Mental Pivot

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Mental Pivot #78: Active Reading, Brevity, Stupidity
The conversation we have with books, Winston Churchill’s wartime memo on brevity, and Ian Leslie’s taxonomy of stupidity.
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Mental Pivot #79: Drawings, Goals, Monks
Thinking with simple drawings, the arrival fallacy, and the myriad ways medieval monks fended off worldly distractions.
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Mental Pivot #80: Motivation, Envy, Solitude
A parable about talent and motivation, finding the antidote to envy, and the challenges of connecting with others as a lone wolf.
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Mental Pivot #74: Beginner’s Mindset
C.S. Lewis on the disconnect between student and teacher, Nassim Taleb considers disinformation and salient details, and the See-Do-Feedback practice…
Mental Pivot #77: Sharing, Hermeneutics, Time Trap
The joy of curation and sharing, the art of understanding and Hans-Georg Gadamer, and how the billable hour warps our perception of time.
Mental Pivot #70: Decomplexification
Dan John’s no-frills fundamentals, a practical lesson in ergodicity, and understanding strategic culture through games.
Mental Pivot #71: Frequent Illusions
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, reflecting on the status games you’re optimized to play, and thoughts on virtue signaling.
Mental Pivot #75: What’s Interesting?
The characteristics of interesting content, Ryan Holiday on how to digest books, and the “Tom Sawyer Effect.”
Mental Pivot #76: Vague Instructions
An anecdote about assuming too much, entropy explained with sheep, and a brief intro to the Johnny Decimal system.
Mental Pivot #68: Expectations, Pricing, Socrates
The superpower of low expectations, a guide to the psychology of pricing, and an instructive demonstration of the Socratic method.
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Mental Pivot #69: Difficulties, Aphorisms, Time
Scott Young looks at “desirable difficulties” in learning, a list of eponymous laws (e.g., “Murphy’s Law”), and the trade-offs that come from “making…
Mental Pivot #81: Imperfect Tools, Luck, Anti-Goals
Keith Jarrett and the unplayable piano, James Austin’s four types of luck, and the power of avoidance in meeting your objectives.
© 2025 David Papandrew
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