s endurance that will get you to the end.

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