Annie Duke is a former professional poker player who writes books about making good decisions in the face of incomplete data – lessons she learned in poker. My favorite is her advice to reduce political bias: Think in terms of bets. Rather than saying, “This decision is awful,” say “I’m 99% convinced this decision isContinue reading “Decision-making advice from a poker player”
Category Archives: mentalmodel
What is “The Great Online Game”?
The “Great Online Game” is a way to think about the Internet and your potential to make money with it. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a video game as, “A game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a television screen or other display screen.” The Great Online Game is everythingContinue reading “What is “The Great Online Game”?”
Pray to be prolific
“Don’t pray to be a better writer. Pray to be a more prolific writer.” I’m not sure who said that, I think it was Neil Gaiman, but anyway the quote really stuck with me because the point it makes is just to keep creating – eventually greatness will emerge. That’s why I liked this LetterContinue reading “Pray to be prolific”
What do executives do?
Executives set culture, and that’s important enough. An executive with 8,000 indirect reports and 2000 hours of work in a year can afford to spend, at most, 15 minutes per year per person in their reporting hierarchy… even if they work on nothing else. That job seems impossible. How can anyone make any important decisionContinue reading “What do executives do?”
Should you worry about your work surviving 200 years from now?
No, because doing so is counterproductive. But I like the way this author puts it, in an essay about having perspective on one’s contributions: At some point in life, we come to realize that we exist in a context. If you are a scientist, you might make a small but useful contribution in your subfield,Continue reading “Should you worry about your work surviving 200 years from now?”
What is a job?
I liked this post from Seth Godin, which defines what a job is: Jobs exist because people are productive. When their productivity produces more value than the money they are paid, someone keeps the difference. Actually, two someones: The customer gets some of the benefit and the organizer of the job gets the rest. HelpfulContinue reading “What is a job?”
Basement Whatever 