Insights & Frameworks
Strategic psychology for decision-makers.
A 20-part examination of cognitive biases affecting strategic decision-making. Each post includes diagnostic frameworks and executive tools.
A 14-part exploration of strategic decision-making: when to persist, when to quit, and how to know the difference.
If I had to identify a single organizing principle for understanding psychological experience—anxiety, insomnia, panic, rumination, emotional reactivity, performance under pressure—it would be this: nervous system arousal.
The simple test for whether your strategy is actually strategic: can you explain it at a bus stop?
You've outgrown your shell. The problem isn't that you're broken—it's that you're holding onto something that no longer fits.
Your brain is designed to seek dopamine, not to make you happy. Understanding this distinction changes everything about motivation.
Clean pain is unavoidable. Dirty pain is what we add on top. The difference between suffering that heals and suffering that doesn't.
1% better every day compounds to 37x improvement in a year. The mathematics of marginal gains.
The ability to delay gratification predicts success better than IQ. Here's why—and how to develop it.
What if depression isn't malfunction but information? Understanding depression as your system telling you something needs to change.
The strategic leverage of finding the first domino. One small change that cascades into everything else.
The cognitive habit of high performers: they extract learning from everything. Success, failure, observation—nothing is wasted.
Being first isn't always an advantage. Understanding when to lead and when to let others test the water.
Grief isn't linear. It doesn't follow stages. Understanding what grief actually is—and what it isn't.
Your identity isn't fixed. The strategic advantage of holding your self-concept loosely.
What if your life was the medium and you were the artist? A framework for intentional living.
Meaning isn't found—it's created through the questions you ask. The framework for building a meaningful life.
When you learn from everything, you never really lose. The reframe that makes risk more manageable.
Success is often just a numbers game. The strategic value of volume over perfection.
When paralyzed by perfectionism, do something random. The counterintuitive strategy for breaking analysis paralysis.
High achievers don't rest—they redirect. Understanding the psychology of relentless drive.
Same physiological response, entirely different interpretation. How to use this insight to manage anxiety.
First-order thinking: what happens next? Second-order thinking: and then what? The strategic advantage of thinking two steps ahead.
Shame isn't about what you did—it's about what you think it means about who you are. The distinction that changes everything.
Willpower is borrowed at high interest. The more you use it, the more it costs. Design systems that don't require it.